À chaque pas
A Chaque Pas was the French entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 held in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
It was composed by Ben Robbins and Steve Balsamo and performed by Jonatan Cerrada.
| A Chaque Pas | |
|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2004 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) | Jonatan Cerrada |
| Language | |
| Finals performance | |
| Final result | 15th |
| Final points | 40 |
Eurovision 2004
The song was sung by Jonatan Cerrada, a Spanish-speaking Belgian, winner of the French version of "Pop Idol" ("A La Recherche De La Nouvelle Star") in 2003. As France is a member of the so-called Big 4, "A Chaque Pas" was pre-qualified to the Final of the Eurovision.
France sang fourth and the performance saw Cerrada in a white suit, alone on stage until a lady on stilts joined him for the final verse. This was criticised by many, who felt that it was too gimmicky and took away from France's best entry in years. Presumably France was attempting to create a "show" in typical Eurovision style, a la Sertab Erener or Ruslana, but failed. The routine was later spoofed in Congratulations (Eurovision).
Anyway, France finished 15th of 24 entries, helped by obvious block-voting with twelve points from Monaco, ten from Belgium and seven from Spain.
Translation
"A Chaque Pas" means "With Each Step" in English, and tells the story of two lovers about to make their way in the world. The final chorus of the song, strangely, is in Spanish, with the last line reverting back to French. Cerrada included "A Chaque Pas" on his first CD, "Siempre 23" ("Always 23").