Ellie Blanche Delvaux (; born 10 June 1999), better known as simply Blanche , is a Belgian singer and songwriter. She represented

Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "City Lights" written by Pierre Dumoulin, Emmanuel Delcourt and Ellie Delvaux. The song was performed by Blanche, which is the artistic name of singer Ellie Delvaux who was in ...

in Ukraine with the song "

City Lights ''City Lights'' is a 1931 American silent romantic comedy film written, produced, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. The story follows the misadventures of Chaplin's Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl (Virginia Cherrill) and ...

", finishing in fourth place. Blanche previously competed on season five of ''

The Voice Belgique ''The Voice Belgique'' is a francophone Belgian reality television singing competition. The TV show is part of the international "Voice" franchise that started in the Netherlands as ''The Voice of Holland''. It kicked off on December 20, 2011, ...

'', where she was a member of Team

Cats on Trees Cats on Trees is a French musical duo formed in Toulouse (Occitania Region, Occitanie), France in 2007 by Nina Goern (on vocals and piano) and Yohan Hennequin (rhythms).third name.

Career

2016: ''The Voice Belgique''

In January 2016, Blanche auditioned for season five of ''

'' performing

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...

's " Daydreamer", with two of four coaches turning for her. She eventually chose to join team

Cats on Trees Cats on Trees is a French musical duo formed in Toulouse (Occitania Region, Occitanie), France in 2007 by Nina Goern (on vocals and piano) and Yohan Hennequin (rhythms).Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

's " Creep", and Blanche won the duel to make it through to the live shows. During the first live show, she performed

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

's "Running with the Wolves". She was saved by the coach and progressed to the next round. In the next round, she performed "

Runnin' (Lose It All) "Runnin' (Lose It All)" is a song by British record producer Naughty Boy, featuring American singer Beyoncé and British singer Arrow Benjamin. It was released online on 17 September 2015 as the first single from Naughty Boy's upcoming second s ...

". She was not saved by her coach and was eliminated from the show. Blanche (Belgium)

2017–2018: Eurovision Song Contest 2017

On 22 November 2016, broadcaster

Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...

(RTBF) announced that they had internally selected Blanche to represent Belgium in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944 (song), 1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. Her song, "

", was supposed to have been released on 8 March 2017, but it was instead leaked the day before. When her song was announced she jumped to the second place in the betting odds but was later lowered. "City Lights" was accused of plagiarising the song "Eclats" from Canadian singer Alexe Gaudreault, however Pierre Dumoulin, the author of the song, denied these claims, saying that "It is obvious that there are similarities in the melody as can be found in a hundred or even a thousand current melodies". At Eurovision, Belgium were allocated to the first semi-final, which took place on 9 May 2017. Blanche received 40 points from the professional juries and 125 points from televoters, for a combined total of 165 points, placing fourth in the semi-final and advancing to the grand final. At the grand final on 13 May 2017, Blanche performed 23rd, receiving 108 points from the professional juries and 255 points from televoters, for a combined total of 363 points, again placing fourth. Following Blanche's success at Eurovision, "City Lights" spent two weeks atop the charts in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

, as well as two weeks at number 2 in

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

. In August 2018, "City Lights" was certified double platinum in Belgium, for sales exceeding 40,000 copies. "City Lights" also charted across Europe, including in France, Germany, Spain and Sweden. Since Eurovision, Blanche has won a 2018

European Border Breakers Award The European Border Breakers Award (EBBA) was an annual prize awarded to recognise the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year. ...

, which recognizes emerging artists that have achieved success outside their home country. In Belgium, Blanche won Pop Artist of the Year and Revelation of the Year at French-Belgian broadcaster RTBF's 2018 D6bels Music Awards and Hit of the Year (for "City Lights") and Breakthrough Artist at the Flemish 2018

Music Industry Awards The MIA's, in full Music Industry Awards, are Flemish music prizes that are awarded by the VRT in collaboration with Music Centre Flanders. The prizes replace the ZAMU Awards, last awarded in 2006. The abbreviation MIA is a wink to ''Mia'', a ...

(MIA).

2018–present: ''Empire''

On 25 May 2018, Blanche released the single " Wrong Turn". A music video was released to Blanche's official YouTube channel on 19 June 2018. It was directed by Nur Casadevall. The song " Soon" was released on 20 July 2018, along with a lyric video. On 16 November 2018, Blanche released the single "

Moment Moment or Moments may refer to: * Present time Music * The Moments, American R&B vocal group Albums * ''Moment'' (Dark Tranquillity album), 2020 * ''Moment'' (Speed album), 1998 * ''Moments'' (Darude album) * ''Moments'' (Christine Guldbrand ...

", which is about "living in the present, trying to forget about any doubts and fears you have…we have to let ourselves live. If we don’t learn to enjoy the present moment, then we might regret it when it’s over...”. She also said that the song is "for all the people who sometimes struggle to connect with the present moment, who feel like they’re looking at their lives from the outside". A music video was released on the same day and was directed by Eve Mahoney. The song spent 14 weeks in the top 50 in Wallonia, peaking at number 22, making it Blanche's highest-peaking single since "City Lights". A piano version of "Moment" was released on 14 December 2018. Blanche appeared three times on

Wiwibloggs Wiwibloggs is a fansite and YouTube channel focusing on the Eurovision Song Contest, launched in 2009. It has a seasonal audience, peaking at 250,000 page views per day during the week of Eurovision in May 2016, based on Google Analytics data. ...

' list of the best songs of 2018 by artists who have participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

: with "Moment" at number 7, "Soon" at number 21 and "Wrong Turn" at number 43. On 30 January 2020, Blanche announced that the single "Empire" would be released on 14 February 2020. The song was released a day earlier, on 13 February 2020. "Empire" is about people who wear shields to shield themselves from all emotions and ultimately deceive themselves. A music video for the song premiered on the same day on Complex. The video was directed by Valéry Joseph and filmed at Studio Stories in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

. The video's imagery was inspired by

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

paintings, particularly those of

Gertrude Abercrombie Gertrude Abercrombie (February 17, 1909 – July 3, 1977) was an American painter based in Chicago. Called "the queen of the bohemian artists", Abercrombie was involved in the Chicago jazz scene and was friends with musicians such as Dizzy Gille ...

. In the video, there is limited movement, instead it relies on bold outfits, colours and lighting to express an emotional message of "fear, power, abandonment, pain, introversion, self-unveiling, trust and authenticity". Blanche started writing the song in her studio in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in November 2017, but the song continued to evolve with the involvement of new collaborators, until it was completed in March 2019. On 14 February 2020, Blanche announced that her debut album, titled ''Empire'' would be released on 24 April 2020. The single "Fences" was premiered on Clash on 26 March 2020, before being released the following day. On 1 April 2020, Blanche announced that the release of her debut album would be delayed until 29 May 2020, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On 8 May 2020, Blanche released the single "1, 2, Miss You". The song is included on the album ''Empire'' along with the previous singles "Soon", "Empire" and "Fences". ''Empire ''debuted and peaked at number 7 in Wallonia, and at number 22 in Flanders. On 26 June 2020, "Till We Collide" was released as the album's fourth single. On 28 August 2020, "Summer Nights" was released as the fifth single from ''Empire''.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Music videos

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blanche Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2017 Belgian songwriters Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Belgium The Voice (franchise) contestants 1999 births Musicians from Brussels Living people PIAS Recordings artists Belgian Jews 21st-century Belgian women singers Belgian people of Jewish descent Indie pop musicians