In 2005, at the age of five, Hassani began singing lessons.[6]
In 2015, encouraged by his friend Nemo Schiffman, a finalist of the first season, Hassani participated in the second season of The Voice Kids and introduced himself in the blind auditions by singing a cover of "
Rise Like a Phoenix" by
Conchita Wurst, a singer whom he admires.[10][11][12] He joined the team of judge
Patrick Fiori.[11] He was eliminated during the battle rounds by Swany Patrac.[13]
In 2018, the LGBT magazine Têtu designated Hassani as one of the "30 LGBT+ [people] who move France". The magazine described him as "an icon for French LGBT+ youth".[14]
On 20 December 2018, an excerpt from his song for the competition was released, the song titled "
Roi" and written with the duo and
2018 winner of Destination EurovisionMadame Monsieur.[17] The song was described to be about self-acceptance.[18] On 4 January 2019, "Roi" was made available on all music platforms,[19] and by 14 January, it had exceeded 3 million views. The newspaper Le Monde wrote that Hassani "leaves no one indifferent".[20]
The initial front runner to represent France at Eurovision,[21] Hassani began a media tour for Destination Eurovision on media outlets such as
NRJ,[22]Quotidien,[23] and
France Inter. On 12 January 2019, he won the semi-final by winning 58 out of 60 points awarded by the international jury, and winning 57 points (the highest score) from the French public. He totaled 115 points and qualified for the final, alongside
Chimène Badi (66 points), Silvàn Areg (59 points) and Aysat (40 points).[24] He won the final on 26 January 2019, with a total of 200 points including 150 of the French public while he was ranked fifth with the International Jury vote, with 50 points.[25]
On 23 June 2017, Hassani publicly
came out as part of the LGBTQ+ community, the day before he attended the
Paris Pride.[27][28][29] Hassani is
genderqueer and is at ease with both she and he pronouns.[30][31]
Controversies
Starting in December 2018, Hassani became the victim of cyber-harassment and has received homophobic and transphobic attacks and death threats.[32][6] In response, the organizations Urgence Homophobie and Stop Homophobia joined forces to take legal action against anyone who has insulted, discriminated against or threatened Hassani on social networks, including
Twitter.[33] By 27 January 2019, the two organizations already identified 1,500 insulting, discriminating or hateful tweets because of his sexual orientation and/or physical appearance.[29] Hassani later filed a complaint to those who may be potentially identified with these lawsuits, citing "insults, incitement to hatred and violence and homophobic threats".[34]
On 1 February 2019, i24NEWS unveiled former
Twitter tweets published on Hassani's account in 2014, accusing Israel of crimes against humanity and taking the defence of
Dieudonné, a French comedian known for his antisemitic sketches. A few hours later, the singer claimed on a video not to be the author of these tweets, which would have been written by a relative with access to his account, adding that she was 14 years old at the time.[35][36] Soon after, a parody video from 2018 resurfaced, about the latest attacks committed in France, which gave rise to a new controversy.[37] The senator of the Alpes Maritimes, Henri Leroy, requested that Bilal be "dismissed urgently from the contest".[38]
Hassani is controversial in
traditionalist Catholic circles. In December 2021, he appeared on the cover of the LGBT magazine Têtu in a representation reminiscent of an icon of the
Virgin Mary.[39] On 5 April 2023, Hassani was forced to cancel a concert planned in a former
basilica that became a concert hall in
Metz after threats from a group of far-right radical Catholics.[40]
^"Top Albums (Week 41, 2022)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.