The piece would benefit from being stretchy as the jackets, dresses and trousers seem to be cramped. Some of these clothes have dressed or will dress the talents of season 12 of The Voice, launched this Saturday on TF1. “Some will wear their own outfits on set. I tell them to come with their luggage and we look together at what they can put on,” says Alexis, the show’s stylist. “You are lucky to be here because, apart from the candidates, no one has the right to come. It’s even more exclusive than meeting the coaches! “, he points out emphatically. The precision is addressed to Anne, Tom, Sami and Olivier, four readers of 20 minutes that we have selected following a call for applications. At stake: a day on the set of the telecrochet with a behind-the-scenes visit, participation in a recording and… interview with coaches Amel Bent, Zazie, Vianney, Bigflo and Oli (to read soon in 20 minutes…).
Appointment was given at 10 am, on January 16, at the Studios du Lendit, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). The quartet is on time. He is even a little ahead. “For once I win something, I intend to take advantage of it! “Warns Anne, 21, currently in civic service in Paris. Her enthusiasm will not leave her all day. Once recovered the colored bracelet synonymous with sesame for the areas closed to the public, Matthieu Notebaert, the director of communication of ITV Studios France – the company which produces the program – plays the guides. Anne is amazed: “We really visit everything! Even the places where there is marked “PROHIBITED to enter”. »
“Your ear is a bit shitty”
Besides the stylist’s lair, our readers can peek into the make-up room and follow a talent’s ultimate private rehearsal with a vocal coach. Olivier and Sami are in the front row – and try to be as discreet as possible – to see a candidate refine his interpretation ofI’m Not the Only One by Sam Smith. He is feverish because, for a few days, he has been dizzy due to ear problems. “Your ear is a bit shitty, but the good news is that the voice is fine,” reassures him, as best he can, his coach.
Barely time to sympathize that the visit resumes its course. Direction the surroundings of the plateau where the line began. ” You know what it is ? asks Matthieu Notebaert. It’s like in the theater, it’s the big rehearsal for us, for the production, of all the talents with their songs: they go on, one after the other. And the guide to show the return, on a television, of what is happening at the same time, on the other side, in front of the cameras.
A few more steps, a small staircase to climb and here are the privileged visitors behind the screen in the background from where the talents make their appearance during the blind auditions. Sami does not lose a beat. Seeing from ” [ses] own eyes behind the scenes”, he realizes “the big machine that is The Voice “. He had no idea that some 200 people worked, from near or far, on the set…
” Like at home “
“The set is quite large, but there is not a huge gap between reality and what we see on TV,” notes Anne. Olivier, who did not experience his baptism of television fire there since he took part in Do not forget the lyrics on France 2, feels “like at home”. “No one took us for strangers or looked at us askance, we were welcomed with open arms and we were a bit part of the show at that time,” the 30-year-old math teacher later confided. .
The four guests of the day are quick to make themselves comfortable in the coaches’ chairs to attend the rehearsals. They exchange a few words with Pascal Guix, the artistic producer of The Voice, and Bruno Berberes, the casting director. A short moment of respite before the adrenaline rush of the interviews.
First, Anne and Sami talk, in the coaches’ lounge, with Amel Bent and Zazie. The questions follow one another, without downtime. The artists avoid none, joke, play the game of selfies. The atmosphere is most relaxed. The two journalists for a day leave the room on their little cloud. “That moment will forever be etched in my memory. They were kind and caring. It happened much too quickly,” says Sami. “The conversation took place a bit like that of four friends over coffee, debriefs Anne. And then, I had the opportunity to tell Amel how much she meant to me without sounding too much like an idiot – well, I think. »
“Vianney is just normal”
Same delight, an hour later, for Tom and Olivier. The latter, who spoke at length with Vianney about their common Pau origins, said he had “a big crush” for the author, composer and performer “who is really just ‘normal’ and accessible”. His 18-year-old sidekick, a history student in Lille, emerges from the meeting mute with emotion. “A magical moment”, he would say later about his meeting with his idols, Bigflo and Oli.
After the lunch break in the catering installed under a prefab and not seen on TV, all four take their place among the public to follow the first salvo of recording of the cross battles. “But, suddenly, we are going to be spoiled”, they worry. We reassure them and tell them that this will allow them to follow the previous stages on television with a different eye. “Attending the rehearsals of the talents also allowed us to see the difference with their performance in the afternoon. I was able to see who lost their means and who found resources to sing even better,” Anne told us a few days later. For her, as for Tom, Sami and Olivier, the season coming to TF1 will have a very special flavor.