Natasha is one of the champions of the year of Do not forget the lyrics. This summer, this nurse from Montpellier (Hérault) chained 34 consecutive victories, eliminating, microphone in hand, the candidates one after the other. A performance that earned him to participate, this Thursday at 6:40 p.m. on France 2, in the 2022 Masters of the show, against around thirty other cracks of the song. But how do you know by heart the slightest comma in the songs of Céline Dion, Michel Delpech, Georges Brassens, Niagara or Philippe Lafontaine? Natasha answered questions from 20 minutes.
Where does this passion for singing come from?
When I was very young, my grandfather ran a restaurant, where he held banquets and weddings. So, very early on, I participated! I embedded myself in the weddings of people I didn’t know, I sang at the microphone. I bathed, since very young, in the French song. Then my parents enrolled me in the piano, I did for a very long time. I was singing, too. During my journey to Do not forget the lyrics, I came across songs that I hadn’t necessarily revised, and that I drew from my old memory. The songs we remembered when we were young are much more rooted in us than those we discover as adults.
How do you know all the songs by heart? Is there a particular training?
Of course, there is a workout! I make playlists, no more than seven or eight a week, so that I integrate them well. I vary according to my desires, but also what I find relevant. The songs, I also need to write them. I need to see the written lyrics. But there are always pitfalls. So, I note on little papers the passages which are, for me, the most problematic to assimilate. I stick them in the bathroom, etc. By seeing them, regularly, it anchors itself better. I need to draw too, for some songs. Especially the most complicated ones.
To draw, that is to say?
For example, for the song by Jacques Dutronc It’s five o’clock, Paris is waking up, to distinguish all the couplets, which are numerous and varied, I drew a setting of Paris. With trucks full of milk, sweepers and their brooms, lovers, etc. This makes it easier for me to remember the drawings, the order of the verses and the lyrics.
What are your specialties, the artists whose lyrics you have no problem knowing?
Maybe Alain Bashung and Serge Gainsbourg. Surprisingly, I have a lot more ease with complicated songs than with simpler songs. Probably because there are many that look alike, in their simplicity. And it is therefore much more common to doubt a “don’t”, a “me” or a “but”.
While training, you are forced to delve into the discography of artists you don’t particularly like…
Oh yes, that’s for sure! To participate in Do not forget the lyrics, you have to be versatile. But by dint of learning these songs, leaving your comfort zone, you end up appreciating certain artists. And that is pretty cool!