Unsurprisingly, Redhead won the final of the first season of The Artist. The show hosted by Nagui was divided into two parts: in the first, the jury and the audience qualified the three best talents among the six finalists. In the second, only the viewers designated the winner from among Joseph Kamel, Petite Gueule and Rouquine. Thanks to 75% of positive votes, against respectively 60% and 70% for their competitors, the duo left with the trophy.
At the very first premium, Redhead took over I’ll go wherever you will go by Céline Dion. The following week, the duo had to prove themselves thanks to their original title. Deadly, a song “very lively and very solar” according to their performers, dedicated to a subject which is however much less: cancer. The lyrics linger on the last twenty-four hours of a man who celebrates life before taking his last breath. After their performance, singer Gaëtan Roussel invited the two men to do his first part on the stage of the Olympia in March.
A long-standing collaboration
Friday evening, Sébastien Rousselet and Nino Vella celebrated life again, but in a more conventional way this time thanks to Grave, a title on the theme of birth. An interpretation which earned them a score of 10/10 from the three members of the jury. “I’ve never met people who wrote in that tone, it’s precious. This song makes me want to cry and it makes me laugh, ”commented Olivia Ruiz.
Before launching under the name of Rouquine, the two singers worked together for eight years in the group Babel. The group ended their career but Sébastien Rousselet and Nino Vella continued to walk in the same direction by writing for other artists. “It was by doing these songs that we decided to put a group together,” explained the duo at the premiere of the show. To celebrate their victory with them, head to the Café de la danse in Paris on December 15, where they will give their first concert as winners of The Artist.
Public, are you there?
An original French creation, the Nagui program suffered from a lack of public interest. When it was launched, only 1.32 million people attended The Artist, or 8% audience share. With 22 artists competing, the program dragged on, which may have discouraged viewers who wanted to come back the following week. And for good reason, barely 990,000 people watched the second issue.
Moved to the Friday box in the second part of the evening, The Artist didn’t really save his honor. The final, broadcast from 10:45 p.m. to 12:50 a.m., attracted 541,000 followers, or 5.9% of the public according to Médiamétrie figures relayed by Toutelatélé. One thing is certain: if a second season is ordered by France 2, it should not look like the first.