I was not aware of the dress code. Behind the scenes of The Voice, black clothes are required. When broadcast on TV, those busy behind the scenes appear as discreet silhouettes, carrying out their primary tasks in the shadows. So when, on December 21, I arrive at the Lendit studios, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), in blue jeans and a light gray hoodie, I feel like I’m vulgarly out of place.
Bruno Berberes, the show’s casting director, however, makes no remarks to me. I find him at the beginning of the afternoon, behind the set. This is the third day of filming for the blind auditions for season 11 – launched this Saturday at 9:10 p.m. on TF1. He has his eyes riveted on the screen retransmitting the current performance of a candidate. “I’m trying to figure out why it will turn around or not. There are falsehoods there. He is going too hard”, laments the one who says he knows “by heart” the 125 talents he has selected this year with his team: “By force, I manage to decode the expressions on their faces. What hurts me is when I see in their eyes that they are not well. »
At work since the very first season, Bruno Berberes travels through France and Navarre for months. For this edition, no less than 90 casting dates were on its program. “Even in the eleventh season, when you are preparing your kitchen, you never know if what you are going to serve will please,” he says. So he observes… “Behind the scenes, I watch everyone. If I see the person who does the cleaning or a cameraman stop during the performance of a talent, I have confirmation that something is going on. »
“I’m always wary of rehearsals where everything goes well”
Throughout the filming of the blind auditions, the casting director goes back and forth between the backstage of the set and the adjacent room where the candidates wait for their turn. These are convened in small groups, so as not to have too much time to wait. I meet there Damien Silvert, one of the vocal coaches of The Voice. He follows the talents from the first auditions, three or four months beforehand. “This allows us to get to know their voices well and to accompany them right up to the recording. Today is D-Day. We did a vocal warm-up this morning, and there, we meet again a second time to discuss and de-stress. Some need to reassure themselves technically. »
As we chat, piano notes are heard. A candidate began to play. “Don’t sing too much! Save your energy! “, advises him Bruno Berberes before narrating a series of amusing anecdotes on the show. A few moments later, he whispers to me: “I talk to them about everything and nothing to de-stress them. Because, for them, it’s six months of work that lead to these two minutes where everything is at stake. You have to be fully the when passing through the board. Not before, not after. I’m always wary of rehearsals where everything goes well. »
If he says six months, it is because before arriving at the blind auditions, the talents must go through several stages: a first audition facing the production of The Voice, then a key taking to decide on a song to defend, a rehearsal session with the musicians… At each of these stages, candidates are discarded. Treading the telecrochet plateau is therefore in itself a satisfaction.
“Ah attention, Bruno sat down in the staircase! »
Backstage side. “I spotted her in a singing competition in Montélimar, slips me Bruno Berberes, pointing to a young woman who is about to go on stage. What we’re going to see on set is what I saw there. When it’s set at this point, we don’t touch the choice of song. A little later, he draws my attention to another participant. She joined the cast at the last minute and this situation arises every year. “We found her a fortnight ago on social networks. Until the last moment we are looking for potential candidates”, explains the casting director, specifying that being called in extremis is an advantage, because it avoids the stress of the different stages of selection, and a disadvantage given that the time preparation is limited.
“Ah attention, Bruno sat down in the staircase! warns an anonymous voice from a black mask. A way of saying that he is in the way? Not at all. “In general, when I settle here, it’s because there is something,” explains Berberes. In this corner, just behind the stage, a stone’s throw from the wall of screens which moves so that the candidates can access the stage, is placed a combo, that is to say, a screen return making it possible to follow a benefit. “Her, I believe in it a lot. She chose a song by Apple, which is not in the vocal performance,” he tells me, before focusing on the audition. He had flair: the talent in question thrills the coaches.
“There are some to whom I tell that I would like to see them again at the auditions in a year”
And when, on the contrary, the red armchairs remain hermetic to a voice, what happens? Bruno Berberes acts as a guide and leads me to the other end of the wings, to a small space located a few steps behind the seats of the coaches. This is where the spurned pass. “Manon comes to meet the candidates. She calls me if things are not going well and I give them a hot debrief, he informs me. I call some to discuss it after letting a few days pass. For others, it’s not necessary, they figured out where they went wrong. And then there are some I tell that I would like to see them at the auditions in a year or two. This is the case of Marghe, for example, who made four attempts before winning season 10.
This year, some unfortunate talents will be given a second chance: Nolwenn Leroy was responsible for picking up four of them for the next stage, that of the battles. This surprise coach was not backstage that day. Unless, masked and dressed in black, I didn’t recognize her.