Forget the Star Ac’, The Voice and other Rising Stars… Tomorrow’s artists are already in the Paris metro. Because yes, the musicians and singers that users encounter every day at the bend of a metro corridor are professionals.
Gone are the days when any acrobat could take over a corner of a tunnel and hold out his hat. Few people know it, but the artists who offer a moment of chant in the capital’s underground are accredited by the RATP. Every six months, the transport authority organizes a casting call worthy of the best telecrochet shows. A test to which 20 minutes attended this week.
Singer Mentissa on the jury
An exceptional evening, exceptional circumstances. If usually the nearly 600 candidates audition in front of a jury made up of RATP agents and volunteer travelers, the casting of this Tuesday, September 26 took on a more flashy outfit with the presence of recognized artists in the people of Mentissa, revealed in the season 10 of The Voice, and Freddy Faada, Senegalese singer and rapper, accompanied by other music professionals.
In the Gaîté Lyrique concert hall, and in front of around a hundred spectators who came to enjoy the show and encourage the candidates, Stella Sainson, responsible for the system and “Madame Loyal” of the evening, presented each singer and each group before their performance: “It’s a super intense moment, because these artists are performing in these professional circumstances, a beautiful room, a high-level jury…”
An accreditation and a television report to be won
The selection criteria: charisma, originality (all the artists of the evening offer original compositions), showmanship and… pronunciation. “In French as in English, the words must be intelligible to the audience. We don’t want to have the impression of “yogurt” songs,” explains Stella Sainson.
If the presenter and the audience are friendly, the pressure is sometimes felt for the artists when they arrive on stage: “There is an additional challenge for this casting. In addition to accreditation, a winner will also earn the right to a few minutes’ portrait on BFM TV. »
One by one, the artists and groups come together and offer top-notch performances. Everyone is already a regular on the stage, even the youngest. Several are even regulars on the Paris metro, like the duo Olila, consisting of Edgar, 30, and Elliott, 31. Just off stage, the two childhood friends from the Paris region explain: “We have already played in the metro in 2015 and 2019. It’s a difficult scene, but we always come back to it. »
A very difficult scene
“It’s a real school. You have to face an audience that is not there for you. Who often ignores you,” comments Stella Sainson. “When you have played in the metro, you can play everywhere afterwards,” adds Elliott, “it allows you to test your compositions, see which ones catch the public’s attention, but also to test your ego. But when someone stops and takes their headphones off for you, that’s a pretty big win. »
And as if having “the most difficult audience in France” wasn’t enough. Logistical difficulties are added to this. “You have to choose the right times and the right stations. Sometimes we did three or four spots before finding a free spot,” says Edgar.
While they are free to play when and as much as they want, artists must respect specific locations to set up. And some places are more coveted than others, for the crowds, the public, but also for the acoustics. Which may impose certain limits. The duo Kim Dee, made up of Kim and Noam, sister and brother aged 30 and 25, knows these issues well, having played since October 2022 in the metro. “You have to transport your equipment. In addition to the environment, it’s very tiring,” says Kim, who is still hesitant to invest in a generator to be able to use her brother’s synthesizer.
Test yourself in front of the public
But if the difficulty is such, why then do these artists persist in wanting to play in the metro? The bait of gain ? The musicians are not paid by the RATP and some claim an average of 20 euros earned per hour on average. Very random amounts and above all very insufficient as long as the group is made up of three or four members.
“It’s the biggest scene in Paris!” », Explain Olia and Jack, two young people from Brest who are trying their luck for the first time. “We’ve already done a lot of scenes. We know the rotten conditions, so they don’t scare us. On the other hand, we like the proximity with the public, the possibility of testing our music, of readjusting. » Also, for these two young people aged 25 and 24, the metro is a way to gain notoriety.
Gain notoriety and build a (social) network
An argument that the members of Olila also put forward: “People stop, sometimes ask us for our profiles on social networks, then they follow us online and share what we do. It gives us visibility, Edgar explains, sometimes some film us and post the video on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook. »
Stella Sainson, well aware of the importance of “networks” today, does not forget to announce the online profiles of each candidate at the end of their performance on stage.
But the network is also, and above all, done the old-fashioned way. Between musicians first according to Edgar: “We end up finding the same “zicos”, in the metro or at festivals, we exchange our experiences. Sometimes it can be someone who works in production, etc. »
A stepping stone to bigger stages
“The metro musicians” are a “big family” according to the musician: “It’s cliché to say that. But there is no real competition between us because we offer different things. We meet up often, we talk a lot with the RATP who calls us back for certain events. »
Because this is also one of the great attractions of “metro musicians”. Because if none of the groups forgets to specify at the end of their performance that they are still looking for “dates”, the RATP regularly offers them some. “We are the guarantors of an artistic quality which allows us to place two or three groups in several festivals such as Solidays, We Love Green or Art’Rock in Saint-Brieuc,” proudly announces Stella Sainson. We are a talent accelerator for this. »
“If I were a record company, I would sign Kim Dee straight away”
And among the groups present this Wednesday, several could soon find themselves on big stages. If the six groups presented have obtained their accreditation, two winners (Yes! It’s the surprise of the evening) will have the honors of a television report: Kim Dee, and the singer Numah.
“All the artists had something unique to present to us this evening,” explains Freddy Faada. The deliberation was difficult because the level was excellent. My favourites ? If I were a record company, I would sign Kim Dee right away. And if I were a tourer, I would rush to the group Unravel who gave us an incredible performance this evening. They have the profile for big stages. »