“I was trapped by the work that was asked of me,” says Marc Lavoine

• The semi-final of season 9 of “The Voice”, interrupted at the end of April due to confinement, will be broadcast on Saturday evening live on TF1.
• Among the twelve candidates in the running, Antoine Delie, Ifé and Antony Trice are in Marc Lavoine’s team.
• “I never imagined that it would be as moving, that I was going to meet lives, journeys, characters as important and as strong”, confides Marc Lavoine to “20 Minutes” about the results of his first coaching experience in the telecrochet.

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The show must continue. After more than a month of interruption, The Voice returns to the air live this Saturday at 9:05 p.m. on
TF1 for the semi-finals. At the end of the show, the four finalists of the ninth season of the telecrochet will be known. New this year: the four talents, among the twelve in the running, who won the votes of the public, will win their tickets for the final. In other words, a coach may have the joy of seeing the three talents of his team qualified for the last meeting, or the displeasure of facing a triple elimination. For
Marc Lavoine, who is preparing for all eventualities, “that’s the rules of the game.” This Monday, 20 minutes contacted the singer after a coaching session with his team (Antony Trice, Ifé and Antoine Delie) to give an update on his experience as a juror and what is being prepared for Saturday.

#Tea Voice ????J-7 ????
The Voice talents are ready for the ½ Final ✨
And you, are you ready?
Meet next Saturday with @Amel Bent @LFabianOfficial @LavoineOfficiel @ObispoPascal @nikosaliagas and Karine Ferri from 9:05 p.m. on @ TF1 and @ MYTF1 ✌️ pic.twitter.com/TDgiaqwjeb

– TheVoice_TF1 (@ TheVoice_TF1) May 30, 2020

The resumption of coaching, under the conditions of deconfinement, was easy?

Today [lundi], we did Skype coaching so obviously, it’s complicated because the connection was not always very good. Giving advice, instructions or directions when you’re not with the person, it always creates some kind of additional pressure. Whereas, normally, the goal of coaching is precisely to remove pressure. For one of the candidates, I did not have much to say because the performance was already very satisfactory like that. For the other two, I had doubts about things like dress or staging. In this case, it is more difficult to be understood without there being a kind of ambiguous interpretation, which creates a vagueness in communication, a misunderstanding. Tomorrow [mardi], I’ll be with them and, for the last rehearsals, before they sing, we will have more time and privacy to relax things.

It was planned that these live broadcasts would take place at the Palais des sports (Paris 15th), but, coronavirus requires, they will finally take place on set. Isn’t that frustrating?

No, on the contrary, it is interesting, because we are experiencing something historic. Man has always known how to adapt to events, the coronavirus is a reality, there was no question of waiting even longer for these young artists who have worked a lot. I coached really strong talents and kept talking to them, including those who were eliminated in the Battles or to Knockout, during all confinement. We kept an important link. We are in deconfinement and little by little we get used to a new life, it’s part of the game. I think it’s good for them and for the public that we now have the results of the semi-final, that we know who will go to the final.

The rules have changed this year and the four favorite candidates from the public will go to the final. Which means that the three talents on your team could be finalists or eliminated…

Yes, that’s the rule of the game. I could have three, two, one or none in the final. They prepared great songs. At this stage, the choices of songs are fundamental because it is necessary to interpret moving pieces, which represent all the work accomplished, by keeping the history of each one, their personalities. Antoine Delie, Ifé and Antony Trice have chosen songs that seem to me to count in the collective memory while representing something for an artist at that time of the competition. Now put your skin on the table. These songs require an absolutely sincere performance. We made the right choices, I think.

There will be no audience on stage. Compared to the crowd who could have applauded them at the Palais des sports, that makes a hell of a difference…

The public will be “skyped”. There will be a wall of screens showing the faces of those watching the performance. It’s important symbolically. The job of an artist is to sing for each of us and not just for two hundred people on a set. They see it on social media, there are a lot of people talking to them. A singer, when he records a song in the studio, does it for the artists in his Pantheon but also for each of the people to whom he wants to send a message. There is no artistic freedom without constraint and this constraint [l’absence de public] is important. This is one of the facts of this competition. I believe that Ifé, Antoine and Antony are able to free themselves from this constraint to offer viewers the best services.

Two broadcasts from the end, what conclusions do you draw from your first coaching experience in “The Voice”?

I experienced something new throughout the competition because I myself was trapped by the work that was asked of me. I never imagined that it would be as moving, that I would meet lives, journeys, characters as important and as strong. This proves that the people who want to make their voices heard are not there by chance, they are not there to pass the time but because it is their life. I think most of them are made for this job. After the competition The Voice, there is a competition against oneself. The song profession has become difficult. Even for us who are professionals, if I dare say, for years we have had to adapt. The profession is changing. The only thing that doesn’t change is the voice and the hand of the artist who will touch people. I’m happy to see that there were performances of a very high level thanks to the casting that was done. I was impressed with this adventure. There is an incredible life between the make-up artists, the cameramen, the director, the artistic directors… there is something strong and it will remain an unforgettable memory.

So if we offer you to stack for the next season, you accept?

For the moment, I’m trying to fulfill my office to the end, to be useful for the show, for the artists. If the question arises, I will answer it but, for the moment, my full attention is focused on the semi-final and the final.

How do you see the resumption of your artistic activities now that the deconfinement is well underway?

I was very lucky, because apart from the overseas dates, which were postponed and the festivals canceled, I had finished my concerts just before confinement. My tour will normally resume in October, on piano-voice. In the meantime, I will be shooting a film with Gérard Jugnot, so I’m a bit spared. But I think of my colleagues like Christophe Maé, Jean-Louis Aubert, Matthieu Chedid and so many others who had to cancel their tours. I hope that music will return to the stages and festivals very soon.

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