Zaho de Sagazan and his Victoires de la Musique, on the stage of La Seine Musicale, in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), February 9, 2024. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
Was the reform of the voting system on the occasion of the 39th Victoires de la Musique, broadcast live by France 2 from La Seine Musicale in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), Friday February 9, reflected in the facts ? Accused for a long time, and not without reason, of favoring corporatism, the procedure has been revised for this edition: if a college of nearly 900 music professionals always selects the nominated artists during a first round, they are not only 32 left to decide between them. Above all, none of these last voters can be the rights holder of a work in competition.
This reduction potentially increases the chances of winners arriving in a tie. Which did not fail to happen regarding the male artist of the year since the regular Vianney (already awarded in 2016) found himself tied with Gazo, specialized in drill, a branch of the street-oriented hip-hop, imported from Chicago and the United Kingdom.
This first victory awarded to the author of Die made it possible to quickly break with the impression that urban music (hip-hop and R’n’B) is forgotten, despite its immense popularity. This frustration led to the creation of a competing body, Les Flammes, which had also crowned Gazo at the Théâtre du Châtelet for its first edition, in May 2023.
Aya Nakamura absentee
Shortly following, the Belgian-Congolese rapper Damso was crowned for his concerts. After three hours of award ceremonies interspersed with songs, the Victory for male revelation of the year went to Yamê, whose register leans towards variety. Then Aya Nakamura was finally able to obtain the supreme title: female artist of the year. The most listened to French-speaking voice today in the world left empty-handed in 2019 as in 2021, before the defunct category of the most streamed album statistically imposed its Aya the next year. This time, she will not have moved. Overloaded calendar? A gesture of humor towards a joke that she did not fail to criticize?
Also read the portrait | Article reserved for our subscribers Aya Nakamura, the “Queen” of French pop
Add to your selections
For the rest, the 2024 edition of the Victoires de la Musique comes down to one name: Zaho de Sagazan. A little over a year ago, the 24-year-old singer was an unknown, in residence at the Théâtre L’Aire libre (less than 300 seats) in Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande (Ille-et-Vilaine ), as part of the Transmusicales de Rennes. The heiress of Barbara and Brel, which she revisits with Berlin electro, had not yet published The Symphony of Lightning, a first album which allowed him to win four times out of five nominations.
