• Yoann Fréget won the show "The Voice" ten years ago, on May 18, 2013.
  • The TF1 show "was a real amplifier," says the artist, now Yoann FreeJay, to 20 Minutes. But music was my job since I was 19."
  • If he is very rare in the media, he has never stopped singing, and has chained, for ten years, concerts, all over the world. Today, he is working on a new project, #TheImproGuy, based on musical improvisation.

Ten years ago, on May 18, 2013, Yoann Fréget won "The Voice". In front of nearly seven million viewers, this 26-year-old from Montpellier, inhabited by his songs, was crowned best talent of the second season of the show. Ten years after his victory, Yoann Fréget became Yoann FreeJay, and, he is rare, very rare, in the media. But he does not miss the limelight, under which he burned for many months after his consecration to "The Voice", does not miss him. Not at all, even. Because Yoann FreeJay, even if he is not in "50 minutes Inside", has never stopped singing, in France, in the United States, in churches, in small and large halls. Ten years later, he answers questions from 20 Minutes.

How are you, ten years after "The Voice"?

Very, very good!

Your victory, in the final, is it still fresh, in your memory?

Ah, that's a good question... (He thinks) I've evolved so much since then, that it seems very far away. But, at the same time, I feel so close to my soul as a child, and therefore as a young man, that it seems to me at the same time very close.

Do you still remember the sensations you felt when Nikos Aliagas announced your name? Was there adrenaline?

I remember it very well. But it wasn't adrenaline! If you look back at my reaction, you can see that I didn't jump for joy at all. I felt gratitude, of course, but also weight. A responsibility. A certain gravity. I'm a very intuitive person, and I must have felt all that this victory was going to entail. That's why I didn't jump in all directions! Looking back, I understand why.

Access to this content has been blocked in order to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "I ACCEPT", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I AGREE

And the trophy, do you still have it?

There is no trophy! They had to make one, then. It's true that it's missing, in my library! But on my bookshelf, on the other hand, I have another trophy, which means a lot to me. The Sankofa Soul Contest, which I won, and which allowed me to go on stage for the first time in Paris. That's when the team of "The Voice" spotted me, and offered me to pass the casting of the show. I didn't sign up, I never sent an application to "The Voice". I said to myself "Why not", it was a good opportunity to share good energies in music. But I already knew that with my personality, show business, it could be a little complicated... I went for it. And I never had any regrets.

Did you expect to go so far in this show?

I have a philosophy in life, which is that anything is possible. Especially if you give your heart, 100%. And because that's what I did, 98% of the time I was on that show, I knew it was possible. But I never said to myself "I'm going to win!", never.

Before the show, you were already a singer, and you had done a lot of scenes, for years...

Yes. "The Voice" was a real amplifier. But music was my job since I was 19. I had done many scenes alongside Emmanuel Djob [a musician from Montpellier, also a candidate in season 2] and Marianne Aya-Omac [a musician from Montpellier, a candidate in season 6]. Without them, Yoann FreeJay would not exist. What I am today was awakened by these two immense artists. They had a considerable importance in showing me that music is to transcend oneself, it is something profound. Beyond glitter.

In 2013, after your victory, you released an album, Quelques heures avec moi, with the title Sauras-tu m'aimer, the soundtrack of La belle et la bête by Christophe Gans. But it didn't work as well as you would have liked... Did it surprise you?

No.

No?

No. (He laughs) That's my answer! I'm very proud of this album. But this album, people didn't know it was out. And even today, I am told "Oh well, you released an album!"

A few years after your victory, you regretted not having been supported, in terms of the promotion of the record... Notably by TF1.

I have now made the choice to start a new cycle. I have a lot of gratitude, for everything that "The Voice" has given me. It made me grow, more than anything. I had to draw more strength from myself to overcome the obstacles I encountered. Thanks to this strength, I was also able to come out. It's priceless. But for me, ten years later, a page is turning. Today, I want to dedicate myself to my new project.

What is this project?

It is an experimental project, based on the magic of improvisation, to show that music is something that exists beyond control, beyond the traditional "verse, chorus, verse, etc." scheme. Ten years after "The Voice", I will travel all over the world, to develop this project, #TheImproGuy [The Improv Man]. Those who know me well know that it suits me perfectly. I've never, ever interpreted a song in the same way. It will also be a very personal project, because this ability to improvise, which few people have, I have thanks to my stuttering, because my brain is not constituted in the same way. And my memory is very random. It pushed me to develop this talent for improvisation, since I was very young. I often tell people, "Give me three words, and I'll make you a song." This is what I will do, in particular, during my concerts.

It's a confusing project!

Yes, I understand that can be said. What I deplore today in record companies is that they are economists, who rely on statistics. That's why the songs are all similar. We want to make music that has already proven itself. We just change a little chouïa, and we are served the same thing. There are exceptions, it is true. But my exception must be scary, because I have never been contacted to do anything new. I was contacted to do a lot of mundane things, which I did not do...

Sometimes, when artists are not in the spotlight, it feels like they are struggling. Not you. You've always done a lot of concerts...

And singing workshops. I've always been close to people. In the summer, just after my victory at "The Voice", I did a singing workshop with a hundred people. I know that this accessibility has cost me some credibility in the industry, because we sometimes expect artists to behave like stars.

Do you still sing in the street, or in the subway, for fun?

In France, no. When I did, people called me even less than before. They thought I had lost everything. It disgusted me a little... Again, proof that you always have to be in a box. When I sang in the metro, I also sang at the Olympia, I did lots of concerts... So I'm only doing it abroad, today. I love France, but what I love abroad is that there is a certain freshness. When people see me, they don't think "Ah, how many albums has he sold?", "Ah, we see him more"... No. They judge me a bit like the Blind Auditions, actually.

OUR REPORT ON "The Voice"

You are proof that we can do this job, without existing in the media?

Yes, absolutely. But I really like the media! I am not at war. Neither with TF1, nor with Universal. I'm on my way.

Yoann FreeJay participated in two tracks of Marianne Aya-Omac's new album, Just a human, available here. And to follow the news of Yoann FreeJay's new project, it's happening here, and here.

  • Entertainment
  • Television
  • Montpellier
  • Hérault
  • Occitania
  • Languedoc-Roussillon
  • The Voice
  • Telecrochet
  • Competition
  • TF1
  • Music