• The twelfth season of The Voice is launched Saturday, February 25, 2023, at 21:10, on TF1.
  • In mid-January, four readers of 20 Minutes had the opportunity to spend a day on the set of the telecrochet.
  • They went behind the scenes and interviewed the coaches.

The piece would benefit from being stretchy as the jackets, dresses and pants seem to be cramped. Some of these clothes have dressed or will dress the talents of season 12 of The Voice, launched this Saturday on TF1. "Some will wear their own outfits on set. I tell them to come with their luggage and we look together at what they can put on, "says Alexis, the stylist of the show. "You're lucky to be there because, apart from the candidates, no one is allowed to come. It's even more exclusive than meeting the coaches! " he says emphatically. The clarification is addressed to Anne, Tom, Sami and Olivier, four readers of 20 Minutes that we selected after a call for applications. At stake: a day on the set of the telecrochet with a backstage tour, participation in a recording and... interview with coaches Amel Bent, Zazie, Vianney, Bigflo and Oli (to be read soon in 20 Minutes...).

Appointment was given at 10 am, January 16, at the Studios du Lendit, in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). The quartet is on time. He is even a little ahead. "For once I win something, I intend to take advantage of it!" warns Anne, 21, currently in civic service in Paris. Her enthusiasm will not leave her all day. Once the colourful bracelet synonymous with sesame for areas closed to the public has been recovered, Matthieu Notebaert, the communications director of ITV Studios France - the company that produces the show - plays the guide. Anne is amazed: "We really visit everything! Even places where there is marked "FORBIDDEN to enter". »

"Your ear is a bit of"

In addition to the stylist's den, our readers can take a look in the makeup box and follow the ultimate private rehearsal of a talent with a vocal coach. Olivier and Sami are in the front row - and try to be as discreet as possible - to see a candidate refine his interpretation of Sam Smith's I'm Not the Only One. He is feverish because, for a few days, he has been dizzy due to ear problems. "Your ear, it's a bit of, but the good news is that the voice is fine," reassures him, as he can, his repeater.

Barely time to sympathize that the visit resumes its course. Direction the edge of the plateau where the thread began. "You know what it is? asks Matthieu Notebaert. It's like in the theatre, it's the big rehearsal for us, for the production, of all the talents with their songs: they follow one after the other. And the guide to show the return, on a television, of what is happening at the same time, on the other side, in front of the cameras.

A few more steps, a small staircase to climb and here are the privileged visitors behind the screen in the background of the stage from where the talents make their appearance during the blind auditions. Sami doesn't lose a beat. Seeing "[his] own eyes behind the scenes", he realizes "the big machine that is The Voice". Little did he know that some 200 people were working, directly or indirectly, on the set...

"Just like at home"

"The set is pretty big, but there's not a huge gap between reality and what you see on TV," notes Anne. Olivier, who does not live there his baptism of television fire since he participated in Do not forget the lyrics on France 2, feels "at home". "No one took us for strangers or looked at us askance, we were welcomed with open arms and we were a bit part of the show at that time," said the thirty-year-old, a mathematics teacher.

The four guests of the day are quick to take their ease in the coaches' chairs to attend the rehearsals. They exchange a few words with Pascal Guix, the artistic producer of The Voice, and Bruno Berberes, the casting director. A little moment of respite before the adrenaline rush of the interviews.

First, Anne and Sami talk to Amel Bent and Zazie in the coaches' lounge. The questions follow one another, without downtime. Artists do not dodge any, joke, play the game of selfies. The atmosphere is very relaxed. The two journalists for a day leave the room on their little cloud. "This moment will remain forever etched in my memory. They were kind and caring. It went way too fast," says Sami. "The conversation was a bit like four friends over coffee," says Anne. And then, I had the opportunity to tell Amel how much she meant to me without sounding too much like an andouille - well, I think. »

"Vianney is just normal"

Same delight, an hour later, for Tom and Olivier. The latter, who spoke at length with Vianney about their common Paloise origins says he had "a big crush" for the author, composer and performer "who is really just 'normal' and accessible". His 18-year-old sidekick, a history student in Lille, emerges from the silent meeting of emotion. "A magical moment," he would later say of his meeting with his idols, Bigflo and Oli.

After the lunch break at the catering set up under a prefabricated and not seen on TV, all four take their places in the audience to follow the first salvo of recording of the cross battles. "But, suddenly, we will be spoiled," they worry. We reassure them and tell them that this will allow them to follow the previous steps on television with a different eye. "Attending the talent rehearsals also allowed us to see the difference with their afternoon performance. I was able to see who lost their means and who found the resource to sing even better, "says Anne, a few days later. For her, as for Tom, Sami and Olivier, the season that arrives on TF1 will have a very special flavor.

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  • Television
  • The Voice
  • TF1
  • Vianney
  • Bigflo and Oli
  • Amel Bent
  • Zazie