Singer Barbara Pravi, on stage at the Olympia in Paris, October 6, 2020 for the Pyschodon, a charity concert.
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SADAKA EDMOND / SIPA
Barbara Pravi won the French selection for Eurovision on Saturday on France 2 with her song
Voilà
.
The 27-year-old artist has released two EPs, the last of which, in 2020, corresponds to the "French song" in which she feels good.
In recent years, the singer had also been noticed through her rewritings of
Kid
and
Notes for too late
, through a feminist and feminist prism.
" Here is who I am.
Here I am even if, stripped naked, I am afraid, yes, ”sings Barbara Pravi.
A song in the first person, where the 27-year-old Parisian describes herself as a "half-singer", a "black-eyed girl" having the "crazy dream" of "writing stories" reaching the ears of the public .
Mission accomplished with
Voilà
, since the viewers of France 2 elected her on Saturday to defend the French chances at Eurovision next May.
The singer's performance favored sobriety and intensity.
Like, in their time, Edith Piaf and Jacques Brel, to whom many hasten to bring her closer.
Influences assumed and claimed.
“I would be very unhappy to be annoyed by these comparisons.
It's a huge compliment, she slips to
20 Minutes
.
I call it "old French song" because these artists are dead, but their songs are not "old" either: the lyrics remain extremely current and the melodies, like all great melodies, are timeless.
"
"The funk, serious"
Barbara Pravi thought for a long time before embarking on the selection for Eurovision.
She who has always declined the proposals for the production of
The Voice
, burning to have her as a candidate, she was "scared, serious".
"I was so aware of the stakes, of what it represents, of the media coverage ... that if I ever presented myself for Eurovision, it had to be with a song that I could wear, that was of value to me , of which I would never be ashamed, ”she told us at the beginning of the month.
There was a time, not so long ago, when Barbara Pravi wiped glasses at the back of a cafe.
Waitress in a Parisian bar, she aspired to a career in music.
But she didn't know anyone in this environment where a lot of things work on the network.
So her first salaries came in a clip, which she shot with her pals, as a calling card of her vocal skills.
The video garnered 20,000 views in a few days, enough to allow it to be spotted by the Capitol label.
It was six years ago.
In mid-January, in an Instagram story, she revealed that, the day she signed her contract, "the first words [that we] said to her were: 'Ah, but, is it you Barbara? But you' are not good actually. "
"The boss of the label, she slipped to Terrafemina, wanted to make her" a little singer who didn't talk too much, who we didn't give a damn about, who didn't have strong positions.
When I understood that, I quickly refused because I write my texts, I have things to tell.
I was put in the closet and if he had stayed in that position, I would have stayed.
"
“I listened to his songs and, in fact, I didn't have any help to give him.
His project was very coherent, well written, ”says Igit, the author, composer and performer who had been commissioned to help Barbara Pravi rework her lyrics.
But who better than herself to find the words of her verses and refrains mostly inspired by her experience?
In his texts, “I” is not another.
A voice for women's rights
“I did my first EP [in 2018], my first mistakes too.
Especially at the level of the entourage ”, confides the singer.
She wasn't comfortable with the pop sounds that had been heavily imposed on her.
The only solution: create a vacuum around it, cut ties with the wrong advisers.
The result: a comeback at the start of 2020 with a second EP,
Come back for winter
, more in line with her taste for French songs, which represents "80%" of what she listens to.
A year earlier, she mixed
Le Malamour
, a song refused by her previous team, with a rewriting of
Notes pour trop tard
by Orelsan through a female prism: "Let no one believe that it's your fault, that you deserved violence.
(…) You are too strong, you are too beautiful, you are too important.
In a matter of days, the video surpassed two million views - it is close to four million now.
In the post- # metoo period, speech becomes free.
She frees her words.
This
Malamour
, "a memory of the blows one takes for hugs", evokes domestic violence, a tragedy that she has experienced personally.
In
Chair
, released last year, she relates the voluntary termination of pregnancy to which she resorted at 17 years old.
"We are explaining life to you, everything is agitated around.
And then there is this sentence that is thrown at you: "But you are only a whore, it is what happens, well yeah. You are not protected and you will perhaps be sterile, had to be there think".
A chilling text that she delivers heartily.
Whether she takes up, within the collective 39 Femmes,
Debout les femmes
, hymn of the MLF, for the benefit of the Maison des femmes or rewrite
Kid
by Eddy de Pretto, to offer her its feminine counterpart, the injunction "You will be virile." , my son ”becoming“ You will be docile my daughter ”, she gives her voice to the feminist cause.
Children's songs
She laments that "feminism" has "almost become a dirty word", while "it is just the desire [of women] to be considered on all levels: professional, personal, emotional, etc.
Let the sliders be on par with the men.
"Currently, she is" in a kind of retreat ", she has" the impression that, to change mentalities, it must be done gently ".
“Sometimes my friends say things that I find sexist and they don't realize it because, to them, it's common language.
So I take them back, and they accept it.
Another stone to the building: in her Instagram stories, she undertook to tell from time to time stories of famous women.
“I understand very well the women who are more nervous and more offensive, it is normal, she assures.
However, at the moment, I am rather trying to coat.
"
The more you talk to her, the more you feel that her spontaneity and humility are not being feigned.
“We are in a team where we don't fart higher than our ass.
We are anti-pretension, we make sure that our songs are accessible, ”confirms Igit who, with Barbara Pravi, has been writing and composing for a few years for other artists such as Chimène Badi or Julie Zenatti.
We owe in particular to this shocking duo, nicknamed in their label "the experts",
J'imagine
, with which Valentina won the Eurovision Junior in November.
Or
Bim Bam Toi
, the tube of TikTok and the playgrounds sung by Carla, a sentimental education in onomatopoeia - "it's bim, bam, boom, it's pshht and it's vroum" - impossible to get out of your head a once we've heard it.
"There are not a lot of half measures at home"
"I am often asked how it is possible to write something joyful for children and so heavy for me," notes Barbara Pravi, who felt the question coming on the musical split.
We are not just one thing, we are a palette of emotions.
The key is to know how we manage to connect to our emotions.
Me, I live my life intensely.
When I am somewhere, I am absolutely present in this place.
When I sing
Voila
, my whole body is singing this song.
When I laugh, my whole body laughs.
I laugh very hard.
I speak with my hands, there are not many half-measures in me.
"
If it had to be defined in three words, it would be: “French”, “brunette” and “very small”.
On the other end of the phone, she laughs: “I'm really not tall.
Often, when people who have seen me in a clip meet me, they are surprised: "But you're tiny!"
In fact, I don't exceed the meter 60. ”Barbara chose her stage name in reference to the Serbian origins of her grandpa.
In this language, "pravi" means "the true, the authentic".
A word that would be perfect to describe the singer and the woman she is.
Here.
Culture
Barbara Pravi adapts Orelsan title as an anthem for women's rights
Music
Feminism
French song
Eurovision
Culture