This Saturday is the final day for TF1 which broadcasts the last live show of the tenth season of
The Voice
.
Whether for fear of getting bored or because of the health crisis, the program has been forced to reinvent itself by offering several new features.
Atmosphere between the four coaches, narration of the show, songs sometimes missing the mark… The Culture service of
20 Minutes
takes stock of the good things, but also the less good, that we have seen this year.
The Voice
enters the home stretch.
TF1 is retransmitting, this Saturday evening, the final of this tenth season of the telecrochet.
If the channel's star program has only had two live shows this year - compared to the usual four - this does not mean that the 2021 edition will have been less captivating.
As it approaches its conclusion, the
20 Minutes
TV service
takes stock of the strengths and weaknesses of this
The Voice
in times of Covid.
Effective storytelling
The sanitary rules (physical distancing, prohibited gatherings…) had something to complicate the task of production. Usually, the talents come accompanied by their relatives and an audience attends their various performances. Coronavirus pandemic requires, the stage was empty of spectators - until the "cross battles" attended by 101 people - and the candidates received the encouragement of their families and friends by interposed screens. “The Covid forced us to change things. It has become a force. We managed to find a new style, ”explains artistic producer Pascal Guix. Emphasis has been placed on what the viewer usually does not see.From Marie's panic attack before her blind audition to the final encouragement from the vocal coaches before going on stage, this season, the faithful were able to observe another facet of the telecrochet. “We did a lot of production and editing to bring these moments to life. We filmed the preparations and tried to ensure that the viewer could see through the keyhole what is happening behind the scenes, even more than usual, Pascal Guix summed up before the episode of the "cross battles" . It gives a feeling of reality that, even live, we could not have lived. We kept the best moments, those of tension, of support… I have the impression that we have succeeded in creating new codes. "“We did a lot of production and editing to bring these moments to life. We filmed the preparations and tried to ensure that the viewer could see through the keyhole what is happening behind the scenes, even more than usual, Pascal Guix summed up before the episode of the "cross battles" . It gives a feeling of reality that, even live, we could not have lived. We kept the best moments, those of tension, of support… I have the impression that we have succeeded in creating new codes. "“We did a lot of production and editing to bring these moments to life. We filmed the preparations and tried to ensure that the viewer could see through the keyhole what is happening behind the scenes, even more than usual, Pascal Guix summed up before the episode of the "cross battles" . It gives a feeling of reality that, even live, we could not have lived. We kept the best moments, those of tension, of support… I have the impression that we have succeeded in creating new codes. "even live, we could not have lived. We kept the best moments, those of tension, of support… I have the impression that we have succeeded in creating new codes. "even live, we could not have lived. We kept the best moments, those of tension, of support… I have the impression that we have succeeded in creating new codes. "
The alchemy between coaches
We were teased towards Vianney at the start of the season, especially about his posture, but we have to admit that over the episodes the new recruit has consolidated his position. He has found his place alongside Amel Bent, Marc Lavoine and Florent Pagny and this quartet works perfectly well, in complementarity. If, some seasons, it was difficult to discern what amounted to the joke or the passive aggressive remark between two jurors, this time, no doubt was allowed. The rooms were good-natured and the disagreements argued. The two deans showed their thirty-year friendship, the "animals" Bent and Pagny opposed the "cerebral" Vianney and Lavoine and some never hesitated to salute the positions of others ... One wonders if the absence of an audience did not contribute to their spontaneity."Is it thanks to this that the coaches are more let go? Asks Pascal Guix. I wouldn't downplay the ability of these four to be disarmingly naturally. "
The cross battles
This is THE novelty of the season and it was a success. An entire program was devoted to these duels between talents from different teams. In one evening, we went from 16 to 8 candidates for the final victory. The device, where the coaches chose one of his talents and then the team he was going to face, did not guarantee that each coach still had talents for the last two shows. And this stress of the coaches was very telegenic… The part of strategy in the choice of the artists to send into combat, without revolutionizing the game, also amused the coaches. For example, we have seen Florent Pagny rejoice to see that his team "scared" the other coaches. These duels also made it possible to note a beautiful solidarity between the candidates of different teams. The eliminations were all the more heartbreaking.The last strong point of the “cross battles” was the presence of 100 voters in the public. Neither really a live show, where viewers vote for their favorites to which they are attached, nor a recorded program where only the coaches decide, the "cross battles" have reshuffled the cards and favored the talents capable of seducing the public with a only interpretation.
The K.-O.
If the concept of "cross battles" is exemplary in terms of intensity, suspense and readability of the rules, the same cannot be said of knockouts. During this step, each coach must reduce the number of talents in his team from eight to four. The problem is that there is no precise procedure and that everyone has to do as they see fit. Florent Pagny, for example, waited until four of the female voices he considered close to each other (Azza, Marie, Marghe and Stellia) had passed on stage before delivering his verdict, when he had already qualified Giada and Edgar. Amel Bent, who had just awarded three qualifying places, put the last two candidates to pass, Sonia and Anik, on waivers. Marc Lavoine, him,had already selected four talents for the next stage when Anaïd came to defend his chances. Despite her excellent performance, she had to leave the adventure, her coach refusing to reconsider her choices to allow her to qualify. In other words: even before singing, she was already eliminated. In short: the K.-O. prefer uppercuts to equity at the risk of overcoming the frustration of candidates and the public.
Let us dance
Magnolias for Ever
by Claude François covered by Angelo Mougin with tremolos in the voice, we did not expect it, but
The Voice
did.
When you're a purist of the disco version, it hurts a bit.
We could have forgiven this step aside if almost all of the dancing songs had not been taken up, at least in part, in a haunting way during the “cross battles”:
Bad Romance
by Niki Black,
Chandelier
by Mentissa Aziza… La musical direction of the show even deprived us of the pleasure of pushing the coffee table in our living room to dance to
Don't Start Now
since she decided to start Dua Lipa's song in piano voice.
This production fad, which insists on slowing down the tempo of its covers at all costs, has ended up boring us.
The recipe is effective when it allows us to rediscover texts, like Jim Bauer with
Tata Yoyo
, but when it's been more than a year that we have been deprived of nightclubs, let us wiggle our hips on our sofa without transforming each pop tube into a perfect slow for a prom.
Talents ... talented
With all that, we forget a little that the television circus would be nothing without the artists.
And this year, they were there.
If the parade of voices during the blind auditions did not stand out particularly from previous editions, the finalists, and even the eight semi-finalists, form a surprisingly homogeneous areopagus from the point of view of quality.
So much so that last Saturday we were at a loss to know which quartet to eliminate (well, ok, Arthur and Tarik were a little below).
Of course, some voices from this season will be missing on Saturday night (Anaïd in particular), but it has been a long time since we had the right to such a balanced final.
It's good for the suspense, and therefore it's good for the show.
Television
"The Voice" finale changes rules for the first time in ten years
Television
Tears and a few failures punctuate the rehearsals of the semi-final of "The Voice"
TF1
Telecrochet
Television
The Voice