Paris (AFP)

Back to basics for "The Voice": the star of TF1's musical shows returns Saturday for its ninth season, with a quartet of coaches entirely renewed and a mechanism that seeks to reconnect with the fundamentals of the show.

If Nikos Aliagas is still in charge of the singing competition, a new team settles in the famous red armchairs of the coaches: Lara Fabian, Marc Lavoine, Amel Bent and Pascal Obispo succeed Julien Clerc, Jenifer, Mika and Soprano.

An experience not completely new for most of them: Lara Fabian participated in the Quebec version ("The voice"), Amel Bent got his start in "The Voice Kids", and Pascal Obispo was in season 7.

These personalities seem to have had a lot of fun fighting over the best candidates during blind auditions.

"It's a sweet war," said Lara Fabian during a meeting with the press, not really disoriented by this French version. "The music that is sung here is a little different, I would say, but after all it is the same energy".

This new jury could help revitalize audiences that remain high but experienced a drop in speed last year: the program had fallen for the first time under 5 million viewers on average during its 8th season, and the final ( broadcast exceptionally on a Thursday, instead of Saturday evening, a clearly less favorable position for a very family-friendly program) had "only" 3.4 million fans.

The show also relies on a change of setting: the "lives" will take place on the stage of a large Parisian hall.

And it comes back to simplified rules, in the spirit of its beginnings. One measure in particular was unanimously approved by the new jury: during blind auditions, the chairs of coaches who did not buzz systematically turn around at the end of the services, and their occupants must explain to the candidates why they do not have not chosen.

- "Not just a singing contest" -

The rule introduced in 2017, according to which jurors do not turn around in the event of elimination, was considered frustrating, even disrespectful, both for the candidates who found themselves ejected without explanation and for the jury who did not discover their faces.

"In Canada, we never stopped turning around. This is something that the public would not have accepted," said Lara Fabian, who found the old system "cruel" for candidates.

However, the main novelty of the 2019 edition, the blocking button (which allows a coach to prevent one of his rivals from selecting a candidate) remains in force. Coaches need to be more responsive and the show is spiced up.

On the candidate side, who will succeed Whitney Marin, coached by Mika and crowned last year? "It's been singing well this year", judges Pascal Obispo, who appreciates the authenticity of the show. "This program allows us to better understand who we are", because when we have to seduce a candidate, "we also reveal ourselves".

The show reveals a large part of the coaches' personalities and their tastes. "I listen a lot with my guts. There is a kind of voice that, for the most part, moves me, it's those in which there is a lot of soul, with a very African-American musicality, gospel", confides Amel Bent, the youngest member of the team, who will use her experience with the "Kids".

Marc Lavoine, meanwhile, is thrilled by the immense variety of candidates' backgrounds and backgrounds. "This diversity is incredible! The colors of the country in front of us, through the songs, tell what this country is today. It is not only a singing contest", says the interpreter of "She has revolver eyes" and "C'est ça la France", for whom this kind of program helps to re-weld a divided society.

© 2020 AFP