Paris (AFP)

How many crowns for the singer of "Your Queen"? Angèle, both a sales star and a figure of feminism, was named in three categories to the 35th Victoires de la Musique this Friday evening.

At 24, this child of the ball - sister of rapper Roméo Elvis, daughter of singer Marka and actress Laurence Bibot - competes for the titles of "female artist", "concert" and "audiovisual creation" for the clip of "Balance ton quoi" where Pierre Niney plays.

The young Belgian is as good as two singers with three nominations each, Philippe Katerine and Alain Souchon, who will have to decide this Friday from 9:05 pm at La Seine Musicale, in Boulogne-Billancourt, in an evening broadcast live on France 2 and France Inter.

Whatever happens during this ceremony, Angèle has already won everything in terms of public recognition, at the top of record sales in France in 2019 in front of Johnny Hallyday, according to the classification of Snep, National Union of Phonographic Publishing. By combining physical sales - CDs, vinyls - downloads and listening on platforms, his album "Brol" reached 532,111 sales last year.

- "Something I was experiencing" -

Star of contemporary music, Angèle has also become one of the voices of feminism 3.0 with her hit "Balance ton quoi". "A few months after the release of the album, I thought that the song + Balance ton quoi + was becoming political despite myself even though I had written an inventory, something that I experienced as a young girl, in the street, at work, anywhere, "she analyzed for AFP in November.

"I cannot be the spokesperson for all women, I can just be one of the figures of feminism, and moreover in spite of myself," she balanced between humility and lucidity.

Angèle is ahead of a Clara Luciani nomination, who is living a great story after the delayed hatching of her first album, cited for "female artist" and "original song" (with the title "Naked").

For male stamps, there will therefore be a duel between the quirky Philippe Katerine, and the lanky Alain Souchon, candidates for "male artist", "album" (respectively for "Confessions" and "Ames fifties") and "original song" ("Stone with you", for the first, "Almost" composed with actor Edouard Baer for the second). The skinned Lomepal is on their heels, named in the categories "male artist" and "album" ("Jeanine").

- Squeaky teeth -

The "stage revelation" should not escape Suzane, the most scheduled artist for the summer of 2019 in festivals in France (32 dates). For "revelation album", Apple ("The faults") seems better placed than Malik Djoudi ("Temperaments").

The previous edition had seen the triumph of Jeanne Added and Bigflo & Oli, with two trophies each ("female artist" and "rock album" for the first; "male artists" and "urban music album" for the two brothers) .

This year, the categories awarded went from 13 to 8. The labels of genres - rock, electro, world music, urban music and rap - disappeared, the category "album of songs" becoming "album" in short - for a better readability, according to the organizers.

But this reform cringes. "It's a shame, it's a world that is closing instead of opening up, it's a bit sad. Opening up was the way to be less Franco-French", regrets to the AFP Martin Meissonnier, DJ, historical producer of world music. Manu Dibango even denounced a lack of "colors" in Le Monde.

"It is true that it lacks a bit of diversity, we will have to work on it," acknowledges AFP Romain Vivien, president of the Victoires de la Musique.

© 2020 AFP