The trophies will be presented at a ceremony on February 11.

The rapper, 39, and the singer, 29, compete for the artist (male and female), album, song and audiovisual creation awards.

In this last category, Clara Luciani is in contention with the video for "The rest" while OrelSan is nominated for "Never show that to anyone", the documentary series about her career.

Proof that this type of medium - broadcast in its case on a platform (Amazon Prime Video) - becomes a checkbox in an artistic journey.

"We see that the perception of the music-image team is changing, it goes from short formats of 1min30 on social networks to longer creations as OrelSan, Angèle or Bigflo & Oli have done", analysis for AFP the president of the Victories, Stéphane Espinosa.

These two leading artists are closely followed by Juliette Armanet and Feu!

Chatterton cited respectively in three categories.

But, to summarize the debates, OrelSan appears to be the essential of the hinge at the end of 2021 / beginning of 2022, surfing on a public and critical success.

Social column

"Civilization", released in November (the same day as the British Adele's blockbuster "30"), is the best-selling album in France in 2021 (more than 335,000 copies), according to the classification of the National Union of phonographic publishing (Snep).

And the opus fits perfectly at the time.

The song "The smell of gasoline" stands out as the soundtrack / alarm signal of the excesses which bristle the debates around the presidential campaign.

And his art of the social chronicle still illuminates "Manifeste", a piece of bravery of seven minutes on a demonstration which turns badly, with the beautiful cinematographic writing.

Rapper OrelSan, October 10, 2021 in Cannes Valery HACHE AFP / Archives

The album is not just an acid report, but is crossed, as OrelSan recently told AFP, by a big question: "What are you going to pass on to your children? + Civilization +, c 'is the society around me and what I can contribute ".

Will OrelSan do better than in 2018, when he won three Victories in the same ceremony?

The artist is in any case lying the titles of his previous albums "Perdu d'avance" (2009) and "La fête est finie" (2017), reaching a large audience, well beyond the circle of rap.

- Dance and messages -

With "Heart", released in June 2021, Clara Luciani has therefore signed an ideal album to celebrate the deconfinement that was taking shape for the summer of 2021 (11th in sales in 2021 with more than 155,000 copies).

Without forgetting some strong messages.

"I never wanted to choose between serious and dancing, it was already the case with + La grenade + (hit from the previous album that became a feminist hymn)", she was developing at the time for AFP.

The singer-songwriter always emphasizes this "need to dance to exorcise".

Singer Clara Luciani during the 36th Victoires de la Musique at the Seine Musicale, February 12, 2021 in Boulogne-Billancourt Bertrand GUAY AFP / Archives

The ceremony of the 37th victories of music will take place at La Seine Musicale, in the Paris region, and will be broadcast live on France 2 and France Inter.

This event is scheduled while current music artists are once again affected by health restrictions and in particular the ban on standing concerts until the end of January.

"It is particularly super-complicated for developing artists, who do not have the opportunity to exhibit themselves on stage, underlines Stéphane Espinosa. It is important that the Victories are held, especially for them, so that they have a first TV ".

With the revelation categories (male and female), the general public will discover artists like Chien Noir, Myd, L'Impératrice and Silly Boy Blue.

In 2021, the Victories had consecrated in the categories queens Benjamin Biolay (doubled with the trophies of the male artist and the album for "Grand Prix") and Pomme (female artist).

© 2022 AFP