Baptism of fire for Pierre Garnier. The singer presents his first album this Friday. Every secondfour months after his victory in the star academy. An album that has every chance of becoming a success, since the singer has unleashed passions since he left the castle of Dammarie-les-Lys.
Tele-hook probably hasn’t generated such immediate enthusiasm since Jenifer, winner of the first edition in 2002: the singer of To the sun He enjoyed at that time a success on television and radio probably comparable to that enjoyed by Pierre Garnier, 20 years later, on platforms and social networks.
“I have been working at Spotify for three years and I have never seen a phenomenon like this,” Loïc Demaille, director of the French subsidiary of the streaming giant, tells BFMTV.
On the Swedish platform, Pierre Garnier has 2.6 million monthly listeners. This is more than Julien Doré, Clara Luciani or Juliette Armanet, three of the main figures of the current French variety. Of course, neither of them have released an album recently; but the new kid surpasses them with only two songs available, when his classmates’ discographies include several albums.
His most recent single, We know…and obviously the essential those we wereits title revealed in February at the end of the star academywhich established him as a new tidal wave on the French scene.
Unexpected hum
The song had everything to become a hit. This piece co-composed by Joseph Kamel, Daysy and Pierre Garnier himself before the start of the season was performed by the singer during the program, in one of the rooms of the castle. The excerpt of this live-streamed performance immediately went viral on social media, generating hundreds of thousands of works on TikTok, YouTube or X, and even covers when the song had not yet been released.
Pierre Garnier benefited from a new boost on the night of the final when R’n’B star Dadju, who came on set to perform one of his own songs with him, changed his mind at the last minute.
“Today I don’t want us to sing Dadju, I want us to sing Pierre,” said the interpreter of Queen to everyone’s surprise, asking Pierre Garnier to sing those we were in guitar voice instead of the planned piece.
Pierre Garnier performed, offering the public a first complete performance of the piece. The sequence served as the highlight of this final.
“It was decisive,” says Lola. The 21-year-old Parisian student, who runs the Pierre Garnier Musique fan account on Twitter, continues: “The audience immediately loved the song when they heard it live. There they were finally able to sing it, also as a surprise, without the production even hearing it. I expected.”
On social media, his rating instantly increased. From 500,000 subscribers on Instagram before the final, he went to 1.1 million immediately after his victory. Or as many as stars of French song like Slimane or Vitaa.
“A novelty and a success at the same time”
It is with this spotlight – and his victory – that Pierre Garnier has finally presented a studio version of those we were on February 6. Immediate cardboard; Two days after its release, it was the most listened to song on Deezer, Apple Music and Spotify, where it already had more than a million views.
“It was both a novelty and a success,” summarizes Loïc Demaille. “Generally, we put new releases we believe in on the New Music Friday playlist and then we put them on our playlist. For Pierre Garnier, we did it simultaneously; we’d never done that with any artist.”
The most listened to single in France in mid-February, those we were It was certified single gold in three weeks, then platinum and finally diamond in May. Today it has almost 50 million views on Spotify alone.
“We felt something was coming,” says Loïc Demaille. “Like ‘Star Academy’ viewers, we saw it going up. So we were hoping it would work… but not that much.”
In mid-May, Pierre Garnier returns with a new excerpt from his album, We know. And achieves a score lower than that of those we were. “It is normal, and even more so in these circumstances,” analyzes the specialist. “The first was such a phenomenon that it is difficult to compare the two. The success of the first almost never occurs. The second, in terms of French variety, works very well.”
The right boy, the right season
Adding to this emotion around his piece is the personality of Pierre Garnier, who throughout the adventure Star Ac’ He was distinguished by his kindness, his team spirit and his humility.
“What differentiated Pierre from the others was that he was very endearing, spontaneous, natural,” says Lola, who already sees in him an “icon of current pop.” “He remained himself during his stay in the castle.”
So many values ready to awaken the tenderness of the young people of the 2020s, analyzes media sociologist Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini for BFMTV.com: “In the years 1980-1990, we were in the cult of spectacle,” explains the author of 12 years of reality shows: beyond moral criticism.
“You had to succeed, even if that meant trampling on others. That was what was valued. Today we are the complete opposite. The ideal corresponds to a benevolent world, with a kind of harmony between people, without too much competition. And that corresponds to which Pierre deduces.”
“He has that husky tone of voice, which we associate with authenticity and raw talent, his long hair, his guitar… and at the same time he is someone gentle, kind. A cross between the bad boy and the kitten. During En “The program went into the background, we highlighted its qualities of modesty by valuing them. “It says something about an era.”
The specialist also doubts that he would have been able to experience the same success if he had participated in the previous edition of the star academyIn 2022, the show’s big return after ten years of absence was won by Anisha Jo:
“Two years ago it was kind of a trial program,” he explains. It was quite brief (six weeks of broadcast compared to thirteen this year, ed.), which complicated public engagement.”
“This time we had a longer and more extensive season,” continues Nathalie Nadaud-Albertini. “She gave the idea that this was the true comeback and created the event around this new season.” And, inevitably, its winner.
An event that continues: tickets for the first 12 dates of his tour, the Every second round scheduled for 2024, it sold out in two hours during its pre-sale on May 31. Those from his visit to Olimpia on January 22 disappeared in two minutes.
Source: BFM TV
