While there are only a few academics left in the Waterloo mansion, Lara Fabian agreed to take stock of the middle of the season of star academy. It was an opportunity to talk about the problems and challenges of young people, but also about their own pleasure in this broadcasting exercise and their projects.
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The Director of the Academy takes a lucid and candid look at this year’s cohort of scholars. “It’s a season with a lot of youth in everything that is superbly interesting and everything that has to be framed emotionally,” says Lara Fabian, comfortably ensconced in her dressing room at MELS Studios, a few hours before Variety. “For most of them, they haven’t been through much in life. Therefore, we must be kind and accompany them in this space where there is a lack of experience and where there may be poorly supported readings on what to do. You have to guide them through what hurts, in making strategies when one is tired… Halfway through I would mainly say that there is perhaps a little more fatigue than last year, because they have not yet accumulated the experience that makes us more resistant.
During the diary, we see that the candidates’ reaction to criticism, and even constructive comments, is sometimes misguided. They question what they are told more easily, and teachers are aware of this. “The way they approach feedback is more personal. They are more reactive because they are hypersensitive. Okay, it’s up to us to find a way to get past this first feeling that they have to question our opinion.
This is also a different way of operating from the previous season. “It’s not exactly the same generation, because there were fewer very young people in the previous cohort. I try to adapt as best I can to everyone, but the work challenges remain the same for everyone. It’s always a bit of the same exercises, it’s like ballet. There are exercises that are the same for everyone. Whether you are an apprentice or a professional, the classic foundation is the same.”
As for the need to gain experience quickly, Lara Fabian is not worried about her little hearts. “We do not work in the same way with everyone. With Olivier, for example, you have to be absolutely transparent. He doesn’t want things to be sugar coated; he wants to know exactly what he should do. It is quite easy to go fast with him, because he is a very open person, who does not bother with certain things. He opens his mouth and reminds me of Eric Lapointe in his early days.
Joel Lemay / QMI Agency
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MEETING
The arrival of the third Variety audience brought a breath of fresh air to the show. “It creates a real challenge. For the Academicians, the reaction of those who vote for them is no longer just virtual, it is physical. It lit them all up. There really was a before and after the arrival of the public. It is as if they have finally understood what it means to be supported by those who feed us and keep us alive. And to me, that’s very refreshing. It’s nice to remember the feelings it gives.”
Lara Fabian found in star academy certain young singers whom he had met in particular in Voice, like Julien, Krystel or Édouard. “I think they have worked a lot. There was one who was in Alex Nevsky’s team and the other two were with me. I discovered that they had particularly evolved. I can say that they have made a qualitative leap since they participated in Voice. Julien, for example, is an immense artist. Impressive the work he has done since he left Voice and what i found star academy.»
OPENING OF A SCHOOL
Since the beginning of the season, Lara Fabian has spent most of her time at the Academy or at the MELS studios. “My life is on a bit of a hiatus, but streaming is probably one of the things I love the most in the world. This is the direction I’m going. My next step is definitely to open a school.”
She doesn’t see this new challenge just as a singing school, it would be a much broader project. “I see all the benefits of more emotional support; It is something that seems very relevant to me to link it to an interpretation or attach it to the evolution of an artist. I would have liked that at some point someone would give me just enough time to make a mistake and correct it in real time, with great benevolence, instead of letting them mistreat me and criticize me later. This whole holistic approach to singing, that’s how I see my school.” It also provides for different levels of education depending on the person. You don’t train a singer the same way whether you’re a professional, an amateur or a budding professional.
GENEVIEVE CHARBONNEAU
BACK TO THE FAMILY
Despite his full participation in star academy, Lara Fabián does not forget her family. Gabriel, her husband, makes up for her absence with her daughter Lou. “I think she has the best of us. When I’m tired, I think Gabriel is better than me.”
And it is through the kitchen that he comforts them with his presence. “To pick up, when I can, I sleep. So cooking allows me to completely clear my mind. I prepare meals for the week. Meditating also helps me a lot to get out of trouble: I isolate myself in a room to refocus, align myself, to feed myself too.
OTHER PROJECTS
In addition to the opening of her school, which is expected to be half online and half face-to-face, Lara Fabian wants to get down to work writing songs for a new album. “Five years have passed since Papillon came out, and there would be much to say about what has happened since then. I would like to talk about the importance of staying united, of not stigmatizing and not
judge. Remembering that we stopped talking about love for two years; we stopped all loving gestures in the name of safety. I would also like to talk about freedom. I see a lot of exacerbated human suffering, I see many divisions, people who have eradicated the sense of family.
Until then, the singer will go on tour again. She has several shows in June, in Montreal and Quebec, and will follow up with a European tour in the fall. “It’s going to be more or less the same program as 50 world tour. We’re going to tell the story a little differently, but in terms of repertoire, I don’t see how it could save i still believe in, Love you, you are my other, Always aliveall those songs that people want to hear.”
However, she wants to do things a little differently. “I thought of a different way to do the tour to avoid flying and a car every day. I tell myself that it could be done like before, with a tourist bus, to always be in the same place with my loved ones and my family, and walk from one city to another.
Le Variété is presented live on Sundays at 7:00 p.m. and La daily is offered from Monday to Thursday at 7:30 p.m., on TVA. 24/7 cameras allow Videotron’s Mobility and Helix TV customers to follow academics behind the scenes at Variété, on the bus and at the Academy. To get clothes with the image of the show: boutiquesa.ca.
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