“I want to put an end to self-consciousness and Parisianism,” declares Vincent Frèrebeau, president of the Victoires de la Musique. The founder of the Independent Label Tôt ou Tard – which produces Vincent Delerm, Shaka Ponk, Vianney and Clara Ysé – has already held this position for the 2005-2006 and 2012-2013 editions. He wants to breathe new life into this often criticized ceremony.
In 2018, the singer of the group Indochine, Nicola Sirkis described the Victoires de la Musique as a “masquerade”. What has been shocking for several years: the lack of diversity. First criticized for its lack of parity between male and female artists, then for the striking absence of urban music in the top categories, in recent years, the ceremony has “only disappointed people”, affirms Vincent Frèrebeau. Exasperated by this lack of recognition, the rap world even ended up creating its own ceremony, Les Flammes.
This 39th edition will take place under the sign of renewal. Its president explains “want to fight small arrangements between friends” reports France Info. He wishes to respond “to this little music that we sometimes hear”. So, the academy is changing its voting system. The 200 public votes are deleted and the number of professional voters increases from 600 to 882. The objective is that “the Victoires regain legitimacy and give a more faithful vision of French creativity” explains its president to Le Parisien. The number of voters becomes equal between live entertainment (producers, tour operators, festival programmers, venue managers, etc.) and the recording industry (labels, directors, artistic directors, etc.). The number of nominated artists has also changed, from ten projects instead of eight in the nine categories. And regarding the categories “female artist”, “male artist” and “show of the year”, the number of nominees increases from three to four.
The winners are chosen in a second round by the 32 members of the jury, made up of eight artists, eight festival programmers and 16 media representatives (TV, radio, written press), chosen equally and whose names are n were not revealed “in order to avoid any pressure”, declares Vincent Frèrebeau. The president ensures that rock and rap professionals are among the juries so that these music can be represented in the main categories. As a result, the public vote and “most streamed album” are removed from the evolution grids of eight categories. Only the “original song” calls for audience participation. According to Vincent Frèrebeau, these criteria “are data where more than elsewhere, the influence is strong because we are going to have an artist who is very strong on social networks who will crush the other artists no more and no less”. Rappers are the main ones affected. The president “prefers that these artists be in all categories, song, revelation or artists of the year”. And this change is felt in the list of nominees.
Hosted by Léa Salamé and Cyril Féraud on France 2, the evening will feature 25 artists competing. Zaho de Sagazan is the big favorite of the competition thanks to her five nominations.
Female Artist:
Male artist:
Male revelation:
Female revelation:
Revelation Scene:
Album of the year:
Original song:
Concert of the year:
Audiovisual creation of the year:
