“At 18, you have to dare,” says France D’Amour, the new coach of “La Voix”

The new coach of The voice France D’Amour is inspired as ever, she who is working on her 14^e career album this summer.

In addition to having signed a contract to join the TVA musical competition next winter, alongside Roxane Bruneau, Corneille and Mario Pelchat, the singer-songwriter is in the studio to burn the 10 tracks which will be found on his next opus – judiciously baptized 14 –, which will be launched next February, in full 10^e season of The voice.

The 57-year-old redhead, who has a few shows on her schedule this month, has composed around 30 songs for her next studio effort, so she was spoiled for choice when it came to sorting out among those she preferred.

Over the past few days, however, it’s been the excitement surrounding his participation as a coach at The voice which made her feverish. We know that she had been a mentor in the team of Marc Dupré in 2014 and that, last winter, she replaced her friend Marjo at short notice, after the latter contracted COVID-19 during the live broadcasts.

This time, she will have a red chair of her own and a team to build. She speaks of a “big challenge”, of the responsibility to accompany her singers well and of the happiness of giving back. Its leitmotifs will be authenticity and sincerity.

“You have to have great sensitivity, be able to put yourself in the shoes of the person in front of you and know both their strengths and their weaknesses,” she told QMI Agency, speaking of “just pushing enough, but not too much”, to give everyone confidence before a performance.

Open to all music

As France D’Amour loves everything and listens to everything in music, she does not intend to limit herself to a musical genre during blind auditions. Above all, she will rely on her instincts when the time comes to press or not the button that will make her chair swivel.

“I will go there with emotion. I know it sounds cliché, but music is an emotional and sensory vehicle, and that’s what I’m going to listen to first.”

“Mick Jagger is not a great singer, but look at the career he’s had. It’s not the technique that’s important to me, it’s what you drive!”

Learn to sell yourself

The most difficult thing, in his case, will be “to [s]e sell” when a candidate will have to choose between more than one coach. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it. It’s not natural for me,” she said.

A real showman having learned her trade in bars, France D’Amour is ready to adjust according to the experience and level of confidence of her foals. She admires youth forging ahead and she might not have had the guts to take part in The voice. “At 18, I didn’t have that confidence, but you have to dare.”

A 14^e rock, folk and pop opus

About his next album, 14she affirms that he will talk in particular about hatred on social networks, an essential theme if there is one, as well as the fact “that everything passes, the good as the bad”, or even about his piece. Back to the Futurewhich will talk about going back to 14 years old… “I also have a song called not sexy because I’m tired of having that pressure and a song about running, which is pretty rock.

For this rock, folk and pop album, she works with her guitarist Jason Lang as well as with Doug St-Louis. “There is a very Post Malone side and a very guitar side, with very sociological subjects.”

She said about the other three coaches of the 10^e season of The voice:

• “Roxane Bruneau, I don’t know her very well, but we celebrated Canada Day two weeks ago and we even sang together. It’s a ball of energy.”
• “CrowI am a fan. I went to see him often in shows and I always have Corneille in my reading lists. We are friends!”
• “Mario PelchatI know him very well, I sang with him for two years in Notre Dame de Paris.”