EDITORIAL. From Michel Sardou to Aya Nakamura, the musical variation of “at the same time” dear to Emmanuel Macron

The President of the Republic has chosen Aya Nakamura for the Olympics and will decorate Michel Sardou with the insignia of Commander of the Legion of Honor in June, a great musical departure which is not devoid of political ulterior motives.

Emmanuel Macron will, as revealed the Obs Tuesday April 9, decorate Michel Sardou with the insignia of Commander of the Legion of Honor, his highest rank, in June. The head of state is a great fan of French song and in particular of Michel Sardou, but we cannot be satisfied with just a musical reading of this decision. There is of course an underlying political sense.

Michel Sardou is first and foremost a popular singer who transcends social divisions. Honoring him therefore means speaking to a large part of France. Who at this table doesn’t know one of his hits? Politically, on the other hand, it is more discussed, Michel Sardou, and Emmanuel Macron knows it well, represents a conservative, sometimes outdated, vision of society claimed by the artist and which we find in the texts of some of his songs.

Michel Sardou is the provocative anti-bobo who appeals to the right. And therefore much less on the left. The announcement of this decoration confirmed by the Élysée unleashed comments. To be happy about it but also to be annoyed by it, even to be offended by it. This is the case of the socialist Laurence Rossignol but also of Sandrine Rousseau. In an angry tweet, Sandrine Rousseau sends Emmanuel Macron and Michel Sardou back to back in ““a patriarchy that will fall” and that “already wavering”. A loan for a return in some way since it must be remembered that the singer attacked the feminist MP by name in one of the concerts of his last successful tour. A singer who, according to a member of the President of the Republic’s entourage cited by the Obs “was able to diagnose male discomfort”. We won’t find a better way to divide. But at the same time Emmanuel Macron chose Aya Nakamura for the Olympics.

Please and displease the right and the left

The hyper-popular pop singer will be there at the opening or closing ceremony, the head of state confirmed. As a result, this choice unleashed the far right but also the right, up to the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher, who did not deliver his best performance on this occasion. At the time, the same left-wing elected officials, who today criticize Michel Sardou’s upcoming decoration ceremony, then welcomed the presidential audacity. Michel Sardou, Aya Nakamura: here is another variation of the same time, the favorite refrain of the Head of State. A big musical gap but also an electoral one, to try to please the right and the left, and thereby displease both. A perfect example of transgression as Emmanuel Macron likes.