It was seven years since the Belgian singer Stromae had almost disappeared from the radar, gone to rebuild a health and a family life out of sight. However, he created quite a commotion last Sunday when in the middle of an interview with the television news of TF1, in France, he began to sing his last tube Hell, from his new album Multitude, in response to a question from presenter Anne-Claire Coudray about her state of mind.
The exercise, which swore with the formal framework of the television newscast, caused a lot of talk on the television world. The French-speaking public may well adore Stromae, a gifted musician author ofThen we dance and of Papaoutai – which we have even compared to Jacques Brel – the publicity effect of this musical boom was striking. “It was a finely orchestrated PR operation. The music started before he even started singing. And in fact, he wasn’t singing, it waslip-sync », Underlines Patrick White, professor of journalism at the School of the media of UQAM. Stromae himself winked at viewers mid-performance.
Journalistic credibility shaken
The television news of TF1 forming a sort of mass on the altar of realism and authenticity, this intrusion of a clip, even of an advertising placement, in the middle of an interview, shakes for many the journalistic credibility of the bulletin. The Obs described the performance as “downright embarrassing” and Release speaks of ” infotainment “.
“As likeable as Stromae is, and I love his music, the unease is that a newscast shouldn’t include a performance by an artist or musician,” White adds.
Gray areas
If cultural journalism often takes on promotional aspects and operates in “increasingly gray areas”, limits seem to have been crossed here.
In an interview with the French magazine 20 minutes, the host Anne-Claire Coudray and the artistic director of TF1, Yoann Saillon, told how the intervention of Stromae had been orchestrated. It is therefore at the request of the singer that this clip was introduced. “He wanted us to stay in the grammar of the newspaper while going into his world. We had to find a balance together, ”explained Yoann Saillon.
Note that the song L‘iniron, which addresses the depressive and suicidal episodes of the author, started immediately after a question, foreseen, asked by the host: “In your songs, you also speak a lot of loneliness. Did the music help you free yourself from it? “
Anne-Claire Coudray said she was very aware that this intrusion was occurring in “a television newscast which is almost sacred in terms of its perimeter and its codes. You cannot do just anything on the shelf of a newspaper ”, while being very satisfied with the result. “Frankly, it has never happened to me to have an interview so sincere, so real, so impactful,” she added.
Patrick White notes that so-called promotional journalism is perhaps even more widespread in France than in Quebec. However, he believes that the exercise will generate complaints from unions of journalists or French directors.
In the meantime, both TF1 and Stromae can be happy to have managed a lucrative publicity stunt.