Insults, derogatory comments, incitements to suicide: Safia Nolin is probably the Quebec artist most attacked on social networks. Refusing to ignore this flow of hatred, the singer decided to respond to her detractors with music, daring to put at the center of her next show the thousands of hate messages received in recent years.
“I would never have thought that all this junk, which I had archived in my computer without really knowing why, would be used to create an artistic project one day,” says the singer-songwriter, who visibly still had a hard time believing it.
When The duty met her, a few days before the premiere of Monitored and punished at the Prospero theater, stress slowly began to build up within her. It must be said that this new project is completely out of the ordinary and pushes the artist out of his comfort zone.
Taking care not to reveal all the details, Safia Nolin explains that she will find herself on stage with only her guitar and her voice as weapons. She will have to respond – with new songs of her own – to a choir of around twenty people who will pour out their gall on her inspired by the real insults that the singer has received on social networks in recent years.
“It’s really a vulnerable project. It hasn’t always been easy. […] At the same time, it makes me feel really good. It pushes me artistically and it’s sure that it repairs me in a sense,” she confides.
This audacious concept would never have seen the light of day without the director Philippe Cyr, who had the idea, she would like to point out. The show would never have materialized without the very existence of Safia Nolin, the director responds straight away. “She was the spark plug!” »
Freedom of expression
To better explain the origins of the project, the duo takes us back to 2019, in the middle of the Montreal Francos festival. Safia Nolin then launched her show on the Place des Festivals with a sound clip from RadioX in which the hosts spoke about her in a crude manner, encouraging listeners to call the station to vent their hatred towards her.
“It caused a silence in the crowd, followed by indignation which, for me, was symbolic of great solidarity. It was a really strong experience, remembers Philippe Cyr. At the same time, I had been thinking for a while about how to make a show about issues surrounding freedom of expression and the responsibility that comes with it. This excerpt reminded me that this is exactly what Safia was experiencing. She became the ideal subject to talk about this subject. »
But when he officially proposed the concept to her in 2020, Safia Nolin refused. “I think I was too into it at that point, immersed in this daily hatred that had exploded after the #MeToo movement,” she notes. Because if Safia Nolin was already the target of homophobic, racist, fatophobic or even misogynistic comments since the start of her career, her denunciation of the actions of actress Maripier Morin in July 2020 increased tenfold the quantity of hateful messages she received.
It took an exile of several months in France and a long break from social networks for the dust to settle and for her to agree to embark on the project.
Open discussion
“It’s important to open the discussion so that we collectively understand the extent of the damage we do by expressing our hatred. It doesn’t just affect me, there is a real virus of rising hatred in society. It’s terrifying…” remarked with concern Safia Nolin.
“And it is especially women who are affected,” adds Philippe Cyr. Whether they are in music, in politics, on television, we see, there is a form of misogyny through that. »
With this show, the duo hopes to make spectators aware of the seriousness of the situation – through the example of Safia Nolin – and to push them to think about the words and the tone they use towards each other, both on the social networks than in real life.
“For me, it’s a form of resistance to sublimate this foul material and make it into something useful,” says the director.
On a more personal note, Safia Nolin sees a saving side in the project after everything she has gone through in recent years. “It wasn’t always an easy creative process. At first, when I found myself at home, all alone, I found it hard to be plunged back into all this hatred. But it passed quickly,” she says.
Meetings and rehearsals with the rest of the team are always in good humor, laughter and kindness. His presence, for example, is not always required when the choir must rehearse, in order to limit its exposure to the brutality of the words.
“I focus on my music, my response. It allows me to detach myself from the hateful words that are brought back on stage. It may be corny to say that, but above all I am [submergée] out of gratitude for being able to be part of this project. […] It’s a form of “empowerment”: I reclaim the scene from which they wanted to chase me. »