As expected, Sophie Grenier won The voice Sunday night. Two months after taking off and establishing itself as the big favorite by taking over the bird from René Simard to blind auditions, the Franco-Ontarian continued her ascent by winning the popular vote.
Sophie collected 42% of the vote, far ahead of Jay (26%), Christopher (23%) and Adam (9%). “It means so much to share French here,” the 17-year-old Ottawa native said after her triumph, while her coach, Mario Pelchat, visibly moved, wiped away his tears. Tears in a shower of confetti.
This victory was predictable. At least, by anyone who had taken a look at the show’s official Facebook account over the past few weeks. Each time a new publication concerning the candidate appeared, it systematically garnered a greater number of “likes” than those of the other competitors. In the semi-finals, his rereading of the famous Let me dance de Dalida had accentuated the trend, in addition to dismissing another big name, Steffy Beyong.
Sunday evening, Sophie Grenier had pulled out the heavy artillery to hope to win this final: a bilingual version of an English-language song by Celine Dion from 1997, Let’s Talk About Love. To maximize her chances and rake as wide as possible, she had even surrounded herself with a choir of children (some of whom weren’t much younger than her). The total !
PHOTO BERTRAND EXERTIER, SUPPLIED BY TVA
The winner Sophie Grenier with her coachMario Pelchat
With her victory, Sophie Grenier receives a $50,000 scholarship and lands a record contract with Musicor.
ballad strategy
Two other finalists had also adopted the strategy of cookie-cutter ballads to seduce the audience. Christopher Therrien took over I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thinga powerful hit from Aerosmith which this year celebrates its 25e anniversary. The New Brunswick native delivered a very apt – if a little slick – rendition of Diane Warren’s title track, while the ever-enthusiastic Marjo waved her arms in the air. “That’s what we call singing,” said Mario Pelchat, once his time at the microphone was completed.
For his part, Adam El Mouna did not go easy on it with Do not leave me by Jacques Brel. The voice trembling after only five seconds, the representative of Sainte-Catherine relied so much on emotion that on several occasions, the accuracy suffered. His highly theatrical number was described as “daring” by Charles Lafortune and Corneille.
Finally, Jay adopted an opposite strategy by offering a souvenir hit from the Quebec rap group Muzion, which he dedicated “to people who work hard”. The Montrealer of Haitian origin even allowed himself to adapt the lyrics to the events of the last few days (freezing rain storm) by launching: “The Hydro breakdown shows that we are dependent on the system. »
Afterwards, his coach Corneille hailed his “courageous journey”, a journey during which he never hesitated to put Creole culture forward.
It rocks!
Lasting 2h30, this final offered a dozen musical numbers. One of the highlights came when Ariane Roy, Les Shirley and Lou-Adriane Cassidy, supported by Sophie Grenier, shared the stage to offer their respective songs, brought together in a furious medley. You should have seen Marjo, standing in front of her armchair, clapping her hands and smiling toothily at this dazzling demonstration, visibly delighted to observe rocker women with as much passion as her.
France D’Amour also came to join the group at the end of the performance to sing a few lines of I don’t let goin a surprise nod to the 1980s icon, whom she replaced as coach in the previous two weeks, COVID-19 obliges.
Jonathan Roy, Banx & Ranx, Preston Pablo, Rêve, Louane and Josiane Comeau, the 2020 winner, also took part in the Sunday meeting.
Ginette Reno delivered Biggeran unpublished piece taken from It’s all mesound 42e album, released Friday. In great vocal shape, the 76-year-old artist won over his audience, but we would still have liked a bonus souvenir excerpt, just to end in apotheosis.
Is it that The voice will take over the TVA antenna for a 10e season next winter? On the air, host Charles Lafortune gave no clues about a possible return.