This Thursday, June 27, Joyce Jonathan won the Chinese show “Cheng Feng”, equivalent of “Star Academy”. The French artist was the only European on the show and sang in Mandarin during almost the entire adventure.
French singer Joyce Jonathan won, on Thursday June 27, season 5 of the talent show Cheng Feng, the Chinese equivalent of the Star Academy, in Changsha city. The only Frenchwoman to participate in this women’s competition broadcast by Mango TV, she triumphed against the 36 initial candidates. The only European still in the running in the final, she told the Parisian : “We are only women over 30, already having a professional career. I am in competition with other singers, actresses and TV presenters famous in their country.”
The adventure Cheng Feng (or Ride the Wave, literally “ride the wave”) lasted four months, during which the interpreter of Today’s Girls followed an intense pace of work: “Twelve days in China, a week in France, twelve days in China…”, she explained. “It was extremely intense and grueling. We worked 22 hours a day, sleeping only two hours a night. I often cried from exhaustion, I was sick right before a performance, I would see white, I would vomit… “
To say that Joyce Jonathan stepped out of her comfort zone is an understatement. Apart from an interpretation ofTo the Champs Elysees by Joe Dassin, she sang only in Mandarin. “Playing piano live and singing in Mandarin on a new song was an opportunity to challenge myself once again,” she wrote a few days ago on Instagram after a duet performance.
Supported by Gabriel Attal, her partner at college
The singer also received encouragement and congratulations from Gabriel Attal, with whom she had experienced “a college love affair”, as she confided to the magazine Elle last January. The Prime Minister had recorded a video of support in which he expressed his “pride”. “You are going to have a fantastic journey, you are going to shine, as I know you. It is a great experience to live. And above all, it is a superb message sent, while we are celebrating this year the 60th anniversary of Franco-Chinese diplomatic relations. It is a magnificent message. This Franco-Chinese friendship, you are bringing it to life by participating in this Cheng Feng 2024 program. Very good journey and I am fully behind you”, he added.
Joyce Jonathan is not unknown in China, a country that has fascinated her “since she was little”. “I’ve been going there for fifteen years, I have a manager there, I’ve been sowing little seeds by releasing all my records and doing concerts every year. Four years ago, I sang on television for the Chinese New Year.” However, Cheng Feng and its “13.5 billion views per season across Asia” have taken its fame to a new level: “Fans are waiting for me outside the hotel, it’s crazy! At the airport, the police ask for my autographs, the flight attendants recognize me, it’s funny.” According to The ParisianJoyce Jonathan will soon return to China: after a summer tour in France, she will return to the Middle Kingdom in September for a festival, followed by seven concerts in November.
