“We offer artists time to be themselves and build their careers.”

Abel Chéret, Dinaa, Whisper… There are 13 of them, selected for the Francofolies 2025 project and will be accompanied for six months by professionals until the festival “to work on the artistic and the live”.

13 names. Not one more. They join Pomme, Bigflo & Oli, Rover on the long list of emerging artists who have passed through the famous Francofolies site in La Rochelle.

The selection of artists for this 2025 class was drastic: “We received nearly 200 applications, explains Marc Mottin, the artistic coordinator of the site. The members of the selection committee then saw around 200 artists on stage and received fifteen for interviews. At the very end, there had to be 10 left, because we had made a two-year follow-up commitment to three artists who joined the system in 2024 (Abel Chérel, Cassien and Griffe).”

Abel Chérel, Andéol, Alma Rechtman, Arone, Blasé, Cassien, Dinaa, Grife, Jeanne Bonjour, Kulturr, Ofé, Sam Sauvage and Whisper offer a snapshot of the French current music scene in 2025. “We tried to respect the parity and eclecticism of what is done today”explains Marc Mottin.

Alma Rechtman’s lyrical song rubs shoulders with the afro and R&B sounds of Kulturr and the pop of Blasé. This Franco-American artist, real name Romain Hainaut, is delighted with his selection: “I think this will allow me to develop my comfort on stage. I learned on the ground and it’s interesting to think that there, we have people who push us, quality speakers ready to help us. “

Artists and speakers all met on January 15, 2025. “I really liked it: I had the feeling of belonging to a musical movement” says Blasé.

“We really want to promote and support emergence, but nWe are particularly vigilant with young artists because the era and the recording industry tend to skip “ specifies Marc Mottin. The youngest in the selection Dinaa is 19 years old and has millions of views on streaming platforms.

Whatever the age, for emerging artists, the Francos site is an opportunity. In six months, the artists will discuss all aspects of their profession and meet around twenty professionals to work “the artistic and the live”.

This training and exchange course has several highlights: thematic meetings with all the selected artists and former participants of the project, a week of residency and concerts, captured by france.tv in co-production with Morgane Prod.

“Often the artists fend for themselves. These exchanges allow us to see other solutions, to discover the existence of new resources. We think about how to adjust a studio production to the stage: should we modify the arrangements? Remove certain electro tracks? What equipment and technical teams will the artist need? details the project manager of the site.

In addition, physical and psychological aspects are addressed. “It’s important to work on posture, fatigue management and stress management. Sometimes, some artists, already trained in dance, want to create choreography for a song.”

This aspect particularly interested Blasé. A long-time musician, he has only been composing and performing his songs for 2-3 years. This is the point he would like to work on: “I’m going to come alone, without the guitarist and bassist who usually accompanies me, because I need to know how to solidify my base, embody my music.” He likes the idea of ​​working on what happens before the scene: “I don’t have at all the culture of preparing for singing, warming up, clearing my head.”

Marc Mottin confirms: “We offer artists time to devote themselves to themselves and their music”all the equipment is on site, from the performance hall to the home studio, including the gym and the Deman house where certain artists live.

Depending on the profiles, Marc Mottin recognizes that certain artists will “go from leisure with friends to working as musicians, because it is work, and this site is also a place to better understand all the responsibilities that result from it and build your career.”

In focus: the two residency exit concerts and especially the performance which will take place during the Francofolies de La Rochelle 2025 festival. “It can take the form of a singing walk or a first part at La Coursive for example.”

It’s a career accelerator.

Marc Mottin

coordinator of the Francos site

After 26 editions, the Francos construction site label has great value among programmers, such as the Nouvelles Vagues festival. It must be said that Juliette Armanet, Zaho de Sagazan and Feu ! Chatterton have been there. “They say to themselves that the artists have matured their project and that they are ready for the stage. Some singers find labels and tour operators at the end of their visit. It’s a big family. The veterans of the site, like Waxx and Oxmo Puccino, the sponsor of the class of 2025, will intervene this year. It is a career accelerator. concludes Marc Mottin.