This Wednesday May 8, 2024 at 9:10 p.m., W9 broadcasts Slimane, the conqueror! an event documentary dedicated to the man who is preparing to represent France during Eurovision. Singer-songwriter Didier Barbelivien recounts the day he auditioned the young singer.
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Winner of the fifth season of The Voice in 2016, Slimane was chosen to represent France at the 68th edition of the Eurovision contest which will take place on May 11, 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. He will proudly defend his country with his title My love which he unveiled in November 2023. For the occasion, the W9 channel is devoting an event documentary to him entitled Slimane the conqueror, broadcast this Wednesday May 8, 2024 at 9:10 p.m. He retraces the journey of the singer-songwriter, punctuated by success but also numerous disillusionments at the start of his career.
A decisive meeting for Slimane
Despite a certain talent, Slimane (who sent a beautiful message of support to his friend Kendji Girac following his gunshot wound) experienced numerous failures during his participation in several telecrochets in the 2000s, in Popstars in 2007, at the Nouvelle Star in 2009, and X-Factor in 2011. From then on, the artist decided to abandon TV for small trendy Parisian bars, like in Pigalle. In 2015, at the Orphée where he performed regularly, he met Eric Dussart, a journalist and TV host. Convinced that the young singer would eventually break through, he put him in contact with Didier Barbelivien, one of the greatest French composers, author of more than 2,000 songs during his career. At the time, as Eric Dussart remembers in the documentary W9, the latter was “looking for a voice that’s a little broken, a little rocky compared to a musical he’s putting together, about Marie-Antoinette.” And the host continued: “There, my blood is racing and I say to him, ‘But I have someone for you‘”.
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“One of his great qualities is adaptation“: Didier Barbelivien complimentary to Slimane
Didier Barbelivien auditions Slimane who sings on the song Sky Fall by Adèle. “He must have been singing for 40 seconds before I stopped him. And he doesn’t understand, I have the microphone and I say ‘It’s okay’. And he’s like, ‘That’s it, I’m fired‘”, recalls the singer-songwriter, now 70 years old. “What I hear is his voice. And one of his great qualities is adaptation and immediately understanding situations.“, he continues. At the age of 26, Slimane was involved in the troupe of the musical comedy Marie-Antoinette et le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge where he recorded the first title of his career. But due to lack of broadcasting, the project was ultimately postponed.
