At the NRJ Music Awards, Pierre Garnier closes a crazy successful year

February 2024. Cap screwed on his head, he sits alone behind the piano with a personal composition which will become one of the musical phenomena of the year. A sequence that social networks have been replaying in recent weeks. “One of the first times we heard ‘Those We Were’”even remembers an emotional Internet user. Pierre Garnier was then just Pierre from the “Star Academy”. He will have to wait until the finale to understand that his song has gone far beyond the walls of the castle. Dadju interrupts their duet to let him sing his song, which the audience already knows by heart.

More than 100,000 albums sold

Nine months later, it is on the stage of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes that the winner of the 2023 edition will perform “Ceux qu’on été” live during the NRJ Music Awards this Friday, November 1. Pierre Garnier seems destined to win at least one of the two trophies for which he is nominated: French-speaking revelation and French-speaking song of the year. In memory, no telecrochet winner has been so unanimous for a long time. There was Kendji Girac and Slimane in “The Voice”, Grégory Lemarchal in “Star Academy” obviously. But the 22-year-old Norman hit harder, and above all much faster.

Barely released, “Those we were” broke records with more than 2 million streams in 24 hours. A glance at Spotify is enough to see that this title, now certified diamond, far exceeds 60 million plays on this platform alone, where the singer whispers in the ear of nearly 2 million monthly listeners. Every secondhis debut album, is released as he concludes a massive tour of nearly 80 dates with his “Star Academy” comrades.

An opus concocted with his friends from Caen, Joseph Kamel and Daysy. Here again, success was immediate with platinum certification achieved in four short months for 100,000 copies sold. Pierre Garnier remains in the top 5 of the Top Albums of Snep, the National Phonographic Publishing Union, for nine weeks in a row.

A duet with Matt Pokora, four new songs

Sensitive to his slightly hoarse voice, the public finds themselves in his texts speaking of love or the quest for identity, as much as they praise his authenticity. He wants to hear it, but above all wants to hear it live. During the Bercy of the “Star Academy”, broadcast live on TF1 in June, the spectators sang the words of “Ceux qu’on suis” almost louder than him. The fervor was the same for his return to the set which revealed him as he handed over to the new promotion. Drawing on his experience on stage with his comrades, the native of Villedieu-les-Poêles (Manche) announces a series of concerts for 2025, including an Olympia which is sold out in a few minutes. The demand was such that a slew of Zéniths in France and three Forest Nationals in Brussels were added to the intimate rooms.

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The lucky ones who managed to get a ticket will hear live “Nous on sais”, a single just certified platinum (30 million equivalent streams), “Every second”, which he re-recorded as a duet with Matt Pokora, and perhaps some of the four unreleased songs that will appear on the reissue of his album, which is scheduled for release on November 22. “I’m so happy to have a vinyl”laughs Pierre Garnier on his social networks. A new collector's item that its early admirers should snap up. Enough to give a boost to a phenomenon that didn't need that to shine.