Ebony or Navy? Navy or Ebony? It's the big night! This Saturday, TF 1 offered its viewers the grand final of the “Star Academy”, promotion 2024-2025. A 100% female confrontation, with lots and lots of singing on the program. And above all, the prize: a victory with a contract for the recording of an album with Sony Music and a check for 100,000 euros, like Pierre Garnier last year.
It all starts with a collegiate 15-a-side, then a lovely duet on “Never Enough” by Loren Allred, before Marine joins Damiano David, ex-Maneskin, to perform the energetic “Born With a Broken Heart” with him. Ebony then shares the stage with Sofia Essaïdi and a great bond on “Roxanne” by The Police. But the first tour de force comes during a vocal duel on a song with (big) voices: “Tout” by Lara Fabian. Slight advantage for Marine, which shows that the match is intense!
And the evening is like a diesel because if the first duos were nice, the level went up a rank with the participation of the godmother Clara Luciani, very present throughout the season. On the one hand, “Courage” with Marine, a song from her new album released while the young woman was at the castle. On the other “The rest” with Ebony, ending in the audience, with her parents. A nice breath of fresh air in a finale where the stress was until now very perceptible.
But there is no time to breathe, Ebony is already back on stage to perform “All I Ask” by Adele, which she sang during the castings. The whole thing is impeccable. “She doesn't look all tall: she's already tall, and on stage she's 4 m 12! », applauds Marlène Schaff, teacher of stage expression. For its rival, it is “À corps perdu” by Grégory Lemarchal, with great success and palpable emotion, including on the part of the teachers. “You have mastered the technique and you have mastered the subtle art of making nuances, that means that you are a great one, Marine,” applauded Sofia Morgavi, who teaches singing, evoking “a poignant performance, darling!” »
On the other hand, the tour's collegiality on “Can't Stop the Feeling!” » by Justin Timberlake is frankly dispensable between outfits taken from the worst ready-to-wear collections of the 2000s, vocal harmonies not there and improbable choreography. Quickly forgotten, fortunately, with a lovely medley by Amel Bent and the two finalists… until a little hiccup from Nikos Aliagas during the call for votes, proposing to vote for “Ebony, the big winner”. Premature or planted?
-Barbara Pravi, Whitney Houston, James Brown
The candidate does not have time to notice that she is already going back on stage to repeat her adventure in songs, alternating between spoken and sung moments. On the program: “Voilà” by Barbara Pravi, “I Will Always Love You” Whitney Houston version, “It's a Man's Man's Man's World” by James Brown with Franck, his friend of the season. But also “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics, a memory of a pretty crazy performance by Kamel Ouali a few weeks earlier as well as “Petite Marie” by Francis Cabrel or rather “Petite Ebony”, with Thierry Cham, the young woman's father . To finish with “Don’t judge me” by Camille Lellouche, a very moving moment of the semi-final.
For Marine, the set begins with “Ordinaire” by Robert Charlebois, with which she opened the very first prime last October. Then comes “Summer Body” by Helena, shared with Marlène Schaff, a very nice moment again, before the teacher gives way to Ulysses, friend-love of the young lady, on “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You » by Bryan Adams. Before “La vie d’artiste” by La Zarra and, obviously, “All By Myself”, more successful than during his first attempt! And to conclude with “I Am What I Am” by Gloria Gaynor, again at a higher level than the first passage, a few weeks earlier.
Two very successful performances
One performance hiding another, both also sing in the company of personalities: Pierre Garnier for Ebony on “Adieu, nous deux”, M. Pokora for Marine on “Juste une photo de toi”. Very sober staging seated next to a piano in the audience for the former, on the set with many musicians for the latter. Two very successful performances. All before unveiling their singles: “Unforgettable” for Ebony, “Ma fault” for Marine – a title already known to fans since a first version was available on streaming platforms for three years. But also “Your voices”, an unpublished work by Clara Luciani, shared with the students.
And just before the results, a final duet, that of the divas Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, “When You Believe”, before the collegiate “Et si tu sens”. A very nice conclusion to a very (too?) rich evening, before the final verdict. A result announced at 12:15 a.m. by Nikos Aliagas and Karima Charni: Marine is thus the big winner of this 2024-2025 edition of the “Star Academy”, with 65% of the votes!
