“During the nine years I spent with them, it was always the voice that came last,” summarizes Flore Benguigui. The former singer and composer of L’Impératrice denounces, in a video interview with “Mediapart” published on Saturday November 23, the sexism and psychological violence suffered during nine years at the head of the pop group. “There was constant control, especially from two members of the group and my manager,” she says.
The composer announced last September that she was leaving L’Impératrice on Instagram. It is “the only way to protect my health, physical and mental, which has been very seriously undermined in recent years,” she explained. And added: “It’s also an entire industry that I question today through this choice, this toxic and unfair music industry, especially towards women. »
“I was always told that I was a bad singer. That I was singing out of tune. That I wasn’t singing loud enough”, begins Flore Benguigui with “Mediapart”. “I have a fairly soft voice with a lot of air. It matched what they expected on their album, but live, it’s a group with a lot of instruments on stage, it plays very loudly,” she continues. “Very quickly, there was this pressure for me to sing louder,” says the composer.
“For me, it was normal to be mistreated and unhappy”
Flore Benguigui explains that she is constantly adapting and taking a multitude of singing lessons. Voice sequences are also recorded to double his voice in concert. “I felt like I was cheating, lying to the public,” laments the singer. “At no time did the group say to themselves that the instruments could also adapt to the voice,” she says.
These choices have consequences on the mental health of the composer. “Over the years, I lost all self-confidence in all the areas that were supposed to be my job,” summarizes Flore Benguigui. The singer says she “arrived at a point” where she felt she did not deserve her place or the success of the group. “For me, it was normal to be mistreated and unhappy,” she adds.
The composer has the feeling of being in the hot seat all the time. To compensate, she manages the group’s social networks, takes care of the styling and irons the stage outfits. “I told myself that it allowed me to keep my place. »
Repeated humiliations
The environment in which the artist evolves is also full of humiliations. “There was an alternation between what we call love bombing and then, all of a sudden, I was being belittled and humiliated […]. I was completely under the influence,” testifies Flore Benguigui. “My speeches on stage were very controlled,” she adds.
“I realized that the problem was not with me, but with everything I had been told about my voice for years”
The singer loses her voice in 2021 and struggles to perform concerts. “It was my psychologist who made me understand that the problem did not come from me. Every time I had to sing a song for L’Impératrice, I had nothing left, I had a total absence of air, of breath,” she says. “I understood that the problem did not come from me, but from everything that had been said to me about my voice for years,” she adds.
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Flore Benguigui explains that it took time to realize this psychological violence. “I was with them constantly. Until very recently, there were no days off, weekends, or vacations. Which means constantly being with five or more men. » “There is a feeling of isolation which is very strong. This is also why, for a long time, I did not have the necessary perspective to tell myself that what I am experiencing is not normal. »
Asked by “Mediapart”, the group responded by email, writing to discover “the seriousness of the facts and feelings shared by Flore”. “While we were a group, united for 9 years, we are sad about this situation, to have to respond to Flore through the press,” he continues. “The situations described by Flore do not correspond to the reality of the facts,” he declares.
