"Do you prefer my Persian or Serbian profile?"
»Final meeting with Barbara Pravi before her six days of quarantine and her departure for Rotterdam (Netherlands).
Final laughs before getting on the emotional Eurovision lift until the final on May 22.
The sparkling French representative is euphoric.
The bookmakers give it the winner with its heartfelt cry, "There", and its swirling ritornello with Piaf accents.
And the event's 39 international fan clubs rank it third, behind Maltese Destiny and Swiss Gjon's Tears, who also sings in French.
France is often among the favorites.
Nevertheless, the biggest song contest has eluded him since 1977 and the top 5 since 2002. “I am discovering Eurovision, admits the Parisian straight away.
I never dreamed of participating, I never watched it, I don't have TV or even the Internet.
"
Pravi, her artist name, means "authentic" in Serbian.
"She is in the media as in life, whole and daring", specifies her friend Igit, who wrote "There" with her.
“From the height of her 1.59 m, Barbara is super mature and little girl, fighter and Tinker Bell,” describes Alexandra Redde-Amiel, who leads the French delegation and directs the entertainment of France Télévisions.
"I was a fan of Celine Dion, Britney Spears…"
Barbara Pievic is 28 years old, of French parents and of Serbian origins through her father and Persian through her mother. “My mother's mother is Polish Jew, my father's mother is Algerian Blackfoot Jew, it's a hell of a mix. Her grandfather Deda, for whom she wrote a wonderful song, passed on her passion for books and words to her. Her dad, who teaches ethics, her love of music. “He has a great collection of classic vinyls. Me, I was a fan of Celine Dion, Britney Spears ... "" Music was omnipresent at home, remembers her younger sister, Clémence. I remember evenings when dad was on the violin, his brother on the piano and my sister was singing. "
“I also grew up in the middle of paintings,” adds Barbara.
My mother is the daughter of a great Iranian painter.
She is a super strong woman, mother, National Education inspector, sports coach and reservist, committed to memory work.
»His sister Clémence, 25, is a physiotherapist in a military hospital.
“And a big fan of my big sister,” she admits.
His strength is his family.
In difficult times, my parents have always been there.
"
“They suffered, recognizes the singer.
As a child, I was always angry.
I had a chaotic schooling.
After my literary baccalaureate, I studied law to please them, I worked for five years as a waitress to earn my living.
I wanted to be a singer.
It was my best friend who convinced me to take the plunge.
"
"Barbara cried every day"
In 2014, she recorded a song and shot a music video, "Impolies Love" paid with her salary and the help of Deda.
"I made it disappear when I signed with Capitol six months later," she says without regret.
But his miraculous signature in this big Universal label turns into a nightmare.
His first album in 2017 did not have the expected success.
“Musically, he didn't really suit me.
I didn't trust myself, so I followed the advice.
I had the chance to do the musical
A summer 44
and the first part of the tour of Florent Pagny but, behind the scenes, I was drooling.
My manager kept telling me that I owed him everything.
Three years ago, I was at my wit's end.
I wanted to stop singing, regain my freedom and write for others.
"
Released in 2017, Barbara Pravi's first album, which "did not correspond to her", did not have the expected success.
LP / Fred Dugit
A meeting and reunion will restart everything.
She meets the manager of Aloïse Sauvage at the Saint-Germain studios.
“Barbara cried every day, remembers Élodie Papillon Filleul, tattooed and stubborn fifties.
She offered me to become her manager.
I was cash:
I love your voice, but what you do doesn't interest me.
If you want us to work together, we'll start over.
She had a clip ready, but we didn't release it.
Capitol could have let it go, exhausted by four years where the budget had exploded, but not sales.
But a new director arrived, and he fought for her.
"
An album in preparation for the start of the school year
In 2018, Barbara Pravi also reunites with Igit. "In 2014, Capitol asked me for a hand on the texts of a young singer," says this singular artist, discovered the same year in
The Voice.
I left quickly, there was nothing to add. And I remember saying to my manager:
This girl is going to go far.
She's an incredible singer, and she has an extraordinary desire to make it happen. We saw each other again during a writing seminar, we discovered a common passion for variety, great melodies and beautiful lyrics, and we started working together. "
Good pick !
Igit and “Barbiche”, as he calls it, co-signed “Bim Bam Toi” for Carla, a huge phenomenon on the TikTok social network in 2019, and “J'imagine” which allowed Valentina, 11, to win the 'Eurovision junior last year.
“The next step was obvious: Barbara at Eurovision,” said Igit.
We wrote
Voila on
purpose, to recount his struggle.
"" The writing was painful, says the interpreter.
He urged me to sing:
Listen to me, look at me.
And he was right.
"Whatever happens, Eurovision has already changed my life," smiles Barbara Pravi, who is preparing an album for the start of the school year.
This experience brought me so much light.
I am no longer angry.
"
