For some time now, Léa Salamé has been intending to take on new challenges.
In 2022, she embarked on the adventure “Quelle Époque!”, broadcast every Saturday evening on France 2. Almost a year later, the journalist found Stéphane Bern at the Olympia to host the solidarity concert for the victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey.
“That’s where I was told about the Victories
,” remembers Léa Salamé.
The entertainment director of France TV said to me: “I could see you presenting the next ceremony”.
I thought she was joking and yet, it ended up happening,”
she says.
It's not easy to present the Victories.
Many have broken their teeth there.
Which presenters do we remember from a program often criticized for being endless?
Nagui, Michel Drucker, Jean-Luc Delarue...
“It’s stressful to go after them, they are emblematic faces of television
,” admits Léa Salamé.
Fortunately, she will not be alone to present this musical event which is trying to make a revolution.
And his real pleasure is precisely to take up this challenge alongside Cyril Féraud, the host of the
Champions Quiz
and
100% Logic,
also broadcast on France 2.
“We met on ''Quelle Époque!
'' a year ago,
she remembers.
We are very different but we have created a sort of elective affinity.”
One might believe that a duo presentation is an additional risk but this is not the opinion of the journalist who finds it
“more reassuring”.
“I'm counting on Cyril and he's counting on me... So we're in a bad situation!”
, she jokes.
Read alsoVictoires de la musique: the list of nominations, led by Zaho de Sagazan
She knows how to interview artists.
Finding the right rhythm in a ceremony remains unprecedented for the Inter morning star.
As it is more complicated for her to question artists than politicians, she admits.
“I'm afraid I won't be able to get them to speak from the heart.
Politicians like the idea of a match with journalists while artists need to be reassured, to be given confidence.”
Beyond the
“personal challenge”
that presenting the event represents for Léa Salamé,
“it is also a celebration for the public and for the artists who prepare for months to give an immense performance”
.
The year of change?
What does she think of the Victoires, this ceremony often ridiculed for being private, putting aside certain artists, notably rappers;
yet the biggest sellers of music.
A bit like the Césars are careful not to reward comedies that attract the most admissions to theaters.
In 2019, the Victory for best urban music album, accused of being only a subcategory, was deleted.
For this 39th edition, we find Gazo and Aya Nakamura, the big winners of the first edition of Les Flammes, in the running for the artist of the year prize.
“This year, everything is mixed, they corrected the situation, and that’s very good
,” continues Léa Salamé.
I have two boys, aged 9 and 12, who are Gazo fans, so I'm knowledgeable in rap and I can even sing
in Organized Band
!”
Read alsoVictoires de la musique 2024: a velvet revolution
In the top categories, there is something for everyone.
Véronique Sanson, Étienne Daho, Louane and Vianney who need no introduction.
But also Nuit Incolore, Adèle Castillon, Yamê and of course Zaho de Sagazan, the new kids.
“We remember the squabble between Michel Sardou and Juliette Armanet.
Well, this year’s Victories are for Sardou fans and Armanet fans
,” she laughs.
Despite her good musical culture ranging from Bowie to Phoenix, via France Gall and Leonard Cohen, there are some nominees that she did not know:
“I spent last weekend discovering the profiles and the universes
. »
A prediction?
She does not venture to give one even if she is obliged to recognize that with five nominations,
“Zaho de Sagazan is the big sensation of this year”.