When she signed up to take part in Nouvelle Star, 20 year-old Luce made a bet with her friends: wearing a long black fake moustache, she hoped to appear on the “unforgettables”, a hilarious segment for viewers that gathers the best of the worst singers of the year on video. But then, destiny decided otherwise and Luce, who admits to “never having sung anywhere other than my bathroom”, never ceased, week after week, to charm the viewers and judges with her unconventional and unique performances. Last Wednesday’s show was no exception. Once again, she displayed her talent with her interpretation of the songs Je dis aime, by the singer M, Mad About You, by Hooverphonic, and especially Ne me quitte pas by Jacques Brel, for which she received four “blue lights” from the judges. For her repeat performance of Ne me quitte pas, André Manoukian even insisted on mounting the stage at the Baltard to offer her a “musical wedding ring” in the shape of a yellow flower. With that, nothing more needed to be said.
Luce and her now-famous moustache © abacapress.com/FMF/M6
A student nurse in Montpellier, the contestant, who is originally from Perpignan, faced another formidable contestant, 25-year-old François from Brest. With The Bitter End by the group Placebo, the young singer, who had the heavy task of starting the competition, nevertheless raised the bar very high and was showered with compliments from the judges. Philippe Manoeuvre assured him that, thanks to his performance, he had “entered the rock and roll world through the front door”. This was not, however, sufficient to counter the wave of affection the viewers had for the attractive extra-terrestrial Luce.
For her last song in the competition, the fairy-like Luce, loved for her cheerfulness and her extravagances, offered the audience a gentle and immensely restrained performance of Jacques Brel’s Ne me quitte pas. A daring bet that incontestably paid off: the emotion could be read in the judges’ eyes.
Once the verdict was reached, Luce took some time to realise what had just happened: “I’d like to thank everyone. I feel like this isn’t true! I wasn’t expecting it at all. It’s like a dream! Most of all I am very touched, very moved by all these tokens of support. I’m deeply moved. I’m happy that people are touched by what I do! I was just having fun. François, we met during the course of the competition. He’s the one who has made the most progress. He is someone who deserves the very best… I want to make music, music that is human and that I can relate to,” she confided to presenter Virginie Guilhaume.
Thanks to the audience who voted for her in the majority, the young singer has won the right to sign a contract with a major record company to record her first album. And, as a symbol of the friendship that unites them, the two heroes of the evening wished to thank the public for everything they owe them by offering them a final duet, with the song Je dis aime.
In terms of audiences, the final edition of the 2010 talent show faced strong competition from TF1 with the American series Criminal Minds and from France 2 with the match between South Africa and Uruguay in the first phase of the 2010 World Cup. It nevertheless succeeded in drawing 3.56 million fans for a 15.3 per cent total audience share. It is worth noting that Season 8 of Nouvelle Star also had 300,000 more viewers as compared to the average in that prime time slot (compared to last year).