She appeared dressed in red, huge glasses of ruby feathers on her nose, tickling Laury Thilleman's brushing on the Victoires de la Musique stage on Friday. Coming to present the prize for the best original song, La Zarra took the opportunity to express her gratitude and announce that she will unveil on February 19 the song she will perform on behalf of France at the Eurovision Song Contest in May, giving by her mere presence sets the tone of her performance: humble and playful. Isn't that exactly what is expected of a Eurovision artist? A respect for the song, wrapped in flamboyant and cheerful stage outfits? A mixture of light kitsch, singular voices, traditional audacity? La Zarra is a concentrate of all this.
Fatima Zahra Hafdi, aka La Zarra (for "Lazarra", Victor Hugo's poem: "She is young and laughing, and sings her song..."), was born in Quebec, in the southern suburbs of Montreal, where Xavier Dolan shot his masterpiece Mommy. Of her childhood, she does not tell much, we only know that she has a brother and five sisters, of Moroccan origins, a daughter, three Sphynx cats (hairless), a parrot and that she was a hairdresser. Glamorous and mysterious, she wraps her 1950s pin-up figure in silks and taffeta, donning large, sophisticated hats and styling her dyed-blonde hair in artful updoes. Each of his gestures seems to be made on the stage of an imaginary theatre.
Author, composer and performer, at 25, she listens to rap as well as pop or "classic" French songs. His models: Barbara, Céline Dion, Charles Aznavour, but also Billie Holiday, Barbra Streisand or Beyoncé, Aaliyah, from Marseille rap… And especially Édith Piaf, whose autodidact imitates the tremolos in her voice and the rolls of the "r".
Discovered five years ago through her duet with a French rapper ("Printemps Blanc" with Niro), she dared to mix PNL and Piaf for a surprisingly successful medley ("À l'ammoniaque / Mon Dieu"), and resume SCH, "Draw a line" (better than the original). "Tu t'en iras", a terrifically smooth but calibrated pop dance song for mainstream radio, is his first hit. Moreover, it rises to third place among the most broadcast French titles on radio in 2022 and has accumulated more than 20 million plays. Obsessed with old films, she imagines her clips herself. In "You'll Go Away", she kills every man she meets. Managed by Sébastien Farran, who was the manager of Johnny Hallyday and NTM, she signed with Polydor/Universal, label of ABBA, Dr DRE and Billie Eilish. In his first album, intertwining genres (French song, R
Alexandra Redde-Amiel, director of entertainment and games at France Télévisions and head of the French delegation to Eurovision, fell so much in love with the singer that she named her directly, skipping the usual pre-selection competition. It must be said that she has been trying to convince her for more than two years... Calm, sure of herself, La Zarra is not the kind of woman on whom anything is imposed.
"Obviously" is an unreleased track designed for the contest. La Zarra will perform it exclusively on Laurent Delahousse's set at 8:30 p.m. Sunday. During the France Télévisions press conference, she confided: "We will find my signature, which is to mix genres. It's a song about owning your destiny and relying on yourself. “Last year, our Bretons Alvan and Ahez finished second to last in the standings. In the Point's crystal ball, we see that it will do better.
