It’s been exactly 20 years. To the day.
On February 16, 2003, all of Quebec fell in love with a bunch of unknown young singers in their early twenties, some shy and clumsy, others extroverted. After all the cottages had a TV show broadcast on TVA, the new darlings boarded a huge blue bus that would become their official vehicle, to travel to Pierre Péladeau’s former home in Sainte-Adèle, which would become their residence ( full of cameras!) for the next 14 weeks.
The success of Emmanuelle, Et c’est pas fini!, written and composed by Stéphane Venne, would change color forever for the whole province (and a new one for some with the Song of the Year trophy at the ADISQ Gala experience fame months later). Record ratings, album sales and show tickets followed in just a few weeks.
Star Academy, let’s go!
20 years later, on Wednesday, February 15, 2023, the eve of the momentous anniversary, a portion of this merry crew, with a few fine lines added, had gathered at a Pacini restaurant in East Montreal to chat with some media discuss and meet the winners of a competition powered by Rythme FM and… an intimate aisle dinner at the end of the day.
Why at the Pacini? Because back then, the chain of Italian flavors and bread bar was an official partner of Star Académie, and the academics had offered a tour of shows at Pacini branches.
But the pretext for the meeting was above all the start of the anniversary song “Du rêve à la réel”, written by Suzie Villeneuve, a kind of musical commemoration whose lyrics perfectly reproduce the flight of our 14 fledglings at that time, who became stars overnight . All set to music composed by Guy Tourville, perfectly suited to the ritornello sounds once popularized by Star Académie in 2003. The tune is accompanied by a music video recorded while the tune was being recorded in the studio, as well as a series of interviews conducted by Suzie Villeneuve with her ex-roommates looking back on that crazy experience and the two decades that followed.
“For 20 years, whenever we meet, we tell each other that we have to do something and it never happens! ‘ said Suzie Villeneuve in an interview with Showbizz.net. “I wrote the song at the end of November. I woke up one night and after giving my baby a drink [son fils Edward a huit mois et était de la partie mercredi!]I told myself that nothing was ready yet [pour souligner les 20 ans de Star Académie]. We were there in November and had not received any invitations, although this is expected in advance. So I started writing the song. It couldn’t be that we didn’t welcome the public, that we didn’t underline the 20 years! »
“The song says thank you. We are here today to say thank you to the public. We were in the four corners of Quebec and we were reunited. I just feel like saying thank you to life in general. I’m very grateful for that,” said Suzie, who also took part in La Voix in 2020.
12 out of 14 former academics were involved in recording the song. Marie-Mai and Annie Villeneuve are not included. The first was outside of Montreal when the track was recorded earlier this year; the second gave no reason for his absence. Nonetheless, everyone was invited. Chatting Together at 14 on Messenger continues to unite our Quebec reality TV pioneers!
“I set the people free. I gave it to everyone. Even if there were only five of us, it would have happened anyway,” said Suzie Villeneuve. On Wednesday, Suzie, François Babin, Martin Rouette, Dave Bourgeois, Marie-Élaine Thibert, Émily Bégin, Élyse Robineault, Pascal Nguyen Deschênes and Jean-François Bastien raised their glasses at the official celebrations, while Wilfred LeBouthillier, Maritza Bossé-Pelchat, Stéphane Mercier, Marie-Mai and Annie Villeneuve could not be present.
This new Star Académie project is a personal initiative of Suzie Villeneuve, in which neither Productions J nor TVA nor Musicor, former houses of the first Star Académie cohorts, are involved.
The piece “From Dream to Reality” is now available on the platforms. Suzie Villeneuve’s music video and interviews with her colleagues can be seen on her YouTube channel.
Check out our photos from the 2003 Star Académie reunion in the gallery below.
The Star Académie 2003 reunion at the Pacini!