In music, it is not easy to do justice to all generations, but it is far from impossible. And it is precisely for this exercise that “Zénith” is ideal.
In contrast to the current tele-hooks, which serve to discover new talent, “Zénith” aims to offer a showcase to more established singers and allow them to offer performances that will not be trivial.
In a full-scale variety show featuring an audience, house musicians, dancers, pyrotechnics, 24 Generation Z, Y, X and Boomer performers must employ strategy to deliver the performance that appeals to the young and the young alike. At the end of the qualifying rounds, which span the weeks, one artist per generation advances to the Grand Finals.
Unlike “La Fureur,” “Zénith” isn’t focused on the competitive aspect, X’s captain, Élyse Marquis, warned Monday morning during an interview with QMI agency on the light set of “Zénith.”
“The competition was the aim of ‘La fureur’, with ‘Zénith’ there is one between the artists, but we are like a big team that is there to give a great ‘show’,” he said.
The concept developed by KOTV – whose production contract has just been signed with the French group Mediawan Prod for the French-speaking European markets – looks for the best formula: song selection, staging, musical arrangements, costumes and all that tralala to charm all generations. Against this background, the audience can expect unlikely musical mixtures and heterogeneous universes, such as a cover of “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish by Johanne Blouin.
“The idea is to go with things that people aren’t used to hearing us sing while staying in harmony with who we are,” the singer said.
The generation with the lowest grade gives the artist an encore, ie an impromptu karaoke performance, without any preparation or choreography. “It’s a chance to score points, but be careful! we can do better as we can do worse,” explained Véronique Cloutier, who confessed that she loved seeing the vulnerability and utter abandonment of the artists in this segment.
Back to basics
“The days when veteran singers have a chance to come and do their job on prime-time television are dwindling,” recalled producer Louis Morissette, who wanted to give back the opportunity to shine with this new show.
“That’s the fun too; back to basics, love of music and just doing his job,” he continued.
For Z’s captain, Claudia Bouvette, “the fact of being live, seeing people we love, who we’ve followed for years, put themselves at risk and do it for the sheer joy of being together and to be able to sing and explore, “it’s extraordinary,” she told reporters Monday morning.
At the season premiere, Lunou Zucchini, Jason Roy Léveillée, Jean-François Breau and Johanne Blouin will be the first artists to perform in front of the 100 spectators – the same people every week – who will be divided among the stands according to their generation. .
During the season, Yama Laurent, Patsy Gallant, Ludovick Bourgeois, Véronique Claveau, Annie Villeneuve, David Savard, Joël Legendre, Éléonore Lagacé and Laurence Jalbert, among others, will parade.
The captains are Normand Brathwaite (Boomers), Élyse Marquis (X), Félix-Antoine Tremblay (Y) and Claudia Bouvette (Z).
The “Zénith” program will be broadcast live on ICI Télé this Thursday at 8 p.m. sharp. Due to music rights, the program will be broadcast without the possibility of catching up. It will therefore be necessary to save it in order to catch up with it.