Luce, finalist in the "Nouvelle Star" competition, sings Jacques Brel, ne me quitte pas :
She won the competition with this song. So what's special in this voice that could attract the listener ?
I will not enter the debate about show business politics, the sharks that work in it and their way of getting the people to look at the show. I will only discuss her voice.
Her voice :
Her voice has a few distinctive characteristics : a lot of nasality, like when you say "Nay". She has a breathy voice, she adds a lot of air above her notes, making them smooth and soft (like when you sigh or say "haaa" emphasing on the "H" letter). When she adds power to the voice she has some distortion on it.
So why use this nasality and breathy sound ?
Because there is no respiratory power. Like a trumpet, or a bagpipe, you need strong respiratory muscles to sustain notes with full voice. We will study the breathing system later on.
If you're gonna put a lot of power into your voice with your vocal chords properly closed - that is with full sound - there is a huge risk of singing out of tune. You would find yourself in a "shouting" position, where the voice cracks and cries too much, and eventually gets out of tune if it isn't trained properly.
That is exactly why when she puts power in her voice it goes distorted. Since the vocal chords aren't properly closed, forcing through them is gonna put strain on them, and the muscles around will squeeze to protect the vocal system( without this natural defense we would all have torn vocal chords and would sound like Louis Armstrong).
With a lot of air on the voice, you sustain your sound and fill the missing bits with air. Reducing the volume, but stabilizing the sound. Nasality does the same.
So it looks like she relies on beginner's techniques to compensate a lack of power.
Phrasing :
She sings the words as they where written on paper. The right length, the right height. She doesn't transform them, modulate them, or phrase them differently. This is a special thing used a lot in French singing. You can leave a blank and undo the natural construction of the melody.
This would give, for example :
"ne me .... .... .... quittepas"
instead of
"ne...me...quitte...pas"
Certainly with Jacques Brel's song "ne me quitte pas" you would expect the phrasing to be worked upon. But she did the scholastic thing, without taking risks or expressing the words with her own experience. Plus she has an orchestra that plays ad lib (that means without a fix and regular rhythm pattern, but following the singer)...in such conditions you can take breaks, take your time to interpret the lyrics.
When saying "don't leave me", my voice would certainly crack and hesitate and get silent. There would loads of vocal signatures telling the audience I'm having an emotion, I'm talking to someone, actually I'm begging someone on my knees not to leave me (for those are the lyrics of the song). She more showed the emotion of someone chatting with a friend at the bar...
Expression :
She doesn't move on stage. Her hand is gonna move a little here and there, sometimes her eyes would give you that little emotion (she's got that scary look in her eyes... OMG !). But no outburst of emotion, no tears... it's like she's bored to be on stage, and doesn't enjoy the moment. Maybe that's the key to success ? Snubbing the audience, show them you're not interested in what they think or feel, and leave them hungry for more emotions... it is a known technique for attracting attention.
Conclusion
To me, this is nothing less than a karaoke singer put on a stage to sing one of the biggest songs of French music, and just isn't fitting in the role. As for why listener's where attracted to her, it will remain a mystery (I could pull out the argument that she's chubby and fragile and therefore all the teenager girls are comparing themselves to her, but I said at the beginning of this article I would only discuss the voice and not the marketing strategies of those big show business owners).
Next thing you're gonna ask me is : "OK, you tell us too much air, too much nasality, no phrasing, no expression. Can you do better ? ".
I will not pretend to be able to do better. But I will link the original song for you to have an idea of how she destroyed it.
Jacques Brel's "ne me quitte pas".
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