Her face and her voice might be familiar to the French audience, but guess what: Lisa Angell wants to start over! This Saturday the Eurovision 2015 singer made an unexpected appearance in the second heat of the eighth season of The Voice: la plus belle voix. And she literally set the stage on fire!
The 50-year old artist nailed her cover of “This is me” from The Greatest Showman. At the end of her stunning performance, she convinced two judges to push their buttons. The diva finally joined the team of French variety veteran Julien Clerc over rapper Soprano.
#TheVoice
Virginie rejoint la Team de @JulienClerc_Off ! pic.twitter.com/0f1Ta0p3e3— The Voice Officiel (@TheVoice_TF1) 16 février 2019
Forget Lisa Angell, call her Virginie
After releasing four albums between 2011 and 2015, Lisa Angell was internally picked by France 2 to sing the dramatic ballad “N’oubliez pas” in Vienna.
Despite an emotional performance, the singer with the voice of an angel sadly failed to reach the heart of the public and the jurors. She only ranked 25th out of 27 in the grand final.
Speaking to the daily newspaper Le Figaro, she discussed the difficulties she faced during and after Eurovision. “It wasn’t easy to believe. I never got over it. I faced a lot of criticism regarding my weight, my age…this is why I decided to retire from the media and entertainment stage”.
#TheVoice
Voici Virginie ! Après un beau début de carrière elle a dû affronter les critiques sur son âge et son physique.
Aujourd’hui elle tente l’aventure The Voice pour n’être jugée que sur sa voix. pic.twitter.com/APxGwYkauG— The Voice Officiel (@TheVoice_TF1) 16 février 2019
By taking part in the blind auditions of The Voice, Lisa wants to start over and to be judged only on her voice. And what a better way to rise from the ashes than getting rid of her stage name and using her real name Virginie.
The Voice and Eurovision: a true love story
Even though she is taking part in the talent show long after Eurovision, Virginie is not the first French representative to sing in front of the red chairs.
In 2014, Amir reached the final of the talent show before waving the French flag two years later in Stockholm.
Bilal Hassani, the 2019 French candidate, made his first TV appearance in The Voice Kids in 2016 where he covered “Rise like a phoenix” by Conchita Wurst. Unfortunately, the teenager failed to reach the final show.
Many acts from Destination Eurovision also had a go in the talent contest, including 2018 finalists Lisandro Cuxi (runner up), Emmy Liyana and Igit — as well as this year’s fan favourite Gabriella.
Breaks my heart to hear that she retired her music career after her low placing in Eurovision. The contest can really make and break people’s dreams..anyways I wish her the best on The Voice. Didn’t know that her real name was Virginie such a lovely name!
When she is talking about the critcism about her weight + age, the critcisms were in France. People weren’t nice at all when talking about her (Eurovision wasn’t what it is today, this was way more unpopular than today).
I thought, that with an angelic voice like this, she would’ve been judge, not a contestant.
I would have never thought she was bullied for the way she looked, I saw her as a very beautiful woman back then in 2015…
And adored the last part of her song, of course.
Lisa was perfect in Vienna, yes the song was too depressing but it touched hearts. What a shame the juries didn’t appreciate it!!
Her biggest difficulty was her song.
Story tip for Wiwibloggs since I don’t know how else to share this: The postcard theme for this year has been revealed by Israeli media and filming is expected to begin soon. Source (in Hebrew) about the theme here: https://www.israelhayom.co.il/article/633899
I recommend everyone to watching her performance at “The voice” on the soundtrack of the movie “The greatest showman” because a part is very, very different from the one she made in Vienna, and on the other hand, it’s absolutely magical. I remain convinced that Lisa / Virginie is one of the best singers to have represented France. A France still under the shock of the attacks. What courage and dignity she had on stage to deliver such a message of hope “and I swear to rebuild my city much more beautiful than before.” I find that the behavior of… Read more »
Please react to Lithuanian final, also Lrytas interviewer asked Monika if she will perform 2 songs in final. Her producer said let’s wait Sunday and we will see. Imo they gonna pay 3000 eur fine and perform only one song.
Her song was so boring. 25th is OK.
Her song wasn’t a Favourite in the competition, but if it had been later in the running order the result could have been different, her vocals were unanimously praised and were some of the best of recent memory in the competition.
It always angers me when I see someone getting called out on the basis of age, race, height, weight and such. Lisa Angell had a great song. I still have in on my 2015 playlist. But 2015 was a strong year. Lisa’s song was my 12th and I didn’t vote for it. Maybe that’s the problem with good, but not outstanding songs in strong years.
She finished low, only because draw not because her age, weight., She sang in begining and we had that year 27 countries in final, and only 10 got points from 1 juries. ,and song was good but not material for massive voting of people and juries. Brother Olsen wad older then her, snd won contest in time in harder time gor win the contest if you older, time in 100% televote.
Do you think the voters dont vote for early songs? haha thats so stupid
Draw is important, because that EBU every year gave good draw for their babies Australia,Sweden,Malta in semifinal, final.
I loved her song back in 2015 and I was so sad to see her getting such a low result. I remember the criticism for her and her song (didn’t see any body shaming, but saw someone saying she was too old for Eurovision) and I can understand how she felt. Must have been horrible. I will never understand how people can enjoy hurting others so much.
Jeez, this contest is becoming a bunch of sad stories
It’s the voice….what do you expect?
I’m sorry to read that Lisa/Virginie had such a hard time after Vienna. I’m glad she has stepped back into the spotlight. The bad result was not her fault.
Why do people care about her weight and age? Does it harm them in any way? I can’t freaking undetstand that!
She is such a great artists and she doesn’t deserve this hate!