Who would the French want to see sing at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games? Here is our exclusive survey, carried out with YouGov.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games promises to be memorable, if the result lives up to the ambitions of Thomas Jolly, conductor of the event. The parade will take place on the Seine in the heart of Paris, on Friday July 26. A first in the history of the Games. For this ceremony to be totally unforgettable, the poster must be just as unforgettable. So which star will put on the show and delight the hundreds of thousands of spectators who will travel and the billion viewers expected around the world?
Before the nomination of one or more artists to sing at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, rumors are rife, fueled by the press and various commentators on social networks. In an article published on February 29, L’Express indicates that Emmanuel Macron himself would have chosen Aya Nakamura, to whom he would have asked to cover another emblematic singer: Edith Piaf. Which would not be surprising given the popularity of the singer Djadja in France and internationally.
But what do the French think? With the YouGov polling institute, Internet users were able to ask their opinion from a representative panel of the French population of a thousand people, just a few months before the opening ceremony*. The question was as follows: “Among a list of names of French artists, which one(s) would you like to see participate in the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ” Here are the lessons from our exclusive survey.
Aya Nakamura disappoints, Florent Pagny surprises
If Emmanuel Macron seems to have expressed the wish to see Aya Nakamura sing during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, for the French people interviewed, the choice seems quite different. At the top of this ranking, it’s no surprise, we find the most famous French DJ in the world: David Guetta, which gleans 19% of the votes. And behind him, much more surprising: the singer Florent Pagny rose to comfortable second place among the list of artists proposed to perform the show, with 17% of the votes.
The legendary – and separated – duo Daft Punk completes the podium with 15% of the votes, forgetting in passing that after rumors and appeals launched by Thomas Jolly one morning on France Inter, the helmeted DJs had, apparently- he declined the invitation. And the French are far from having the same preferences as the President of the Republic: Aya Nakamura only comes in eleventh place in our ranking, with 6% of the votes.
Young people prefer DJ Snake to David Guetta
The other big lesson from our exclusive survey concerns the 18-24 year old segment, questioned during this survey. Unlike their elders and the majority of those questioned, the youngest would prefer to see DJ Snake performing at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games with 31% of the votes, ahead of David Guetta, in second position this time with 24% of the votes. votes. On the third step of the podium, we find the French rapper who sold out two concerts at the Stade de France in a few hours: Ninho, with 23% positive responses.
The most listened to French singer in the world – again – Aya Nakamura, only comes in fourth place in this ranking with 22% of the votes of those surveyed. And if Mylène Farmer can congratulate herself on being acclaimed by 17% of those over 55, only 1% of 18-24 year olds named her as the artist they would like to see at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. .
Around the world and for decades, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games remains one of the most memorable moments of the most anticipated and important sporting competition in the world. These ceremonies now give rise to colossal spectacles, a challenge for the organizing countries, as is the case for France and Paris.
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And the artist chosen for the launch of the Paris Olympics will have some of this pressure on their shoulders. It is up to him or her to match performances as incredible as those of Whitney Houston in Seoul in 1988, Freddie Mercury in Barcelona in 1992, Stevie Wonder in Atlanta four years later, but also Björk in Athens in 2004 and Paul McCartney in London in 2012.
*All data presented here is from YouGov France, unless otherwise stated. The survey was carried out on 1030 people representative of the French national population aged 18 years and older. The survey was carried out online, on the proprietary YouGov France panel from 1 to 4 March 2024.