This is French singer Joyce Jonathan participating in Mango TV's self-produced music competition variety show "Chengfeng 2024" (photo taken on March 5). Xinhua News Agency, Changsha, May 13 (Xinhua) 34-year-old French singer Joyce Jonathan was recently invited to participate in M

This is French singer Joyce Jonathan participating in Mango TV's self-produced music competition variety show "Chengfeng 2024" (photo taken on March 5). Xinhua News Agency

Xinhua News Agency, Changsha, May 13th. The 34-year-old French singer Joyce Jonathan was recently invited to participate in Mango TV's self-produced music competition variety show "Chengfeng 2024". During the three-month recording period, She lives, trains and competes with 35 women from different countries.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. In an exclusive interview with a reporter from Xinhua News Agency, Joyce said that the sixty-year friendship between China and France is very valuable. The people of both countries love culture and art very much, and music is a universal language. She hopes to use music in this program to create more possibilities for the integration of Chinese and French cultures.

On the first stage of "Riding the Wind 2024", Joyce brought a French classic ballad "Champs Elysées" and specially performed the chorus part in Chinese. This performance left a deep impression on many Chinese audiences.

"I was very touched when I learned that many of my fans are in China, especially students studying French," she said.

Joyce has a "special fate" with China. Her mother ran a travel agency and began recommending French people to travel to China in the 1990s.

"At that time, China was very unfamiliar to the French, but my parents were very fascinated by Chinese culture, philosophy, and language, and had many Chinese friends. My mother liked to travel, so she decided to start a travel agency." Joyce said , when she was 10 years old, she came to China for the first time accompanied by her mother and bought a scooter in Beijing that was "all the rage" at that time. Five years later, she got her first guitar in Beijing.

html On April 26, French singer Joyce Jonathan was interviewed by a reporter from Xinhua News Agency. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Yujie

In 2010, Joyce ushered in a major turning point in her music career and released her first album "Self-Protection". This album not only helped Joyce win awards, but also made her famous in China. Since then, she has been frequently invited to perform in China.

"You don't understand a country until you actually go to it. You can only get a rough outline, but this is not enough to understand the country and its stories." Joyce has been to China more than a dozen times. She said that she likes the vitality of China and the sincerity of Chinese people, as well as the smooth and beautiful melodies of Chinese songs. "Every time I come back, I become stronger and I always want to come back."

html Joyce has been coming to China every year for more than 0 years. “I traveled to almost all provinces in China.” What remains fresh in her memory is that she came to China in 2015 to serve as a judge for a French song competition, and also gave a French singing class to Chinese students at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Since then, every time Joyce releases a new album, there will be Chinese versions of some songs dedicated to her Chinese fans. She also specially included 10 Chinese songs in her 2017 album "It Will Be Okay" and covered them in French. "The Girl in the Flower House" which is very popular in China.

When Joyce received the invitation from the "Riding the Wind 2024" program, she immediately watched the last season of the program. "The creativity is great! But I have never participated in a variety show in France." She said, but she still accepted the invitation because it was very important for her to come to China to learn more Chinese and Chinese culture.

Participating in the show brought many challenges to Joyce. "It's not just about learning Chinese and opera, the program itself is very intense, but this is the rhythm of China." In Joyce's view, it seems that "there are more than 24 hours in a day" in China. It feels like other people have done a lot, but it is still very difficult. wide awake. "My mother always said that the more things you do, the more energetic you will become. So although it is very tiring, I still want to persevere."

This is French singer Joyce Jonathan participating in a music competition produced by Mango TV Performing in the variety show "Chengfeng 2024" (photo taken on March 4). Xinhua News Agency published

The experience of participating in the show left many interesting memories for Joyce, and singing Yue Opera was one of them. "When I sang Yue Opera, even my mother didn't recognize my voice. This show gave me the strength to do these things I never imagined."She said that it was a very interesting experience to be immersed in such an atmosphere with other Chinese artists.

Joyce likes the image of "modern women" created by the show very much. "The sisters participating in the show are basically over 30 years old. At our age, we can still challenge ourselves, learn a lot of knowledge, and show our strength just like we did when we were young. "

Because she likes Chinese, Joyce plans to compose songs with other artists participating in the show. At the same time, she spends a lot of energy learning Chinese songs every day. "I want to listen to all these songs over and over again. I really I really like the crisp notes of Chinese songs, which is a real musical language. I enjoyed exploring it all. "

In Joyce's view, China and France have a lot in common and a strong desire to cooperate. "Sixty years have passed, but this is just the beginning. "(Reporters: Zhang Yujie, Lin Jianjie, Ju Yinhe, Dai Bin)