Is Aya Nakamura French enough to sing during the Olympics opening ceremony?
Explaining the racist backlash against our most streamed singer.
Some of you might have heard about the little “controversy” happening right now: Aya Nakamura, a black woman, could have been secretly chosen by French president Emmanuel Macron to sing at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on July 26.
Disgrace! Scandal! An African-born R&B singer is going to represent France at our Olympics? That’s a no-no for far-right supporters and other traditionalists. Others have even argued against the artistic merits of the young singer, still our most streamed artist.
Like any sensible person, I think it’s a fine choice. Extremely symbolic. Let’s try to answer why. I’m not going to be super long here, mostly because other people have done a better job contextualizing the debate, including author Rokhaya Diallo, which I’m going to quote heavily in the second half of this post.
Frenchsplaining, once again, Aya Nakamura
I already talked about Aya Nakamura about a year ago for the review of her last album. Born in Bamako (Mali), Aya Danioko grew up in Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest département [trad: district] of the suburban ring around Paris and home to the stadium that will host most of the athletics competitions.
If you ever step a foot on a dancefloor in Barcelona, Los Angeles, Djibouti or Marseille, you probably already heard Djadja, Nakamura’s biggest hit song with more than 900-million views on Youtube. With more than 6-billion streams, she is currently the most streamed artist from France, and that’s why she’s an ideal candidate to perform during the opening ceremony. At the intersection of “French musicians”, “alive” and “world famous”, all the other candidates are DJs: Daft Punk already said no, David Guetta is bland as hell... Do they really think Michel Sardou is going to please the tourists?
Misogynoir
Since the beginning of her career, it has been common to see people, famous or not, judge Nakamura’s art through stupid things like her sex positive attitude or lyrics accuracy. Everyone in France suddenly become a linguist when it comes to Aya Nakamura, just because she became successful while using her own mix of French and suburban slang.
Since the rumor emerged, Marine Le Pen (heinous leader of the far-right party) has come out to strongly criticize the choice, viewing this as “a provocation from Emmanuel Macron to humiliate French people”. The blobbish Gérard Larcher (conservative leader of the Senate) has expressed a disagreement towards sex-oriented lyrics. Even though Aya Nakamura is planned to sing a song originally sung by Edith Piaf… With the European elections around the corner, it’s a good excuse for politics to have something to say in the media, anything really.
To better understand why the disproportionate backslash is rooted in racism and misogyny, I’ll redirect you to this excellent column from French author Rokhaya Diallo. She recalls similar racist incidents against other black rappers (namely Black M and Youssoupha), to explain how France, despite being held as a post-colonial country, is often hellbent against Black people in position of power.
Nakamura is unique because she is an artist of colour who has succeeded on her own terms. She has not modified or disguised herself to fit in with the white bourgeois gaze; she dares to appear strong and powerful – uncommon in a country where systemic racism is still pushing minorities into invisibility. Her very existence challenges white supremacy and its central idea that people of colour should remain on the margins.
Rokhaya Diallo for The Guardian
Many artists have since come to defend such a choice, including the aforementioned David Guetta, who said he would be glad to work with Aya Nakamura. Music writers have even argued that Nakamura mannerisms in music were directly related to the ones from Edith Piaf.
It’s important to remember that while this is happening, rap music and people of color have been the most popular artists in France for more than a decade. Last year only, the vast majority of the best-selling albums were released by black or Arab rappers, including Aya Nakamura at the 14th place. So while the critics may be vocal, their supporters speak louder, just by listening to the music. Whatever you think about the Olympics, Aya Nakamura is an ideal candidate to represent France, especially if you want to make the younger generations care about this massive waste of time and money.
So, to the question “Is Aya Nakamura French enough to sing during the Olympics opening ceremony?” the answer is a resounding yes.
"has camed out" is not correct English. It should be "has come out". Thanks for introducing her to me. I had never heard her music before but I think she would be an excellent choice to perform at the Olympics.