Slimane: Solune

January 25 sees the release of the second album by Slimane, a follow up to his 2016 debut  À bout de rêves.

Slimane Nebchi was the winner of season five of The Voice: La plus belle voix in 2016. Of the four judges who wanted him after the blind auditions where he performed Vitaa's À fleur de toi, he chose to work with Florent Pagny.

He won the popular vote in the final after performing songs by Francis Cabrel, Christophe Mae and a duet with Florent Pagny.

His debut album was a number one in France and Belgium, the single Paname reaching the top ten.

While there are plenty of questions about whether or not reality TV shows are a valid platform for emerging artists, it does seem to me that these shows in France have produced some quality acts. True, many of these might have made a commercial breakthrough by other means, but we no longer live in a situation where music companies can readily invest in artists over a matter of years. A TV show can raise the profile of an artist in ways that many years of expensive promotion cannot.

Slimane has tour dates around France from March, and he plays the Zenith in Paris on April 7.