Post by davidhr on Jan 2, 2024 8:02:08 GMT -5
Welcome to the last week of 2023. Lara had a busy holiday week. She posted a picture of herself with Stjepan Hauser (known professionally as HAUSER), the Croatian cellist, at
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=943202457164048&set=a.259330805551220
and the comment, “My Dear HAUSER , the rebel with a cello 🎶”
His 2023 show was actually named ‘Rebel with a cello’.
This was not a chance meeting – they gave a concert together in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As explained by the Lara Fabian Family FB site, “Our wonderful Lara Fabian international
guest at the ‘ARAB STARS NIGHT’.✨ On the occasion of this internationally renowned concert - event held live at the Mohammed Abdo Theater in Riyadh, this evening 12/30/23 our diva who met the Saudi public for the first time, enchanted all those who were present by singing: JE T ‘AIME & JE SUIS MALADE with the great maestro Mohammed Abdo, undisputed legend of Middle Eastern music and the Arab world, so much so that he is considered the artist of the Arabs. 🤎”
Videos showing various aspects of this event, including Lara getting ready for it can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZaalF9JEQw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwQar1re6Rg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4u2wV3BTBI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3F5k61Ll6c
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0H2QkQxRlo
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgwQsqqz1lE
And full versions of Lara’s performance of Je suis malade and Je t’aime are available at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogIrrnCU2uE
and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU454OWEK40
She certainly was in great voice. In addition to what one would imagine is a ‘healthy’ remuneration, another lure for Lara was discussed in one of the videos above – many women attended the concert, while only two years ago women were not allowed out alone at night. As the video further explained, women also had to have every part of their body covered – including hands, face and head. Now women have more freedom, and at least these three areas may be left uncovered – and you can see Lara followed the rules. Her concert gave women a chance to make use of their new-found freedom, something which must have had a great appeal for her.
Obviously this was a private event – it’s interesting that she, in effect, chose to publicize it after the fact with the joint photo with Hauser (without mentioning the concert), something she normally doesn’t do for private events. Another video suggests she actually spent the Christmas holiday in Saudi Arabia (which, if true, one can be sure is a first for her!
).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtAMR4odwdk
This was not Lara and Hauser's first linkage, at least in the minds of the public.
A video made of both of these artists performing Adagio (not together, and with Elmira, in a video made four years old) can be found at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZikNyIrkPDY
Going even further afield, a video with pictures of Hauser was put to the music of Lara singing Je suis malade three years ago
www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ft7H6xC0vYw
So their eventual meeting was pre-ordained..
In other news, in association with the broadcast of the ‘Dream Team’ reality TV show on January 19th, TF1 had the following information (https://tf1pro.com/programmes/diffusion/2024-01-19-2110-dream-team-la-releve-des-stars-partie-1?fbclid=IwAR0WhOL3dwIy4tFlr_MDDcIQvNwt953OXBiU3pcujU7qYla6wGKoxH8DH4c):
--------------------
“DREAM TEAM: LA RELÈVE DES STARS” is a unique and exceptional talent show in which 6 French artists and their teams, made up of young singers, will compete.
Each of the 6 Teams will be made up of 5 talented children and fans of an artist, sharing the same musical and artistic universe.
They are between 8 and 14 years old and the next generation of mentors are: Matt Pokora, Jenifer, Camille Lellouche, Lara Fabian, Claudio Capéo and Black M.
These famous singers will compete in breathtaking duels, surrounded by children who will all wear the same outfit as their mentor, like “mini-them”.
At each stage, a panel of professionals as well as the public present will referee the competition.
This panel will be made up of leaders in their fields. Thus, it is Anggun, Lorie Pester, Chris Marques and Michael Jones who will give their professional opinions on the performances of each of the teams.
Vocal performance, stage performance, team cohesion, everything will count!
And, at the end, only one team and its Mentor will be declared the winner!
-----------------------
Taken literally, this would seem to indicate that the mentors will actually be singing in the competition – an interesting development if true. Lara has often said that if reality TV shows were available when she was younger, she would have wanted to compete – maybe now she’s getting a chance!
Otherwise, as posted by the Lara Fabian est ton autre FB site, there was “a nice throwback this evening at Star Academy on TF1. It is with great joy that we find the duet between Lara Fabian and Jessica Marquez on the song “Tout”. In addition, Lara will be present at Star Academy this year."✨️
The duet video referred to can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJOA8Wk3AvI
Lara sent around a set of pictures on her Instagram stories account as shown on the Lara Fabian The Netherlands FB site,
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=898282142305177&set=pcb.898282215638503
The pictures indicate that two more of her albums are now available on various streaming/download platforms, ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’ and ‘Le Secret’. Their FB site gives for example the albums links on iTunes (Apple Music) in the Netherlands. In this case those albums are now available in many other countries, including the U.S. What’s carried on each streaming site, in each country, seems to be hit-or-miss, and probably requires attention from the artist (as in this case) or her record company to make sure everything is available. For example, Apple Music (U.S.) has all her studio and live albums except: Lara Fabian (French); A Wonderful Life; and Neuf (9). Spotify (U.S.) does have these three albums and all the others except the Live (1999) album (which featured Lara’s track of Requiem pour un fou; - it’s still available on Spotify, though via Johnny Hallyday’s cut on his album Stade de France 98). It’s up to Lara’s team to pursue the missing albums on the big streaming sites, something this latest announcement suggests they are doing.
Interesting pictures/videos of the week:
From the Lara Fabian The Netherlands FB site, some pictures of Lara at Arab Stars Night,
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=896713242462067&set=pcb.896713299128728
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=896694539130604&set=pcb.896694819130576
And there are additional pictures of Hauser and Lara at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOyArY6EDI
As linked to by the Lara Fabian America FB site, from a post by Manon The Voice Kids 8,
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=863548532442272&set=a.457089949754801
The reason Lara gets on so well with children is that she’s just a big kid herself.
Various FB fan sites offered New Year greetings to Lara and her fans, including:
Anges du bout du monde:
www.facebook.com/reel/2752572654891123
Lara Fabian America: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=792009366272124&set=a.427157889423942
Lara Fabian est ton autre:
www.facebook.com/larafabiantonautre/videos/735343288157622
Lara Fabian Family:
www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=328603400052267&set=a.119466624299280
Lara Fabian - L'étoile des anges:
www.facebook.com/Nathalie.caille.ange/videos/1051717859410609
Lara Fabian The Netherlands:
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=897221542411237&set=pcb.897221595744565
And from here, a wish to Lara and all of you for a Happy and Healthy 2024 – may it truly be the best year yet!
Finally, to close out 2023 and enter 2024, we’ll give Lara the last word. As the new year approached, she posted the following on her FB and Instagram pages,
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=944628593688101&set=a.259330805551220
and
with the caption, “As we enter the new year, may hope light up your days and may your dreams come true. May each moment be filled with happiness, health, and love. May this year bring new beginnings, wonderful encounters, and unexpected success. Happy New Year to all!”
The Lara Fabian Family FB page has a recap of Lara’s 2023 in pictures, at
www.facebook.com/reel/670839985229429
and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z78jDhhj3_c
Lara’s Year in Review 2023 (in words) follows…
YEAR IN REVIEW 2023
At the end of the ‘Year in Review 2022’ there was this statement: “We have little in the way of explicit goal posts for 2023 – no new tour, no guaranteed Star Academie directorship (although appearing on the show in France seems like a possibility), not likely that there will be a new album (though Lara has referred to it, indirectly, from time to time). As for her school, the broader it gets in its ideals, the less likely it probably is to be fully formed in the near future. Lara has hinted there may be a second memoir/cookbook ‘when the time is right’. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait and see – and Lara will probably have to work harder to remain relevant to her audience.”
With some minor exceptions, Lara’s 2023 did not have any new projects that came to fruition – but it did carry on an ‘older one’, and it set the stage for some new projects in 2024. Here is the list of her major activities this past year (in chronological order):
**Lara turned 53 on January 9 (each year of living is an accomplishment in and of itself!), and as a Canadian on-line site noted on that day, “she is currently outside Quebec”. That turned out to be the case for most of the year.
**In fact during January, and at various other times during the year, she was in Sicily. Some of the promotions she had done for her book in France during 2022 aired this month in that country. Note that despite her being in Italy, there’s no evidence she actually promoted her book there.
**At the end of the month she went to Île Seguin in France to witness a production of Starmania, associated with Jean Philippe Dion. He was the executive producer of the Star Academie shows for which Lara was director, and was also responsible for the wonderful 2020 documentary ‘Lara’. The other lure was the appearance in the production of William Coutier, the winner of the 2021 Star Academie.
**For the next several months Lara was basically out of sight, with almost no interaction on her social media sites. The primary news (occurring in March into early April) was that she had to lower the price on her house in Quebec (which she had put up for sale in 2022), and then was successful in selling it. Nevertheless, she insisted that she was still planning to live in Quebec – and even touted her return there at the beginning of October, although she left once again shortly thereafter.
**in April, Lara’s main public activity was her involvement with a new reality show on TF1 in France. It ended up being a program, shot that month on two days, called “DREAM TEAM: LA RELÈVE DES STARS". As we know, Lara is one of six coaches of individual teams of children aged 8 to 14 who compete, with one winner and their mentor being honored. The voters were all on-site participants, so it was completed during this month as well. It will be aired on 1/19/24.
**She also gave her first performance in some time, at a concert at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre, in Georgia. It was in memory of the father of a young woman (Nadia); her father had recently died. She joined Lara on stage to sing a duet of ‘Je t’aime’, and Lara dedicated ‘Pas sans toi’ to her. An emotional event…
**And Lara appeared on a serious podcast, with the title ‘From Unlove to Self Love’ on a series called “Metamorphosis -The Awakening of Consciousness” with her friend and mentor Issa Padovani. The program covered three areas (1) How we develop a lack of love for ourselves; (2) Onsei Do (Kotatama) (3) Non-violent communication (NVC), the latter two being methods Lara has learned and employs to improve the quality of her life (for more details, see the News Update of 4/18). It’s one of the few times she has devoted an entire program to her philosophy of living, quite a departure from her usual media appearances. In December, she also included a link to his website “Au coeur du Vivant” for those in need of spiritual/emotional support during the holidays.
**Throughout the year she did occasional advertisements for beauty products she uses, as well as jewelry and fashion (e.g., see the article in Voici from the News Update of 10/31). However, several times she appeared on social media without any makeup at all – and this got a significant response from the media, basically admiring her courage.
**She had few public interactions from the beginning of May through mid-June, though in one, for no apparent reason she posted a picture of herself with Gabriel. It prompted an article about them in Gala (which all year long jumped at any chance to publicize whatever Lara put on her social media sites); it is an interesting and honest discussion of Lara’s relationship with love (see the News Update of 6/13). Their 10th wedding anniversary was two weeks later, and was treated with an additional picture, and additional press coverage. [Gabriel even performed a live magic show, in Catania, which Lara attended].
**As one can tell from these entries, during the first half of the year Lara had little interaction with the public, either in person or via social media. However, in the second half she ‘woke up’, and became much more interactive, as evidenced by the activities below…
**During the latter part of June she finally jumped back into public performances with three concerts in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as a remaining part of ‘The Best of Lara Fabian World Tour 2023’. It turned out to be the last concerts for that particular show; they were well attended and well-received (see the News Update of 6/27).
**Also in June, she recorded a duet and appeared on a TV show celebrating Florent Pagny; these will be covered when discussing events in the month of their release (September), but she posted some pictures/info for her fans in this month and on into July.
**With summer on hand, Lara picked up her social media interactions, showing herself in pictures and reels in ‘summertime attire’, at a home in Catania. Between private time in Sicily, and work in France and eastern Europe, Lara was anchored far from Quebec.
**Her July work in France included a private concert in Marseilles, and then an appearance at the ‘Global Gift Gala in Marabella with Eva Longoria where Lara performed “I Will Love Again”. This latter event received a large amount of publicity, and many photos of the two women.
**After the usual slow month of August, September marked a further increase in activity, as she was involved in many ventures, and had considerably more interaction with her fans.
**Lara’s duet with Florence Pagny of the song “Et maintenant” appeared on TF1, along with the album release of their singing the song in the studio; the studio performance was better reviewed than the TV one.
**She appeared at the birthday celebration for Gheorghe Zamfir, the noted pan flutist, on Sept. 15 in Bucharest; she sang four songs in excellent voice. Again, many photos and videos are available (see News Update of 9/19).
**She also posted a reel of herself singing in Italian, one of several such reels she made this year – in lieu, perhaps, of putting out an actual album in Italian. The song was “Sara perche ti amo” by the Italian duo Ricchi & Poveri (see the News Update of 9/26). She even addressed an Italian happy birthday greeting to “Clementino Caro, an Italian rapper who is on The Voice Kids in Italy.
**She then made a habit of posting herself singing portions of songs by various other artists, e.g., “Des milliers de je t’aime” by Slimane (News Update 10/31); the Laura Pausini song, ‘Durare” (News Update 11/7); “Thousands of I love You” from Billie Eilish (News Update 11/14); “Warrior” by Demi Lovato (News Update 11/21); even “Frosty the Snowman” (News Update 12/26). Due to the popularity of these songs and singers, Lara got many more ‘hits’ than she would have just singing her own songs. Nevertheless, she also did apply this approach to her music – she asked the fans what they would like her to sing, and they (she) chose a snippet of “Love By Grace” (News Update 11/14) (she even used it for a Voice Kids reel promo, News Update 12/26).
**She attended the Japanese Fashion House, Issey Miyake's show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024, with various pictures of her white outfit made available (see the News Update of 10/3).
**She then went onto yet another Global Gift Gala event, also part of the Paris-Fashion-Week, where her black dress elicited many other ‘red carpet’ photos (again, the News Update of 10/3). Once more she sang several of her standard songs (including Caruso).
**At the end of September Lara suddenly rediscovered her Facebook page, which had been almost completely abandoned. [There were 14 new Facebook posts covered in the News Update of 9/26, about double the amount in 2023 up ‘til then). What caused this change is unclear – but since then she has used it enthusiastically. In addition, her Instagram site, not as moribund but still underutilized for the first half of the year, received not only new permanent posts but a great many ‘24-hour story’ reels, an effect continuing to this day. Some of them end up being saved on fan sites or youtube.
**About this time, Lara started ending all her captions and responses with the phrase “The Best Is Yet to Come”. As quoted from an article in www.journaldesfemmes.fr, ““The best is yet to come”: Lara Fabian’s mysterious new favorite quote. The last sentence of the caption is not so innocuous. Indeed, for some time now, the artist … ends all her Instagram posts with the following quote: "The best is yet to come". So, would this be a way for Lara Fabian to tease her upcoming new album? Or her next single? The mystery remains…”
It's become clear that it does not refer to a particular thing, but an indication of her general plans, and a way to invoke optimism about the future, a mantra for herself and her public. Being positive would seem to be better than being negative, but it’s not without its downside… as Eckhart Tolle remarks, focusing on a ‘better future’ tends to minimize our focus and appreciation of the present, the only time we’re actually living in. And Lara has mentioned at various occasions that his book “The Power of Now” is a favorite of hers…
**Lara supported the International Girls' Rights Day, October 11, on her social media sites; and the program “Viva for Life” at RTBF in December, in support of children in need at the holiday season.
**In perhaps her biggest announcement of the year, in October she informed the public she was joining the French program The Voice Kids, which will be broadcast (probably) in the late summer of 2024. Nevertheless, the show began filming almost immediately and occupied her time, off and on, through the end of the year. It generated additional interest in that her “ex-lover” Patrick Fiori, with whom Lara said her relationship ended tragically, would also be a judge on the show. However, so far there has been no information to dispel the notion that everyone has acted professionally.
**Also during this month, her URL larafabian.com was resurrected from the “inactive” state. So far it’s being utilized in a practical manner for providing links to tickets for upcoming concerts; her music and videos are simply linked to other sites (Spotify, youtube). But it shows, as did her actions the last half of this year, her appreciation of the need to keep her public life alive on-line.
**On November 20, Lou turned 16 years old, and Lara celebrated it with a picture of the two of them and the caption, “16 years of infinite love” (News Update 11/21). Clearly she believes Lou is now old enough to judge the degree of public exposure she’s comfortable with, and so is less protective of Lou’s image on-line. Lara is even giving out more information about her, as indicated in the various interviews associated with her birthday (same News Update).
**In December, Lara appeared on the TV program “La Chanson Secrete” (The Secret Song) where she sang “Je t’aime” as a surprise tribute to the French actress Camille Lellouche (who has always loved it). Another TF1 show; the channel is certainly enraptured with her – as was true of TVA in Canada.
**She also announced a new tour for 2020, entitled: “Je t’aime” tour 2024”. Nine dates were signed off on for eastern Europe and western Asia: Istanbul (Turkey) (2), Prague (Czech Republic), Chisinau (Moldavia), Bucharest and Cluj in Romania, Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Zagreb (Croatia), and Budapest (Hungary). These will extend from April 15-30. In addition, there will be seven additional concerts in Canada extending from June 8-18: in Quebec, Trois Rivieres, Montreal (2), Quebec City (2), and, in English speaking Canada, Ottawa (2). Tickets for most of these shows are currently available through the larafabian.com website.
**Finally, Lara ended the year by appearing at an Arab Stars Night event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; since it was not widely advertised on the web, one assumes it was in some sense private. She sang two songs to an audience that included many women, celebrating their relatively new-found ability to actually go out in public without a male companion (though they still had some dress restrictions, they were not nearly as severe). This gave Lara the chance to support women in the way she does best – through her music (and in the process, help support herself!).
Lara’s fan sites had to ‘carry the ball’ for the first half of the year when she was largely absent, and in the process, some of them ‘gave up the ghost’. It’s therefore even more important to acknowledge those who have put tremendous effort into informing and entertaining Lara’s fans throughout this year. Without meaning to overlook others, the ones who were most active on the front lines of keeping Lara’s fan ‘flame’ burning were, in alphabetical order, the Lara Fabian America FB site, the Lara Fabian Family FB site, and the Lara Fabian The Netherlands FB site. They are to be greatly thanked for all their work and wonderful creativity.
The ’best is yet to come’ may be an exaggeration as far as Lara’s career is concerned, but it gives an impression of how busy she may well be next year. We already know about tour dates in 2024 (and there may be more), and the 'Lara Fabian tu es mon autre' FB site indicated that “The dates for the new tour in France, Belgium and Switzerland will arrive later. This new tour would be planned for 2025.” As Lara has often indicated, nothing is official until her site says that it is, but this fan site often has inside information. Also, in a recent interview, Lara verified another of their comments, that there would be new music (perhaps an album and a single, perhaps even a duet with Slimane) coming in 2024. It’s hard to imagine how Lara will fit all that in, for a new album requires a tour to promote it, and that would seem to conflict with her “Je t’aime” tour (and even more, when will she have the time to write and record it?). What we do know is that later this month, the first of her two reality shows on TF1 will appear, the “DREAM TEAM” competition, and, as currently scheduled, The Voice Kids will air in August; these will give her plenty of exposure on French TV, which may lead to additional opportunities – for example, she may make another appearance on the French Star Academie. We will hopefully find out how all this plays out – including whether Lara is ‘living in Quebec’ in more than name only, as her career in France has seemed revitalized. Lara started this past year slowly, but then built up speed; it looks like she’s now fully involved with her work and her fans, so next year may be quite different, with substantive projects that fulfill her vision. Let’s hope so…
David
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=943202457164048&set=a.259330805551220
http://instagram.com/p/C1bUhjetWdT
and the comment, “My Dear HAUSER , the rebel with a cello 🎶”
His 2023 show was actually named ‘Rebel with a cello’.
This was not a chance meeting – they gave a concert together in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As explained by the Lara Fabian Family FB site, “Our wonderful Lara Fabian international
guest at the ‘ARAB STARS NIGHT’.✨ On the occasion of this internationally renowned concert - event held live at the Mohammed Abdo Theater in Riyadh, this evening 12/30/23 our diva who met the Saudi public for the first time, enchanted all those who were present by singing: JE T ‘AIME & JE SUIS MALADE with the great maestro Mohammed Abdo, undisputed legend of Middle Eastern music and the Arab world, so much so that he is considered the artist of the Arabs. 🤎”
Videos showing various aspects of this event, including Lara getting ready for it can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZaalF9JEQw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwQar1re6Rg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4u2wV3BTBI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3F5k61Ll6c
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0H2QkQxRlo
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgwQsqqz1lE
And full versions of Lara’s performance of Je suis malade and Je t’aime are available at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogIrrnCU2uE
and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU454OWEK40
She certainly was in great voice. In addition to what one would imagine is a ‘healthy’ remuneration, another lure for Lara was discussed in one of the videos above – many women attended the concert, while only two years ago women were not allowed out alone at night. As the video further explained, women also had to have every part of their body covered – including hands, face and head. Now women have more freedom, and at least these three areas may be left uncovered – and you can see Lara followed the rules. Her concert gave women a chance to make use of their new-found freedom, something which must have had a great appeal for her.
Obviously this was a private event – it’s interesting that she, in effect, chose to publicize it after the fact with the joint photo with Hauser (without mentioning the concert), something she normally doesn’t do for private events. Another video suggests she actually spent the Christmas holiday in Saudi Arabia (which, if true, one can be sure is a first for her!
).www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtAMR4odwdk
This was not Lara and Hauser's first linkage, at least in the minds of the public.
A video made of both of these artists performing Adagio (not together, and with Elmira, in a video made four years old) can be found at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZikNyIrkPDY
Going even further afield, a video with pictures of Hauser was put to the music of Lara singing Je suis malade three years ago
www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ft7H6xC0vYw
So their eventual meeting was pre-ordained.
. In other news, in association with the broadcast of the ‘Dream Team’ reality TV show on January 19th, TF1 had the following information (https://tf1pro.com/programmes/diffusion/2024-01-19-2110-dream-team-la-releve-des-stars-partie-1?fbclid=IwAR0WhOL3dwIy4tFlr_MDDcIQvNwt953OXBiU3pcujU7qYla6wGKoxH8DH4c):
--------------------
“DREAM TEAM: LA RELÈVE DES STARS” is a unique and exceptional talent show in which 6 French artists and their teams, made up of young singers, will compete.
Each of the 6 Teams will be made up of 5 talented children and fans of an artist, sharing the same musical and artistic universe.
They are between 8 and 14 years old and the next generation of mentors are: Matt Pokora, Jenifer, Camille Lellouche, Lara Fabian, Claudio Capéo and Black M.
These famous singers will compete in breathtaking duels, surrounded by children who will all wear the same outfit as their mentor, like “mini-them”.
At each stage, a panel of professionals as well as the public present will referee the competition.
This panel will be made up of leaders in their fields. Thus, it is Anggun, Lorie Pester, Chris Marques and Michael Jones who will give their professional opinions on the performances of each of the teams.
Vocal performance, stage performance, team cohesion, everything will count!
And, at the end, only one team and its Mentor will be declared the winner!
-----------------------
Taken literally, this would seem to indicate that the mentors will actually be singing in the competition – an interesting development if true. Lara has often said that if reality TV shows were available when she was younger, she would have wanted to compete – maybe now she’s getting a chance!
Otherwise, as posted by the Lara Fabian est ton autre FB site, there was “a nice throwback this evening at Star Academy on TF1. It is with great joy that we find the duet between Lara Fabian and Jessica Marquez on the song “Tout”. In addition, Lara will be present at Star Academy this year."✨️
The duet video referred to can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJOA8Wk3AvI
Lara sent around a set of pictures on her Instagram stories account as shown on the Lara Fabian The Netherlands FB site,
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=898282142305177&set=pcb.898282215638503
The pictures indicate that two more of her albums are now available on various streaming/download platforms, ‘Ma vie dans la tienne’ and ‘Le Secret’. Their FB site gives for example the albums links on iTunes (Apple Music) in the Netherlands. In this case those albums are now available in many other countries, including the U.S. What’s carried on each streaming site, in each country, seems to be hit-or-miss, and probably requires attention from the artist (as in this case) or her record company to make sure everything is available. For example, Apple Music (U.S.) has all her studio and live albums except: Lara Fabian (French); A Wonderful Life; and Neuf (9). Spotify (U.S.) does have these three albums and all the others except the Live (1999) album (which featured Lara’s track of Requiem pour un fou; - it’s still available on Spotify, though via Johnny Hallyday’s cut on his album Stade de France 98). It’s up to Lara’s team to pursue the missing albums on the big streaming sites, something this latest announcement suggests they are doing.
Interesting pictures/videos of the week:
From the Lara Fabian The Netherlands FB site, some pictures of Lara at Arab Stars Night,
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=896713242462067&set=pcb.896713299128728
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=896694539130604&set=pcb.896694819130576
And there are additional pictures of Hauser and Lara at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvOyArY6EDI
As linked to by the Lara Fabian America FB site, from a post by Manon The Voice Kids 8,
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=863548532442272&set=a.457089949754801
The reason Lara gets on so well with children is that she’s just a big kid herself
.Various FB fan sites offered New Year greetings to Lara and her fans, including:
Anges du bout du monde:
www.facebook.com/reel/2752572654891123
Lara Fabian America: www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=792009366272124&set=a.427157889423942
Lara Fabian est ton autre:
www.facebook.com/larafabiantonautre/videos/735343288157622
Lara Fabian Family:
www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=328603400052267&set=a.119466624299280
Lara Fabian - L'étoile des anges:
www.facebook.com/Nathalie.caille.ange/videos/1051717859410609
Lara Fabian The Netherlands:
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=897221542411237&set=pcb.897221595744565
And from here, a wish to Lara and all of you for a Happy and Healthy 2024 – may it truly be the best year yet!
Finally, to close out 2023 and enter 2024, we’ll give Lara the last word. As the new year approached, she posted the following on her FB and Instagram pages,
www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=944628593688101&set=a.259330805551220
and
http://instagram.com/p/C1h8XflrhEd
with the caption, “As we enter the new year, may hope light up your days and may your dreams come true. May each moment be filled with happiness, health, and love. May this year bring new beginnings, wonderful encounters, and unexpected success. Happy New Year to all!”
The Lara Fabian Family FB page has a recap of Lara’s 2023 in pictures, at
www.facebook.com/reel/670839985229429
and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z78jDhhj3_c
Lara’s Year in Review 2023 (in words) follows…
YEAR IN REVIEW 2023
At the end of the ‘Year in Review 2022’ there was this statement: “We have little in the way of explicit goal posts for 2023 – no new tour, no guaranteed Star Academie directorship (although appearing on the show in France seems like a possibility), not likely that there will be a new album (though Lara has referred to it, indirectly, from time to time). As for her school, the broader it gets in its ideals, the less likely it probably is to be fully formed in the near future. Lara has hinted there may be a second memoir/cookbook ‘when the time is right’. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait and see – and Lara will probably have to work harder to remain relevant to her audience.”
With some minor exceptions, Lara’s 2023 did not have any new projects that came to fruition – but it did carry on an ‘older one’, and it set the stage for some new projects in 2024. Here is the list of her major activities this past year (in chronological order):
**Lara turned 53 on January 9 (each year of living is an accomplishment in and of itself!
), and as a Canadian on-line site noted on that day, “she is currently outside Quebec”. That turned out to be the case for most of the year.**In fact during January, and at various other times during the year, she was in Sicily. Some of the promotions she had done for her book in France during 2022 aired this month in that country. Note that despite her being in Italy, there’s no evidence she actually promoted her book there.
**At the end of the month she went to Île Seguin in France to witness a production of Starmania, associated with Jean Philippe Dion. He was the executive producer of the Star Academie shows for which Lara was director, and was also responsible for the wonderful 2020 documentary ‘Lara’. The other lure was the appearance in the production of William Coutier, the winner of the 2021 Star Academie.
**For the next several months Lara was basically out of sight, with almost no interaction on her social media sites. The primary news (occurring in March into early April) was that she had to lower the price on her house in Quebec (which she had put up for sale in 2022), and then was successful in selling it. Nevertheless, she insisted that she was still planning to live in Quebec – and even touted her return there at the beginning of October, although she left once again shortly thereafter.
**in April, Lara’s main public activity was her involvement with a new reality show on TF1 in France. It ended up being a program, shot that month on two days, called “DREAM TEAM: LA RELÈVE DES STARS". As we know, Lara is one of six coaches of individual teams of children aged 8 to 14 who compete, with one winner and their mentor being honored. The voters were all on-site participants, so it was completed during this month as well. It will be aired on 1/19/24.
**She also gave her first performance in some time, at a concert at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre, in Georgia. It was in memory of the father of a young woman (Nadia); her father had recently died. She joined Lara on stage to sing a duet of ‘Je t’aime’, and Lara dedicated ‘Pas sans toi’ to her. An emotional event…
**And Lara appeared on a serious podcast, with the title ‘From Unlove to Self Love’ on a series called “Metamorphosis -The Awakening of Consciousness” with her friend and mentor Issa Padovani. The program covered three areas (1) How we develop a lack of love for ourselves; (2) Onsei Do (Kotatama) (3) Non-violent communication (NVC), the latter two being methods Lara has learned and employs to improve the quality of her life (for more details, see the News Update of 4/18). It’s one of the few times she has devoted an entire program to her philosophy of living, quite a departure from her usual media appearances. In December, she also included a link to his website “Au coeur du Vivant” for those in need of spiritual/emotional support during the holidays.
**Throughout the year she did occasional advertisements for beauty products she uses, as well as jewelry and fashion (e.g., see the article in Voici from the News Update of 10/31). However, several times she appeared on social media without any makeup at all – and this got a significant response from the media, basically admiring her courage.
**She had few public interactions from the beginning of May through mid-June, though in one, for no apparent reason she posted a picture of herself with Gabriel. It prompted an article about them in Gala (which all year long jumped at any chance to publicize whatever Lara put on her social media sites); it is an interesting and honest discussion of Lara’s relationship with love (see the News Update of 6/13). Their 10th wedding anniversary was two weeks later, and was treated with an additional picture, and additional press coverage. [Gabriel even performed a live magic show, in Catania, which Lara attended].
**As one can tell from these entries, during the first half of the year Lara had little interaction with the public, either in person or via social media. However, in the second half she ‘woke up’, and became much more interactive, as evidenced by the activities below…
**During the latter part of June she finally jumped back into public performances with three concerts in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as a remaining part of ‘The Best of Lara Fabian World Tour 2023’. It turned out to be the last concerts for that particular show; they were well attended and well-received (see the News Update of 6/27).
**Also in June, she recorded a duet and appeared on a TV show celebrating Florent Pagny; these will be covered when discussing events in the month of their release (September), but she posted some pictures/info for her fans in this month and on into July.
**With summer on hand, Lara picked up her social media interactions, showing herself in pictures and reels in ‘summertime attire’, at a home in Catania. Between private time in Sicily, and work in France and eastern Europe, Lara was anchored far from Quebec.
**Her July work in France included a private concert in Marseilles, and then an appearance at the ‘Global Gift Gala in Marabella with Eva Longoria where Lara performed “I Will Love Again”. This latter event received a large amount of publicity, and many photos of the two women.
**After the usual slow month of August, September marked a further increase in activity, as she was involved in many ventures, and had considerably more interaction with her fans.
**Lara’s duet with Florence Pagny of the song “Et maintenant” appeared on TF1, along with the album release of their singing the song in the studio; the studio performance was better reviewed than the TV one.
**She appeared at the birthday celebration for Gheorghe Zamfir, the noted pan flutist, on Sept. 15 in Bucharest; she sang four songs in excellent voice. Again, many photos and videos are available (see News Update of 9/19).
**She also posted a reel of herself singing in Italian, one of several such reels she made this year – in lieu, perhaps, of putting out an actual album in Italian.
The song was “Sara perche ti amo” by the Italian duo Ricchi & Poveri (see the News Update of 9/26). She even addressed an Italian happy birthday greeting to “Clementino Caro, an Italian rapper who is on The Voice Kids in Italy. **She then made a habit of posting herself singing portions of songs by various other artists, e.g., “Des milliers de je t’aime” by Slimane (News Update 10/31); the Laura Pausini song, ‘Durare” (News Update 11/7); “Thousands of I love You” from Billie Eilish (News Update 11/14); “Warrior” by Demi Lovato (News Update 11/21); even “Frosty the Snowman” (News Update 12/26). Due to the popularity of these songs and singers, Lara got many more ‘hits’ than she would have just singing her own songs. Nevertheless, she also did apply this approach to her music – she asked the fans what they would like her to sing, and they (she) chose a snippet of “Love By Grace” (News Update 11/14) (she even used it for a Voice Kids reel promo, News Update 12/26).
**She attended the Japanese Fashion House, Issey Miyake's show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2024, with various pictures of her white outfit made available (see the News Update of 10/3).
**She then went onto yet another Global Gift Gala event, also part of the Paris-Fashion-Week, where her black dress elicited many other ‘red carpet’ photos (again, the News Update of 10/3). Once more she sang several of her standard songs (including Caruso).
**At the end of September Lara suddenly rediscovered her Facebook page, which had been almost completely abandoned. [There were 14 new Facebook posts covered in the News Update of 9/26, about double the amount in 2023 up ‘til then). What caused this change is unclear – but since then she has used it enthusiastically. In addition, her Instagram site, not as moribund but still underutilized for the first half of the year, received not only new permanent posts but a great many ‘24-hour story’ reels, an effect continuing to this day. Some of them end up being saved on fan sites or youtube.
**About this time, Lara started ending all her captions and responses with the phrase “The Best Is Yet to Come”. As quoted from an article in www.journaldesfemmes.fr, ““The best is yet to come”: Lara Fabian’s mysterious new favorite quote. The last sentence of the caption is not so innocuous. Indeed, for some time now, the artist … ends all her Instagram posts with the following quote: "The best is yet to come". So, would this be a way for Lara Fabian to tease her upcoming new album? Or her next single? The mystery remains…”
It's become clear that it does not refer to a particular thing, but an indication of her general plans, and a way to invoke optimism about the future, a mantra for herself and her public. Being positive would seem to be better than being negative, but it’s not without its downside… as Eckhart Tolle remarks, focusing on a ‘better future’ tends to minimize our focus and appreciation of the present, the only time we’re actually living in. And Lara has mentioned at various occasions that his book “The Power of Now” is a favorite of hers…
**Lara supported the International Girls' Rights Day, October 11, on her social media sites; and the program “Viva for Life” at RTBF in December, in support of children in need at the holiday season.
**In perhaps her biggest announcement of the year, in October she informed the public she was joining the French program The Voice Kids, which will be broadcast (probably) in the late summer of 2024. Nevertheless, the show began filming almost immediately and occupied her time, off and on, through the end of the year. It generated additional interest in that her “ex-lover” Patrick Fiori, with whom Lara said her relationship ended tragically, would also be a judge on the show. However, so far there has been no information to dispel the notion that everyone has acted professionally.
**Also during this month, her URL larafabian.com was resurrected from the “inactive” state. So far it’s being utilized in a practical manner for providing links to tickets for upcoming concerts; her music and videos are simply linked to other sites (Spotify, youtube). But it shows, as did her actions the last half of this year, her appreciation of the need to keep her public life alive on-line.
**On November 20, Lou turned 16 years old, and Lara celebrated it with a picture of the two of them and the caption, “16 years of infinite love” (News Update 11/21). Clearly she believes Lou is now old enough to judge the degree of public exposure she’s comfortable with, and so is less protective of Lou’s image on-line. Lara is even giving out more information about her, as indicated in the various interviews associated with her birthday (same News Update).
**In December, Lara appeared on the TV program “La Chanson Secrete” (The Secret Song) where she sang “Je t’aime” as a surprise tribute to the French actress Camille Lellouche (who has always loved it). Another TF1 show; the channel is certainly enraptured with her – as was true of TVA in Canada.
**She also announced a new tour for 2020, entitled: “Je t’aime” tour 2024”. Nine dates were signed off on for eastern Europe and western Asia: Istanbul (Turkey) (2), Prague (Czech Republic), Chisinau (Moldavia), Bucharest and Cluj in Romania, Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Zagreb (Croatia), and Budapest (Hungary). These will extend from April 15-30. In addition, there will be seven additional concerts in Canada extending from June 8-18: in Quebec, Trois Rivieres, Montreal (2), Quebec City (2), and, in English speaking Canada, Ottawa (2). Tickets for most of these shows are currently available through the larafabian.com website.
**Finally, Lara ended the year by appearing at an Arab Stars Night event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; since it was not widely advertised on the web, one assumes it was in some sense private. She sang two songs to an audience that included many women, celebrating their relatively new-found ability to actually go out in public without a male companion (though they still had some dress restrictions, they were not nearly as severe). This gave Lara the chance to support women in the way she does best – through her music (and in the process, help support herself!).
Lara’s fan sites had to ‘carry the ball’ for the first half of the year when she was largely absent, and in the process, some of them ‘gave up the ghost’. It’s therefore even more important to acknowledge those who have put tremendous effort into informing and entertaining Lara’s fans throughout this year. Without meaning to overlook others, the ones who were most active on the front lines of keeping Lara’s fan ‘flame’ burning were, in alphabetical order, the Lara Fabian America FB site, the Lara Fabian Family FB site, and the Lara Fabian The Netherlands FB site. They are to be greatly thanked for all their work and wonderful creativity.
The ’best is yet to come’ may be an exaggeration as far as Lara’s career is concerned, but it gives an impression of how busy she may well be next year. We already know about tour dates in 2024 (and there may be more), and the 'Lara Fabian tu es mon autre' FB site indicated that “The dates for the new tour in France, Belgium and Switzerland will arrive later. This new tour would be planned for 2025.” As Lara has often indicated, nothing is official until her site says that it is, but this fan site often has inside information. Also, in a recent interview, Lara verified another of their comments, that there would be new music (perhaps an album and a single, perhaps even a duet with Slimane) coming in 2024. It’s hard to imagine how Lara will fit all that in, for a new album requires a tour to promote it, and that would seem to conflict with her “Je t’aime” tour (and even more, when will she have the time to write and record it?). What we do know is that later this month, the first of her two reality shows on TF1 will appear, the “DREAM TEAM” competition, and, as currently scheduled, The Voice Kids will air in August; these will give her plenty of exposure on French TV, which may lead to additional opportunities – for example, she may make another appearance on the French Star Academie. We will hopefully find out how all this plays out – including whether Lara is ‘living in Quebec’ in more than name only, as her career in France has seemed revitalized. Lara started this past year slowly, but then built up speed; it looks like she’s now fully involved with her work and her fans, so next year may be quite different, with substantive projects that fulfill her vision. Let’s hope so…
David
