LONDON - Just a few years ago, Fatima Zahra Hafdi was working in a series of hair salons in Montreal, hoping to one day find her true creative passion in life.
Next month, she steps onto the stage as La Zarra in perhaps the world鈥檚 most famous music competition, the Eurovision Song Contest, where she will represent France with the track "脡videmment" (鈥淥bviously鈥). She co-wrote the song with Benny Adam, and they co-produced it with fellow Montrealers Banx & Ranx.
Countries all across Europe send an artist or band with a three-minute song to Eurovision every May. Among its most famous winners? C茅line Dion, who won for Switzerland in 1988.
Last year, 161 million viewers watched the contest on television, with many more watching online.
Unlike Dion, who was essentially parachuted into Switzerland just for Eurovision, La Zarra is already well known in France. Her biggest hit to date, 2021鈥檚 "Tu t鈥檈n iras" (鈥淵ou鈥檒l Leave鈥) went platinum there and led to her winning the francophone Breakout Songwriter Award at the 2022 Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) Awards.
La Zarra鈥檚 first foray into the music industry was a featuring credit on "Printemps blanc" (鈥淲hite Spring鈥) with French rapper Niro in 2016.
鈥淚t was my first song ever,鈥 she said in a phone interview in March, speaking in both English and French. "I just did it because (my producer Adam) asked me and then I went back to my regular life (as a hairdresser in Montreal).鈥 Her next song would be released in 2020.
"I did a lot of small jobs that I didn鈥檛 really like. I think I never stuck more than three months in a job because I couldn鈥檛. For me, it didn鈥檛 make sense to do something I don鈥檛 like and then die. Lucky me, music got into my life.鈥
La Zarra鈥檚 music integrates the American rap and pop she was exposed to in Montreal with French chanson, a form of French pop music especially popular in the mid-1900s that emphasizes the lyrics and often has a working-class vision of the world. This is the music her mother would sing to her as a child, and is epitomized by Edith Piaf鈥檚 "La vie en rose" and "Non, je ne regrette rien."
鈥(Piaf is) kind of like my singing teacher. In the song, you can feel love, you can feel emotions that you don鈥檛 have in real life. That kind of music helped me escape reality.鈥
La Zarra was born and raised in Montreal as the third of seven children in a Moroccan-好色tv family. She describes her childhood as happy, but didn鈥檛 discuss her Moroccan roots at the beginning of her career, she says, because she didn鈥檛 want people to put her in a box.
She has also never divulged her age online, and is slightly baffled but plays along when incorrect numbers are thrown out. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know why people are so obsessed with my age. (Is it) because I鈥檓 a woman? 鈥 to compare me? But I think it鈥檚 funny so they will never know.鈥
What she couldn鈥檛 hide, though, was her talent.
鈥淲hen I decided that I wanted to do (music) at the end of 2019, I (had) just four demo songs and everybody was amazed. I was like, 鈥極K, that鈥檚 easy!鈥
鈥淎fter that, (there were) ups and downs. It鈥檚 really hard work, because it鈥檚 day and night ... And now, I see that my mother is already relieved that I can live off of music. Those close to me see that music pays, and I think I鈥檓 making them proud.鈥
In recent years, France has chosen its Eurovision entrant via a televised contest.
But the head of the French delegation to Eurovision, Alexandra Redde-Amiel, says she was ready to cancel the national competition if La Zarra agreed to represent them.
La Zarra, who lives in Paris, had been approached in previous years but it was never the right timing, and she didn鈥檛 see herself entering the selection contest. She鈥檇 already started writing 鈥溍塿idemment鈥 before Redde-Amiel approached her, and then reworked it for Eurovision with Adam and Banx & Ranx.
鈥淲e loved it immediately when she suggested it to us. It鈥檚 the great French chanson but with a strong, Eurovisionesque refrain that stays in your head,鈥 says Redde-Amiel. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very 'Emily in Paris.'鈥
La Zarra says Redde-Amiel told her she'd be the perfect representative for France "because of my music, of what my lyrics say, and of how I represent womanhood.鈥
France also hopes to gain an advantage with La Zarra's international connections this year, as for the first time ever, viewers from non-participating countries 鈥 including Canada and Morocco 鈥 will be able to vote online and through the Eurovision app.
To promote the song, La Zarra performed at a Eurovision pre-party in Madrid, although she had to pull out of similar performances in Amsterdam and London two weekends ago for family reasons.
Social media promo efforts may also have helped the song reach 3.3 million views on YouTube, the fourth highest among the 38 competing songs.
La Zarra is currently fourth in the betting odds. The BBC has called 鈥溍塿idemment鈥 a 鈥減otential winner鈥 and describes the song as 鈥渜uietly gorgeous, like a sort of Sunday morning Dua Lipa.鈥
鈥淔ollowing in the footsteps of C茅line Dion, who鈥檚 had an incredible career 鈥 it鈥檚 a bit of pressure, but I鈥檓 confident in my work and I hope to be up to the task and to be able to do justice to my predecessors,鈥 says La Zarra. (Natasha St-Pier, from New Brunswick, also represented France in 2001, finishing fourth.)
鈥溍塿idemment,鈥 like La Zarra鈥檚 other singles to date, is entirely in French.
She intends to release music in English within the next two years or so, but under a different stage name 鈥 La Zarra will remain francophone. La Zarra would also like to export her French music to the English-speaking world.
鈥淧eople who sing in Spanish do well in the English market,鈥 she notes. 鈥淲hy not French music?鈥
As one of the 鈥淏ig Five鈥 nations that contributes the most financially to Eurovision, France has automatically qualified for the final. 好色tvs can watch on YouTube and vote for La Zarra (or their other favourites) on May 13.
Jeffrey Mo is a London-based freelance writer from Calgary.
This report by 好色tvwas first published April 26, 2023.
