The Voice All Stars final was recorded on Friday October 22nd, one day before Mika performed at Philharmonie de Paris. Usually The Voice final show is broadcasted live but because of Mika’s commitments it was this time filmed on Friday to be broadcasted on Saturday. After his concert on Saturday Mika joined the live part of The Voice final from his Philharmonie dressing room to see the results and to congratulate the winner. 

 Compared to the live semi final the recording for the final was longer and felt tiring which was totally expected. For live shows the schedule is naturally fixed, for recordings the production can use more time if needed. Even though I felt tired in the end I didn’t mind at all. After months of not being able to see any television work I enjoyed every moment of being in the studio environment and watching the production team and the show. Also, after a long recording everyone, even the audience, is always tired. That’s simply a part of the experience. 

 All the six finalists did two performances, one with a guest and one on their own. Terence James from Team Mika performed Bad Habits with Ed Sheeran and Your Song by Elton John as a solo performance. Anne Sila from Team Florent performed first together with Nolwenn Leroy and did later as her solo performance Creep by Radiohead. MB14, also from Team Florent, did Show Must Go on and later a duet with Soprano. Manon, again from Team Florent, performed No Time To Die by Billie Eilish and a duet with Amel Bent. Amalya from Team Jenifer did a duet with Clara Luciani and after that performed All By Myself by Celine Dion. Louis Delort from Team Patrick performed first with Garou and in the end Fix You by Coldplay as his solo performance. 

 For me the show was partly totally expected and partly totally unexpected. Anne Sila being a strong candidate to win was surely expected. However, her being that strong was unexpected. After her solo performance there was no question about the winner, after that performance it would have been extremely weird not to see her winning. MB14 was another big favourite for the final and personally more my taste as a performer. However, his performances during the final were not as strong as they were at the semi final and not nearly as strong as Anne Sila’s performances and while watching the show on Friday I was already sure Anne Sila would win the competition.

 I hoped for the best for Terence James from Team Mika and found his performances even better than I had expected in advance. He wasn’t strong enough to win in this group of candidates but did still good performances and gave a good impression. He had the best luck having Ed Sheeran as his guest and he used the opportunity well. He did well also with his solo performance and as a funny detail Nikos appeared on stage after his performance dressed in a traditional Greek outfit just like he had promised to do in case Terence wears a kilt. 

It was heartwarming to see Terence appreciating the possibility to perform with a huge star Ed Sheeran is and generally Mika can be pleased with his final team. Mika himself was focused on finishing the recording. He said smiling hello and good bye but otherwise didn’t much interact with the audience and that was expected and we surely can’t blame him, his schedule was insanely busy. He had two symphony concerts between two important television shows in two different countries and that is a lot - I would say too much - but what can we do. His schedules are always like that, he’s definitely used to it and as we saw during the symphony concerts, he can handle that pressure very well. 

 Another finalist outside the two favourites who in my opinion gave a particularly positive impression was Louis Delort. I wasn’t impressed by his semi final performance but this time I thought he did really well, both with his duet with Garou and with his solo performance. I saw the final voting numbers and the numbers reflected his performances as well. Even though I’m a foreigner I reacted the same way as the voting public. The duet with Garou, Notre Dame de Paris Belle, felt really nostalgic and Patrick Fiori joining the performance in the end added the cozy atmosphere and probably brought more votes. The two other candidates didn’t stand out the same way and that could be seen also in their voting numbers, the result was logical that way.

 Each artist guest did a solo performance. Ed Sheeran as a big international star did his part in the beginning so he didn’t need to wait, everyone else performed in the end of the recording after the candidates. I don’t know Ed Sheeran’s music, only that he’s internationally well known. That considering he seems very humble which I appreciate a lot. It was nice to see him chatting with Terence on stage like two regular guys, that would have meant a lot for any candidate. I liked Clara Luciani’s performances. I had seen her before and knew she has a good stage energy. 

 After all the candidates had done their performances Mika left the studio. On Saturday he was not in the studio at all - he took part of the show from his dressing room at Philharmonie de Paris - so he wasn’t supposed to be sitting in his chair during the guest performances either. That meant the energy in our part of the audience dropped considerably. Eventually it was Garou who saved us. It was difficult to stay awake and after several quite tiring moments Garou woke us up with his own performance. I watched the performance again online yet I still can’t explain why it worked that well. That moment and without Mika it was exactly what the audience needed. 

 Unfortunately no photos to share. It was not allowed to bring mobiles in the studio so this time I have no photos of Mika’s colourful and unique glittery suit. Because the final was recorded we didn’t experience the usual live television adrenaline but the show was good quality and I enjoyed watching it and as always I enjoyed watching Mika and the whole production at their work. I enjoyed it how once again French artists and songs became a little bit more familiar to me. After the pandemic all that feels extra valuable.