Aya Nakamura (1/5): Aya's gold medal

With the help of the Republican Guard Orchestra, the Franco-Malian singer's performance at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony became the most viral of the show created by Thomas Jolly. It was a surprise for everyone, including the woman in question.

"When I was offered it, I said to myself: 'I'm going to go, I'm going to sing, I just have to get dressed, put on a show and go home,'" confides Aya Nakamura. She had no idea that her performance would become the most viral of all Thomas Jolly's shows, during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, on July 26, 2024.

"I'd better go and choose my vocabulary, to please you, in the language of Molière," sings Aya Nakamura, emerging from the Académie Française in a dress of golden feathers, surrounded by six dancers. With the Orchestra of the Republican Guard, they sing together For me formidable by Aznavour, a song that cleverly mixes French and English, before swaying together to the hit by the singer Djadja .

This was enough to nail the nail on the back for the gossips who had questioned Aya Nakamura's way of playing with the language and her ability to represent France. "She doesn't sing French, she doesn't sing foreign either, she sings who knows what. It's not mixed race, it's nonsense," attacked Marine Le Pen, who also criticized her "outfits" and her "vulgarity." And at the time, 73% of French people believed, in an Odoxa poll, that the artist did not represent French song, and 63% thought it was a bad idea for her to participate in the ceremony.

"Aya's work is exactly what we wanted to say about a language that is enriched," explains Thomas Jolly to justify his choice around the French Academy. And when the military orchestra was called to participate in the painting, no one hesitated: "It was a great joy," assures Commander Foulquier, who sketched out some memorable dance steps on the Pont des Arts. For Aya Nakamura, the pleasure was shared: "We had a blast with the Republican Guard, we really enjoyed ourselves during the rehearsals," she says.

But neither of them expected such success before launching. The sequence will go down in television history, with more than 30 million views in seven days. A record, ahead of the lighting of the cauldron by Marie-José Pérec and Teddy Riner, and ahead of Céline Dion's cover of L'Hymne à l'amour . On TikTok, the number has even climbed to 228 million views worldwide.