This first award ceremony centered on the world of rap reveals its categories. It comes after years of criticism of the Victoires de la Musique, accused of under-representing this ultra-popular musical genre.
The Flames, musical awards focused on rap and other affiliated currents, alternatives to the Victoires de la Musique, unveiled their categories on Tuesday for a first edition on May 11 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
The creation of the Flames, announced at the end of 2022, is now taking shape with the revelation of its categories (nominations will be revealed in April) which make room for everything that the Victories conceal.
Or “21 different awards addressed to artists, creators and creators, but also to more withdrawn personalities who deserve to be highlighted”, write the organizers in a press release.
More than double the Victoires de la Musique, only 10 categories for their ceremony on February 10 at La Seine Musicale, at the gates of Paris.
The ceremony of the Flames was born on the initiative of media specialized in “popular cultures”, such as YARD, Booska-P, without forgetting Smile, a consulting agency. This event also receives the support of Spotify, the first music platform in the world.
The Victoires de la Musique, long criticized for not making enough room for the rap and R&B spheres, are not mentioned in the press release from the organizers of the Flames. But clearly targeted when they describe “some” who “have refused for too long” to give this music “the meaning that is due to them, at the height of what they represent”.
shunned genres
Les Victoires are regularly accused of “systematic invisibilization of rap, which nevertheless sells the most today”, as Eloïse Bouton, journalist and founder of Miss Rapa media dedicated to women and LGBT+ in hip-hop.
The Marseille rapper SCH, receiving his Victory for the most streamed male artist last year, said his “embarrassment”, live on the microphone, not to see rappers like Jul or Dinos present at the ceremony.
Alongside the categories expected as “rap album of the year”, Les Flammes innovates with the “featuring of the year” (guest artist on the title of another). Or even “the Afro or Afro-inspired song of the year” and “the Caribbean or Caribbean-inspired song of the year”.
Influences that we find in Aya Nakamura, the most listened to French-speaking artist in the world and yet snubbed by the Victories. “She is unique, she is the queen of this mixture of sounds, a little West African, a little Caribbean too, a little zouk, a little dancehall, a little Afro-pop”, exhibited in 2021 at AFP Diplo, renowned American DJ-producer.
Les Flammes want to reflect “the richness of our music, its diversity and the fact that it is constantly evolving by being permeable to influences from all over the world”. They will also distinguish a category “social commitment of the year”.
“New Pop”
“These categories are the ones that will allow us to celebrate popular cultures in year one, but nothing is set in stone,” officials warn. The categories will “evolve” if necessary. The “vast majority of the Flames” will be awarded “via an equal mix” of two panels of voters, trades related to the music industry and the general public.
For its first edition, Les Flammes will present gendered categories (female artist, male, female revelation, male of the year). Even if “not defining music by the genre of its artist is obviously the right thing to do”, underline the organizers. “In our cultures, this will only be possible when women are more numerous, and more supported. In the meantime, they will be represented”, they conclude.
Among their categories, Les Flammes favor the term “new pop”, which avoids the label “urban music” that is sometimes found elsewhere. “Behind ‘urban music’, we can imply ‘music of scum, of peripheral areas’, it’s like when we say ‘traditional music’, it can imply ‘music of bumpkins'”, denounced Naïma Huber Yahi , historian and researcher, during a round table at the Trans Musicales de Rennes in 2021.
