Rita Mitsuoka

A long time ago, on a French road trip far, far away Chloe and I got addicted to the French Star Academy TV show. It was the first year that we were in France (2002) and I have to say that as far as reality TV goes, it was pretty good. Maybe it was less cringe-worthy than it's U.S. counterparts because your average French person is a lot less, well ... stupid than the average American. Sorry, but its true.

This was the series that catapulted Nolwenn into fame. Our favorite contestant, however got kicked out relatively early, but not before performing a spirited rendition of Marcia Baila by Les Rita Mitsouko. As soon as she announced her choice of songs, it was pretty clear that everyone in the French audience knew (and loved) the song. Chloe and I had never heard it of course, and both got it stuck in our heads, so I scoured the net for mp3s when we got back to Grenoble. I even got over my "only indie in my ipod" pretensions and rounded up a copy of the original AND the star academy version. The originial is a catchy song, and I was reminded of all of this by the sudden re-appearance of the video for Marcia Baila on youtube. The reason for the reappearance is sadly because one of the original duo (Fred Chichin) just died of cancer.

I can't remember very many other details of the show except one of the contestants running around naked, and Lionel (pronounced Leo-nell) Ritchie making a guest appearance (ohhhh, what a feeeeeling... to be daaaaancing on the ceiiiillling)!


edit: wiki reveals that the female vocalist is an actress, with a rather niche filmography, which she had a shocking confrontation with the famous Serge Gainsbourg on TV about. I didn't learn those words in my crash French class!