Who is Vernis Rouge? We met the artist behind the buzz surrounding Jul's cover of The Voice

With blonde hair often tied back in a ponytail, pearl necklaces, little black dresses and heels, this 26-year-old artist (Manon Debs in the city) evokes in her Instagram photos one of those heroines played in other times by Audrey Hepburn. Light years away from the raw lyrics of the song with which this author, composer of songs tinged with ultra-contemporary rock and a touch of romanticism, created a buzz on the networks: a cover, in her own way, of the hit Bande Organisé , in The Voice in 2024.

Her performance, where she achieves the feat of bringing unexpected softness and sensuality to this first single from the album 13'Organisé carried by the rapper Jul, has exceeded 35 million streams and cumulative views! Since then, Vernis Rouge has performed to sold-out crowds, notably at La Cigale, and last February released her first EP, Intro , in which Raphaël Zaoui (formerly of the group Thérapie Taxi) and singer Allan Védé collaborated.

"In 2006, the war forced us to leave everything behind."

In the refined setting of the Château de Crémat in Nice, where she came to give a concert mixing covers, compositions and a few surprises, the young woman exults: " I have just done concerts in Corsica, which went wonderfully and where I was dazzled by these Mediterranean landscapes. I was already nostalgic for them, and I find them again here ."

Landscapes that are reminiscent of her roots, having been born in Beirut, where she spent her entire childhood. "My father is Lebanese, my mother is French. In 2006, the war forced us to leave everything behind. I was eight years old, and our lives changed dramatically. Brutally. It was a terrible shock." Her refuge? Music.

Passionately. While pursuing brilliant studies, preparatory classes and business school, she cherished dreams of a career as a pianist, between Toulouse and Rouen. "I followed a very classical path, joining the Toulouse Conservatory. All the while being lulled at home by the songs of Barbara, Véronique Sanson, Françoise Hardy, Charles Aznavour and Brassens, by this French song that my mother was in love with. And which made me want to defend the language of Molière in my songs."

Despite her frail appearance, she admits to having loved the preparatory class period for "the competitive aspect, the need to surpass oneself, to get out of one's comfort zone. This is what I find today in having to build a musical project alone. Terribly difficult in this environment where competition dominates."

"I played wherever I could."

If The Voice gave him tenfold visibility, the show was only the icing on the cake of a rise already underway: "I started Vernis Rouge in 2019, wrote my first two EPs at that time. Filled in Paris La Boule noire, the Café de la danse. I played everywhere I could. Even if it meant taking slaps, it's so important to train. I even participated in a casting of musicians authorized to play in the metro, and that's where Bruno Berberes, who spots all the talents of The Voice , noticed me."

"It's crazy what happened."

Even if it meant doing a TV talent show and a cover, she, who doesn't listen to rap at all, threw herself into this reinterpretation of Bande Organisé. "I'm more Barbara girl than Jul girl. I brought this song into classical piano, mixed genres for fun, to make something that ultimately sounded like me, it worked. It's crazy what happened!"

In continuity, she released an EP in February, Intro (like an introduction to what will follow) a little gem with very rock energy, sharp lyrics, from which emanates a sensitivity on edge. With clips of a neat aesthetic, borrowed from an intimate atmosphere. While waiting for her first album which will be released in February 2026, and from which we will discover the first single in September, La fille .

A girl who chose to leave her mark by wearing Vernis Rouge as her battle name. A nod to the femininity she struggled to embrace, the only girl in her family, and which she now embodies down to her fingertips. Lacquered in passion red, as it should be.