Mennel Ibtissem Brings English and Arabic to “Hallelujah” on The Voice
Mennel Ibtissem’s blind audition on The Voice France places a familiar song in a bilingual vocal setting. Her performance of “Hallelujah” moves between English and Arabic, giving Leonard Cohen’s composition a distinctive character within the television competition.
The program’s official channel preserves the audition and identifies the song directly. Its accompanying description records that Florent Pagny, Mika, Zazie, and Pascal Obispo all turned their chairs, and that Mennel chose Mika to continue with the show.
The blind-audition format makes the voice the first point of contact. Coaches initially listen without facing the performer, so phrasing and tone have to establish an identity before a direct visual encounter takes place.
“Hallelujah” provides a recognizable musical frame for that introduction. Its melody leaves space for sustained phrases, and its repeated refrain gives listeners a familiar point of return. Those features allow a singer to shape the delivery without obscuring the song.
The movement between languages becomes part of the arrangement’s musical development. A change in consonants and vowels alters how a phrase feels in the mouth and how it reaches the listener, even when the underlying melodic line remains recognizable.
Watch the performance
That change can create continuity as well as contrast. The shared melody links the sections, while the language shift gives the performance another color. Listeners do not need to understand every word to follow the movement of the vocal line.
Mennel’s delivery emphasizes a contained, personal scale. The audition’s identity comes from the voice and the space around it, rather than a large display of stage movement. The arrangement leaves room for listeners to notice smaller changes in expression.
The television setting adds its own dramatic structure. Each chair turn changes the visible relationship between singer and coaches, giving the audience a sequence of responses while the musical performance continues.
Those responses do not replace the song’s development. The melody still has to move through its phrases and return to its central refrain. The audition works as a performance because its musical continuity remains clear alongside the competition’s visual events.
The official upload is useful for preserving that relationship. It lets viewers follow the singing in context, rather than relying only on a short excerpt selected around one chair turn or one especially recognizable phrase.
The composition also has room for different kinds of intensity. A singer can create emphasis through a longer note, a change in tone, or a carefully placed entrance. The performance’s shape does not have to depend on becoming louder at every stage.
Leonard Cohen’s official live recording offers a companion perspective on the song. His delivery gives a reference for a different vocal character, allowing listeners to hear how Mennel’s audition changes the scale and atmosphere of the material.
Jeff Buckley’s live performance supplies another comparison. Hearing different voices with the same song reveals how phrasing and vocal color can become central to an interpretation, even when the melody remains an obvious connection between versions.
The useful question is how each performer organizes the song’s movement. The location of a pause, the shape of a sustained phrase, and the approach to the refrain can make a familiar composition feel newly focused.
Mennel’s bilingual setting adds a further dimension to those choices. The language changes are woven into the singing, allowing the performance to develop through sound and articulation as well as through the song’s established musical structure.
Her audition remains a clear example of an individual interpretation within a familiar television format. The official recording keeps the voice, the song, and the coaches’ responses together, preserving the musical encounter that introduced her to the program.
More videos to explore
Leonard Cohen’s official Live in London performance offers the songwriter’s interpretation of “Hallelujah.” It provides a useful point of comparison for vocal pacing, tone, and the treatment of the refrain.
Jeff Buckley’s official live video from Bearsville presents another distinctive reading of the song. It complements Mennel’s audition by showing how much the same melody can change through a different voice and phrasing.
Further reading: Performance background and source.
