Mathieu began her career by participating in an annual singing contest in Avignon called "On Chante dans mon Quartier" (We sing in my neighborhood). Photos depict the affair as rather drab with a cheap curtain and one projector light. The stage was only twenty feet square, and the singer had to share it with a large piano and musicians. One cannot help but notice the large, boisterous, and mostly young audience. The judges sat at a table in front of and below the elevated stage. Anyone who signed the contract in the weeks before the show was allowed to sing. Talent scouts made this a worthwhile event for singers within hundreds of kilometers to participate in.