French interview + translation Virgin Radio Lille 31-10-12

[camille*]

This is an interview from Virgin Radio Lille, just before the gig in Roubaix on October 31st. He says nice things about the fans at the end

 

 

 

 

We are here in Roubaix at the Colisée just a few hours before you go on stage, how are you feeling?

 

It's the first French date and so I want to sing songs in French, and I'm stressed because it's the first time and I don't know... Also it's the first theatre I'm playing in on this tour. Before that we performed in clubs and halls, but not really theatres. And a theatre means completely different dynamics. It means that when I go on stage, people are seated, they stand up, the sound in my ears is very different because it comes back to the stage differently and well, everything is new, it's as if it was the first show of the tour, actually it's not the first date of the tour at all but I've got stage fright as if it was the first time. We could think that it's normal but it's a feeling that I hate.

 

It's a kind of positive stress probably; because the audience is there, they are waiting, it's an audience from the North that you know well.

 

It's a very warm audience, they sing, they like to be into it wholeheartedly, but it also gives me some pressure because it's been a long time since I've performed here next to Lille, it's been years, and so I really want to do something nice, something good and it's probably the worst moment to talk to me, before a gig, it's when the monster comes out and then when I go on stage, I calm down.

 

A new album, the 3rd one, completely different from the first two, what is different according to you?

 

There is a difference, but it's not completely different, we can recognize me in every way, in the melodies, in my way of writing songs, it's pop music with a lot of influence from classical music, 70s music, a bit of electronic sound, it's a mix, like me, like a person, I'm a mix of different sounds and different cultures. At the same time it's clear that there's an evolution, I gave myself challenges, for example on this disc I told myself I really wanted to make something fresh, something that would continue my story. And for me this is essential, if we don't continue the story, then what are we doing? I like looking back at my 3 albums and see 3 periods of my life, very honest, very different. I live my life in my albums and when you listen to my albums you can completely see a snapshot, a kind of portrait of my life during these 2 or 3 years everytime I make an album. And I like continuing like this, because it is something honest, something real, it is not planned. I make the music that comes out from the period during which I'm writing.

 

What stands out from this album is happiness and joy

 

There's a lot of joy in this album and it's funny because most of the people who tell me, mostly in interviews, 'well the album is quite dark', I tell them 'what are you talking about?'. It's clear that the lyrics are dark, it comes from a time in my life when really there were a lot of dark and sad things, but at the same time the album is really happy, very festive, it's like a kind of medicine, like a psychedelic potion in a way, and for me that's what music is for. It helps taking me out of these sad times. So the lyrics are rather sad or deep, but the music is very joyful. It's the combination of both.

 

Music wraps up sadness and eventually joy comes out from the whole

 

That was the goal. For me personally that was the goal and when I went to the studio, when I escaped my life in London, from my family and friends and everyone I knew, even from my own music and career, I flew to Montreal to work with someone and I didn't come home for 8 months. Because I didn't want to go back before I had written everything.

 

That was Nick Littlemore?

 

It was Nick Littlemore from Empire of the Sun. And with him I went in a room and I felt as if I was in a band, the same way I had made the first album, surrounded by people, musicians, a musical collective. It was fun. Going to the studio was all I wanted to do.

 

There are 4 songs in French, is it important to sing in this language? You have spent a long time living in France.

 

Yes I grew up with French music, by Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Rita Mitsouko, and also some trashy pop at the same time. It was not only classy people, I liked everything. And I still like everything. I've got a filter that makes me like something completely trashy and 30 seconds later I'm listening to Tom Waits crying. It's a mix and for me it's important not to be snob, and so I grew up with a lot of French music, very serious and pop music and I think it really educated me, from the age of 2 to 10 I was listening to this. And in French music there's always melody, it's very important. For me it's fun to sing in another language, a language that brings melody to the singing in a very different way than English. It's much more percussive. And I also like working with someone who can help me with the lyrics, and when I work in French I work with my songwriter friend Doriand, and I like his way of expressing himself, in a way you can't express in English in my opinion.

 

Do you already look back a bit thinking 'what is happening to me is incredible, this huge success with the first album, this audience behind me', do you look at it with clear-headedness? How do you analyse this?

 

Hmm well... I don't analyse. I don't look. I can't. I do what I do and I go on stage to handle the reality of what I do. I don't know if it makes sense, but when I go on stage it becomes something real. When I look at my audience and they look at me, I've got a contact that is real. It's not abstract, it's not hype, it's not press, it's not figures.

Fans are hugely important for an artist, maybe for you particularly, what would you like to say to your fans who have been following you from the start?

 

My fans are everything, really in my career it's the most essential thing. They are part of my universe. I've always said I come from nowhere so I'll create my own world. I'm Lebanese, a bit English, French, American, a real mix, I'm a gypsy. And so I'll create with my music and my shows and my visuals my own universe. But creating your own universe without the fans is useless. They give me so much, they also give me ideas and they'll be on stage with me tonight, 6 or 7 of them will be singing with us.

 

Did you choose them?

 

Yes I chose them, I asked them to send a video of them singing and my musicians and me chose them together. And I'm never scared when I ask my fans to do something. I don't know why. I'm not scared. I'm not scared it will go wrong because honestly they have such a good vibe that I always trust them. Yes they are very important in what I do. And they are very loyal and I'm very lucky.

[mari62]

Thank you very much for posting and translating Camille!

 

Here's a d/l link as a single file

http://www.mediafire.com/?47wchxambqy9rvc

[Kaito]

This is an interview from Virgin Radio Lille, just before the gig in Roubaix on October 31st. He says nice things about the fans at the end

 

 

 

 

We are here in Roubaix at the Colisée just a few hours before you go on stage, how are you feeling?

 

It's the first French date and so I want to sing songs in French, and I'm stressed because it's the first time and I don't know... Also it's the first theatre I'm playing in on this tour. Before that we performed in clubs and halls, but not really theatres. And a theatre means completely different dynamics. It means that when I go on stage, people are seated, they stand up, the sound in my ears is very different because it comes back to the stage differently and well, everything is new, it's as if it was the first show of the tour, actually it's not the first date of the tour at all but I've got stage fright as if it was the first time. We could think that it's normal but it's a feeling that I hate.

 

It's a kind of positive stress probably; because the audience is there, they are waiting, it's an audience from the North that you know well.

 

It's a very warm audience, they sing, they like to be into it wholeheartedly, but it also gives me some pressure because it's been a long time since I've performed here next to Lille, it's been years, and so I really want to do something nice, something good and it's probably the worst moment to talk to me, before a gig, it's when the monster comes out and then when I go on stage, I calm down.

 

A new album, the 3rd one, completely different from the first two, what is different according to you?

 

There is a difference, but it's not completely different, we can recognize me in every way, in the melodies, in my way of writing songs, it's pop music with a lot of influence from classical music, 70s music, a bit of electronic sound, it's a mix, like me, like a person, I'm a mix of different sounds and different cultures. At the same time it's clear that there's an evolution, I gave myself challenges, for example on this disc I told myself I really wanted to make something fresh, something that would continue my story. And for me this is essential, if we don't continue the story, then what are we doing? I like looking back at my 3 albums and see 3 periods of my life, very honest, very different. I live my life in my albums and when you listen to my albums you can completely see a snapshot, a kind of portrait of my life during these 2 or 3 years everytime I make an album. And I like continuing like this, because it is something honest, something real, it is not planned. I make the music that comes out from the period during which I'm writing.

 

What stands out from this album is happiness and joy

 

There's a lot of joy in this album and it's funny because most of the people who tell me, mostly in interviews, 'well the album is quite dark', I tell them 'what are you talking about?'. It's clear that the lyrics are dark, it comes from a time in my life when really there were a lot of dark and sad things, but at the same time the album is really happy, very festive, it's like a kind of medicine, like a psychedelic potion in a way, and for me that's what music is for. It helps taking me out of these sad times. So the lyrics are rather sad or deep, but the music is very joyful. It's the combination of both.

 

Music wraps up sadness and eventually joy comes out from the whole

 

That was the goal. For me personally that was the goal and when I went to the studio, when I escaped my life in London, from my family and friends and everyone I knew, even from my own music and career, I flew to Montreal to work with someone and I didn't come home for 8 months. Because I didn't want to go back before I had written everything.

 

That was Nick Littlemore?

 

It was Nick Littlemore from Empire of the Sun. And with him I went in a room and I felt as if I was in a band, the same way I had made the first album, surrounded by people, musicians, a musical collective. It was fun. Going to the studio was all I wanted to do.

 

There are 4 songs in French, is it important to sing in this language? You have spent a long time living in France.

 

Yes I grew up with French music, by Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Rita Mitsouko, and also some trashy pop at the same time. It was not only classy people, I liked everything. And I still like everything. I've got a filter that makes me like something completely trashy and 30 seconds later I'm listening to Tom Waits crying. It's a mix and for me it's important not to be snob, and so I grew up with a lot of French music, very serious and pop music and I think it really educated me, from the age of 2 to 10 I was listening to this. And in French music there's always melody, it's very important. For me it's fun to sing in another language, a language that brings melody to the singing in a very different way than English. It's much more percussive. And I also like working with someone who can help me with the lyrics, and when I work in French I work with my songwriter friend Doriand, and I like his way of expressing himself, in a way you can't express in English in my opinion.

 

Do you already look back a bit thinking 'what is happening to me is incredible, this huge success with the first album, this audience behind me', do you look at it with clear-headedness? How do you analyse this?

 

Hmm well... I don't analyse. I don't look. I can't. I do what I do and I go on stage to handle the reality of what I do. I don't know if it makes sense, but when I go on stage it becomes something real. When I look at my audience and they look at me, I've got a contact that is real. It's not abstract, it's not hype, it's not press, it's not figures.

Fans are hugely important for an artist, maybe for you particularly, what would you like to say to your fans who have been following you from the start?

 

My fans are everything, really in my career it's the most essential thing. They are part of my universe. I've always said I come from nowhere so I'll create my own world. I'm Lebanese, a bit English, French, American, a real mix, I'm a gypsy. And so I'll create with my music and my shows and my visuals my own universe. But creating your own universe without the fans is useless. They give me so much, they also give me ideas and they'll be on stage with me tonight, 6 or 7 of them will be singing with us.

 

Did you choose them?

 

Yes I chose them, I asked them to send a video of them singing and my musicians and me chose them together. And I'm never scared when I ask my fans to do something. I don't know why. I'm not scared. I'm not scared it will go wrong because honestly they have such a good vibe that I always trust them. Yes they are very important in what I do. And they are very loyal and I'm very lucky.

 

Aaaah Roubaix

I like to hear him say that he can trust us...

Aww... I can't wait to see him again

[Yuna]

Thanks for translation

[cathouzouf]

Thanks for making me realize there was more than one art to the interview:thumb_yello:

 

Quite interesting!

[Christine]

Thanks for the translation Camille.

[mellody]

thanks for posting and translating!

 

what he says about his fans - aww!

[clara85]

Thanks for posting and translating

[Louiza]

Love this interview!!

What he says about trusting the fans is:wub2: