In 2019, the Boulay sisters proclaimed The Death of the Stars, a premonitory title as the world would provide them, in the following months, with other reasons to despair. After a long break during which they considered giving up their careers, Stéphanie and Mélanie reconnect with music by turning their gaze towards The lights in the sky.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
It had to stop. When it was time to cross off all of the remaining shows on their calendar, in September 2020, Mélanie Boulay was very, very pregnant with her second son and Stephanie, no longer capable at all. “There were times when I was lying on the ground and my boyfriend had to help me up,” she recalls. I was affected at a level where just thinking about getting out of our house to pick up a guitar in my hands made my heart ache. I was physically unable to continue. »
In the sun of a scorching spring, which crosses the window of the restaurant, the Boulay sisters now wear serene smiles. With the new song they reveal today, The lights in the skythe singer-songwriters present themselves in the astonishing and scintillating clothes of pop and synthetic sounds which contrast with the irresistible folk bric-a-brac of their beginnings.
And yet, beyond this gentle transfiguration, The Boulay sisters, it’s stronger than them, remain melodically and poetically The Boulay sisters, when they sing like a mantra: “What is life worth, what is life worth? ? »
The Death of the Stars, it was disillusionment, it was fuck, there is no more hope. But one day, I said to myself: if you keep making music, girl, you’re going to have to find some light somewhere. I have come to this in my life: I no longer want to be fatalistic.
Stephanie Boulay
“If you keep making music, girl. Stéphanie’s amusing formula is not an exaggeration. To the overwhelmed observation that was smoldering The Death of the Starschronicle of a current world at its loss, was added in the summer of 2020 a wave of denunciations of sexual misconduct following which the boss of their record company, Eli Bissonnette, resigned.
Freeing themselves from their contract with Grosse Boîte – their new album, scheduled for the fall, will be released by Simone Records – was only possible at the cost of necessarily painful legal proceedings. Stéphanie had to negotiate at the same time with the repercussions of the confessions on the social networks of her ex-lover, who admitted to having had “abusive behavior” vis-à-vis her. A painful event that she would have preferred not to make public.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
The Boulay sisters at Club Soda, in October 2019
“I don’t know if people realize how difficult it was. We were very disgusted with the environment, to the point where I said to myself: at worst, I will continue to make music just for myself, not in the industry. We no longer knew who to trust,” says Mélanie, who is saddened in the same breath by the “backlash” experienced by several of the whistleblowers and their allies, against whom many industry representatives would have turned. Not to mention “all these people who are still there, who have not been denounced and whom we will still have to rub shoulders with”.
But after having taken this vertiginous disenchantment with the environment to which they have belonged for 10 years, The Boulay sisters will have quietly reconnected with the essential: music.
Each time I became a mother, I wanted to take a step back from my career, because I find it difficult to juggle the two. Then quietly, it comes back to grab me: I can’t just be a mother. I need to create things outside of my family life. I need to exist, and that’s what music does. It makes you exist so much.
Melanie Boulay
Although they have now left for another ride on the Ferris wheel, Mélanie and Stéphanie Boulay are today inhabited by the acute awareness that they must define their limits. Each of their tours, one or the other or both, ended in burnout.
“There’s so little room, you feel so grateful when you finally get some attention that you feel like you can’t turn down any opportunities, or you’ll lose your place.” It’s the logic of capitalism: if you don’t want to make the sacrifices, someone else will be ready to make them. The record companies have a lot to gain by wringing you out as much as possible”, regrets Mélanie who, to this day, still carries with her the fear of plunging back into the same black hole that swallowed her after their first tour.
“Being in the public space creates a self-awareness that is more difficult for women to deal with, because you are always being compared to beautiful, thin, articulate, strong, but do not protrude, which are sexy, but not too much. And the pressure to stay humble! I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, but at the same time not to change, to always remain nice and polite,” explains Stéphanie.
It’s on their way to Everybody talks about it, in March 2020, that goes back to the genesis of this fourth album scheduled for the fall. Taxed for being depressed and depressing on social networks, The Boulay sisters will have obtained confirmation of what they already suspected – “What is expected of public figures is entertainment, laughter, rascality” , according to Stéphanie – but will also have engaged in a few introspection sessions.
What does it say about me that people find me depressing? And if there’s some truth in that, how do I look more positive? What’s left for me to say if I stop burying my face in my shit constantly?
Stephanie Boulay
Mélanie continues and the interview now resembles a conversation between sisters which the journalist would attend almost by chance. “I had this thought too: why, even if I’m happy, is everything that comes out of my mouth that I’ve noticed that’s not beautiful? Why don’t I make the choice to dwell on beauty more? »
Dwell on beauty. This is what they have both devoted themselves to, recording new music with the young director Connor Seidel, as well as investing in other projects: studies in osteopathy for Mélanie and amateur beekeeping for Stephanie. What is life worth, what is life worth? A lot, we will understand.
“Why do we collectively bring children into the world, even though we know it’s the end of humanity? “Launches the latter before answering her own question. “Because love is more important than anything. »