Every day, a personality invites herself into the world of Élodie Suigo. Today, the author, composer, performer and musician, Pomme. She has just reissued her album “Consolation” increased by five titles: “(Lot 2) consolation” and is touring throughout France.
Pomme is an author, composer, performer, musician and producer. Very quickly and from the beginning of his career, his love for freedom punctuated his creations and his tours. She went on the run, but by assuming her flaws to make it a strength. The public and the critics validated and applauded, the proof being that in 2021, she won the Victory of Music in the revelation album of the year category, then that of female performer of the year.
Apple has just reissued its album Consolation increased by five titles: (Bundle 2) consolation and is filmed throughout France.
franceinfo: What is consolation? And what is the “consolation prize”?
Apple : In fact, consolation is a concept that we tend to forget when we become adults, but which is very important when we are children. I have the impression that when you become an adult, it’s as if you don’t really have the right to need that anymore and that you have to be your own consolation. When I composed these songs, I was confined like everyone else and I had many, many questions. I found myself a little in this state, specific to childhood, like: but I don’t understand anything, what’s going on?
I was no longer a child at all and I realized that consolation, like many other concepts, was a bit of something I was ashamed of. I said to myself: no, I have to find resources within myself. So that can also be consolation. But in any case, in the idea, the fact of writing these songs, of addressing female figures who inspired me, of addressing moments of my childhood and of having small postcards of this one, it was like a way to close a kind of loop and perhaps reconcile myself with my childhood, to console a part of me that needed answers.
“In fact, I wonder why I keep coming back to that childhood when it was her that traumatized me and is the cradle of all my greatest fears.”
I would like to talk about A million. There, for once, it’s a hymn, it’s really a song in which we are always in this group effect, of sharing with the public. You say that :”Cry, it’s dirty“. Does that mean that expressing your emotions is difficult?
Yes, I have a big problem with that. Despite the personal and professional accomplishment, the maturity that I have gained, the passing years, life, experiences, I still have this problem that follows me and which, perhaps now, is no longer considered as a problem, but as a personality trait. For a long time, I understood, perhaps wrongly, that expressing your emotions and saying how you felt was not necessarily well received, that it was not necessarily easy and that not everyone wasn’t comfortable with it. Growing up, meeting friends and people with whom I created relationships, I realized that it was very important and very healthy, but today, music is still my best way. more direct to say things. I am unable to say what I say in the songs. I have a kind of modesty in relation to emotions, mine in any case and even with those of others, it can also really disturb me.
You have always been a fan of folk music, of very emblematic personalities like Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell. We quickly understand the attachment you can have towards these personalities who are very strong, very “embodied”. We have the feeling that you are playing limit your life every time you write a text!
Yes, all the time, every day of my life, I have that feeling. Besides, it’s a problem because it’s a lot of pressure.
“I feel like I have to put a lot of intention, heart and soul into everything I do. There are limits to that because it’s super exhausting, but it’s true that I can’t help but try to make my position useful.”
I say to myself: well, I’m lucky, I speak into microphones, people listen to me, I do concerts, people come. There’s a reason for all this and it’s not just for art. Art is incredible, but there’s also the fact that there are a lot of things that aren’t right at all in society and it’s true that I feel a kind of responsibility on my shoulders, that I kiss. It’s something that I accept because otherwise it would be complicated. It’s true that I do a lot of things with a lot of intensity.
In Quebec, you discovered a lot of things, especially sexual freedom. You sing about straight, lesbian love. You regret that as a teenager, you could not recognize yourself in lesbian singers. Being an artist also means proposing, reaching out, helping, telling things? In any case, allow certain people to express themselves on a subject that affects them a lot?
Yes. Afterwards, for my part, it was simply telling my life, my stories and intimate things. But it turns out that these are stories that exist less in the public space and in the media, which are less represented. So inevitably, it becomes something important for a lot of people, which is too nice because it means that where I may have lacked representations and examples, today there are a lot more women and men who talk about their sexuality and their homosexuality much more freely. I hope it will have an impact on the younger people who are growing up in our society right now.
Pomme is on tour and will stop for example on February 16, 2023 in Nancy, on February 17, 2023 in Saint-Étienne, on February 18 in Besançon, on September 23 in Strasbourg, on March 7 in Lille, on March 29 in Marseille and on April 3 and 4. in Paris.