Purepeople: You are releasing a new album, Pink InkMarch 25, 2020…
Corneille: Ten titles were written together with my wife Sofia de Medeiros. I composed the songs inspired by the soul and RnB of the 1980s. It’s the music I listen to all the time, the only one I sing in the shower. Chaka Khan, Prince… it was a small dream to work with these sounds. I wanted to sing words that do good, to ward off the ambient gloom in pink ink!
What is your favorite title among the ten?
I have a lot of them, you can’t choose among your children! Have a good trip, it’s a title that I like for the text but also a lot for the music. I enjoyed myself. Each song is a musical tribute to a title that I like, a wink. All the men in my life tackles a rather original theme. There are many texts sung by men to talk about women. I wanted to pay tribute to those who showed me the way. Showing that masculinity can be a matter of tenderness and gentleness.
How is your professional collaboration with your wife going?
I’ve been writing with Sofia for eleven years now. So we developed a method that is not really one. Each song is an extension of a conversation we had. A musical summary of a debate, current events, our family, our children. It’s super easy. We didn’t have to rack our brains.
How do you impose a border between professional life and personal life?
It takes time ! The first collaborations were not very simple. The line is difficult to draw. The creative becomes intimate, everything touches. The first time was for her own album, in 2007 or 2008, and I had a lot of ego as a songwriter. I lacked humility, I said to him: “You don’t understand, it’s like this“. But if it goes wrong in writing, it goes wrong in the couple, and it’s the couple that matters most. I learned that listening to the other is sometimes not bad. I have really grown up thanks to that.
The album opens with “Petit Pas”, a title written for your son Merik
It’s a title for him and for everyone. It’s a song that was born from the fact that I realized that everything happens quickly. For my son, everything is slow. Taking three steps to wash his hands is far too long when he wants to play Fifa. But there’s good in slowness, and it’s something he doesn’t understand yet. Finally it is a reflection on the obsession that we all have to be in race against each other, on the networks, always…
He validated this title? Could he get into music?
My children have a musical ear yes, not necessarily the desire. My youngest is 6 years old and she wants to be a hairdresser. And my biggest, his profession, is a child right now! They have lots of interests but they are children above all and so much the better. But since the music is everywhere in the house, they listen to my mixes. They remain diplomats and they validate. I have sometimes chosen singles based on their reactions.