The weather will be nice tomorrow : there is in the title of this new album by Fredz, released last Friday, an idea of what he will prepare for us next. “I believe that this will be the last project that will carry this type of melancholy” with which we associate the young 22-year-old singer-songwriter, whose introspective pop-rap songs are a hit on the musical Web. “As soon as I finished designing the album, I was already starting to write happy songs! Well, it doesn’t look very “Fredz” in the end, but I think it suits me! »
“This album, for me, is a bit of a storm before the calm,” explains Frédéric Carrier, who measures the progress made since its first mixtape, No thorns, no roses, which he tinkered with alone on the computer, in his room, in 2019. “I’m getting older, I want to talk about other things. » By this observation, Fredz obviously does not disavow his new songs – nor the previous ones, introspective and vulnerable refrains disguised by catchy rap orchestrations –, “but each day that passes is a learning experience, and it is precisely in the title : the best will be for tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow will be even better. That’s kind of the theme of the album.”
You learn quickly at this age. Last summer, Fredz experienced his first big stages, starting with the Osheaga festival. “I think it was too big for me at that time,” he admits, lucidly. I remember a lot of stress from the Osheaga experience, but it was also my introduction to festivals. I wasn’t used to it. I liked it, Osheaga, but I imagine if I did it again next summer I’d have a lot more fun. »
Since then, he has given 80 or 90 concerts, including last Saturday at Club Soda, which served to launch The weather will be nice tomorrow. He has toured here as much as in Europe, where he has found an audience with his inoffensive but touching rap tunes — at the time of our conversation, Fredz had just returned from Paris, where he was giving interviews to digital media (sites specialized, podcasts) ahead of the release of the album. It was also a learning experience: “I think the reception is already good, but I have the impression that my place there is still to be made. I feel that the media are more rough also, that’s what I felt: they may not like my music and have me for an interview… It’s special. »
What grumpy French colleagues they are! Fredz the endearing, candor personified! Melancholic to the core, but in all honesty: in his texts, the musician still talks about the profession he is learning to know, about romantic relationships, above all, as a young man would do, confiding in his doubts, his uncertainties and his clumsiness. We’ve all been there: “My priority, when I write texts, is that everyone can recognize themselves in them. »
Fredz finally learns to be the captain of his own ship: his previous record company having gone out of business, he now produces his own recordings. The weather will be nice tomorrow is the first album to be released on the label that he co-founded with his two agents and of which he is the main shareholder, Les Disques Nova.
“I’m the only artist on the label at the moment, but our goal is to have contracts with other artists,” reveals the singer-songwriter, who studied production strategy at University of Quebec in Montreal and who today applies his knowledge. “I want to make my mark as a producer. I would like to work with local artists, musicians who are like me, between rap and pop, who also want to develop their career in France. Europe is a complicated market that needs to be studied carefully, but having fans there is rich. »
Fredz will spend the month of April in France, Switzerland and Belgium giving concerts with the musicians who worked on his new album, including the French composer and producer Omska and the Quebec composer and pianist Simon Boisseau, recruited by the house Well done music. “Then we return to Quebec and let’s go, it will be the festival tour! »