“Become a superstar? For me, who grew up in Longueuil, it seemed inaccessible to me, ”says La Zarra. And yet, this dream is within her reach today: revealed by her covers of hip-hop hits served in a classic French song sauce, the singer-songwriter struck the imagination of the public across the Atlantic in the summer. last with the tube You will go away, whose colorful music video has been watched over 4 million times on YouTube. A year ago, no one had heard of her; Last Saturday, she attended the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes, nominated in the French Revelation of the Year category.
Excited on the eve of the release of her first album? Certainly, but let’s keep our feet on the ground: “I’m very aware that it’s not because I’m at the NRJ Music Awards that the album will work, tempers La Zarra. It doesn’t mean anything and besides, I never celebrated the steps taken until the release of the album. Not celebrated the signing [de contrat avec Universal] nor the end of the recording because I haven’t finished working. I’m afraid of celebrating too quickly and being disappointed, of being just a wet firecracker. I popperai champagne when I retire! “
This debut album, which includes the success You will go away – a dance song co-written and performed by the duo of beatmakers Montrealer Banx & Ranx (Sean Paul, Nicky Jam, Dua Lipa) – is called Treachery. A famous business card that reconciles the variety of quality with the musical trends of the hour defined by the influence of hip-hop and electronic music on pop. At Universal, with whom she signed a contract, we see big, the record company announcing behind the scenes its arrival for almost a year, revealing with licked clips his voice and the vamp image of his stage character.
I’m very aware that just because I’m at the NRJ Music Awards doesn’t mean the album is going to work. It does not mean anything and besides, I never celebrated the steps taken until the release of the album.
A singular proposal
We say “La” Zarra as we say “La” Môme when speaking of Piaf, to whom she will inevitably be compared because of her phrasing, her vibrating tremolo and this way of rolling her sounds. r. Sitting on a sofa in the room at the Ritz reserved for this round of interviews, La Zarra explains: “One of my artistic directors asked me: ‘Why are you rolling your r like that ?” The answer is simple: if I had studied classical singing at the conservatory, I would have learned to sing differently. I learned on my own, listening to the artists who made me vibrate. If I don’t sing like that, I can’t sing. “
Far from being the pastiche of a legend of French song, this comparison is an asset on two levels. First, the public who have already liked the work of La Môme is instantly familiar with the song of La Zarra. Then, this reference to the classic song makes even more singular its proposal, that is to say a song with text prepared with modern musical productions borrowing from electronic dance and hip-hop, an approach which is not without recalling the early Lana del Rey, which attempted to bring together the Great American Songbook and the cultural codes of rap.
And the stuff works. A thing ? La Zarra is startled: “A gimmick ? It hurts me to think that! People still don’t understand that I listen to a lot of rap since I was little. She lists the Wu-Tang, 2Pac, The Notorious BIG, Lil Kim, “that period, see? I also listened to a lot of Marseilles rap, IAM, the Fonky Family, I would even say that I learned to write texts by listening to Akhenaton. I think if people are surprised at the mix [des genres], it’s because you have to explain that I grew up there ”.
Crash into the music
She grew up in Longueuil, surrounded by music. Played bass and some clarinet in high school. Nothing, she assures, destined her for the profession of singer, if not the desire to sing: “Until 2015, I didn’t really have a voice. Through mutual friends, she meets Benny Adam – a stunning and talented character who leads a solo career while working behind the scenes with a host of musicians and who enjoys variety as much as straight rap.
One evening at a party he sat down at the piano to play For you to love me again by Céline Dion. La Zarra accompanied him. “He turned around, surprised: ‘Ah, but do you have a voice?’ “The next day, she found Adam in the studio to do” top lines », Melodies sung on the beats that he tinkered with, including that of White spring for the French rapper Niro, it was in 2016. A hit minor for the rapper, but a door that opened for the musician. She started recording a demo of four songs performed by Benny Adam, who immediately understood what she had in mind: “It’s hard to explain to people why you want to do a waltz with [sons de la boîte à rythmes Roland] TR-808 in… ”
She ditched everything (except her older daughter, of course, who was also doing her homework while listening to us discussing in the hotel room) to sink into the music. A year ago exactly, La Zarra was still “unknown to the battalion”, as she puts it; today, even if it did not win the French Revelation of the Year award at the NRJ Music Awards held last Saturday in Cannes, it is undoubtedly the revelation of the end of 2021 among the cousins.
Events are jostling for the musician who has been going back and forth between Longueuil and Paris since the release of the song You will go away. A first round of interviews for radio stations, then TV shows, with Léa Salamé and Laurent Ruquier last September, for example, on their new show We are live, at France 2. La Zarra had to learn to slip into the shoes of a superstar, she who describes herself more as a homebody girl: “I wouldn’t say that I am anti-social, but at a party, I am the one who stays in his corner and speaks little. Okay, I’ll strike up a conversation if anyone speaks to me, but if not… I don’t want to bother. I had to come out of my cocoon to do that ”, to become La Zarra.
She also remains quite discreet about her life before, her old job, her school career, if not to say that she was “not very strong in studies”, which makes you giggle. her teenager seated behind us. Also discreet about her roots, she will simply say that they are planted “in North Africa”. The young thirty-something is called Fatima-Zahra, hence her stage name. “It is also the title of a poem by Victor Hugo,” she adds with a smile.
Extract from “Lazarra”, taken from the collection Les Orientales (1829) by Victor Hugo