“I am the grandson of a resistance fighter, freedom is sacred in our family”

Author, composer, performer and lyricist Vianney is the exceptional guest of Le Monde d’Élodie Suigo from August 12 to 16, 2024. Five days, five songs to get to know this essential artist of the French music scene better.

Vianney is the special guest of Le Monde d’Élodie. The opportunity to look back on five highlights of her life with five songs from her repertoire taken from her four albums, including the latest, released on November 10, 2023, which contains duets and trios: At 2 to 3In less than ten years, he has established himself on the French music scene with songs that celebrate love, separation, family, nostalgia, the seasons, solitude, but all systematically with a smile.

His titles Not there, I’m leaving, Veronica, Father-in-law or his collaborations with Gims on the title The same or with Ed Sheeran on Call On Mehave already been incorporated into all the playlists. A journey marked by numerous awards such as the latest, in 2024, that of male artist of the year at the Victoires de la musique. Put away from concerts for the moment, the one who likes to live in osmosis with his audience and the artists who are part of his circle reveals himself.

franceinfo: The author, composer and performer that you are, rarely leaves anyone indifferent, especially since with each new album, you refine your writing. Aren’t your words there to heal ills?

Vianney: In any case, I notice that at first, it heals my loved ones. Afterwards, yes, we can say that it accompanies people in difficult moments of their lives. That is obviously my biggest salary. It is the grateful smile of someone in the street, at the end of a concert. It happens to me and that is what makes me happier, that is what gives meaning to what I do. Otherwise, it would just be fun. For me, it takes on another dimension when it does good to others, it is obviously more interesting for me.

You have so much modesty that we don’t systematically realize that almost everything is autobiographical, even though it is.

Yes, exactly.

You can’t make up a song if you don’t feel the feelings and emotions.

Exactly. And above all, I’m going to sing it behind, so I have to assume it. I have to be honest. And I am in my songs more than in life. In life, I am honest as we hear, but overall, there are still a lot of things that I hide, that I don’t say, normal, I protect myself as well as my loved ones.

“The format of a song allows me to really show myself as I am.”

In 2020, you released your album Let’s not wait. An album that is special with the pandemic, which comes out on the first day of the second lockdown. You decided that it had to be released because it was a wake-up call.

Yes, there was obviously the question of postponing everything which arose as for many and rightly so, since it’s true that there are projects that we work on for years and there, everything was reduced to next to nothing, so it was hard. But my label, honestly, they are really courageous people, they are independents. Everything is harder all the time, they are used to it. So they are courageous and we said to ourselves: “People can no longer leave their homes, their book shelves are closed…“We have to remember that! The book and record shelves were closed, it was surreal.

Culture had become non-essential.

Exactly. We will remember this sadly. But hey, we said to ourselves: “Whatever, let’s keep this release, because that’s what we sold to people by telling them that we were coming with songs and there are maybe some who are counting on it, we mustn’t give up.“I think there were a lot of bad decisions per square meter at that time and I think this one was philosophically a good one.

I would like to address this phenomenon that is most important to you when you write: freedom of expression. Where does this need for freedom come from? Does it come from your grandfather who gave you so much?

Of course, he contributed to it, it must be familial, but it’s because I’m human. All the humans who watch us just want to be free. We get used to freedoms, we trivialize them, but in today’s world, we are extremely free. On the other hand, our freedoms can sometimes be threatened, so we have to fight for them. I am the grandson of a resistance fighter. Freedom is something in our family that is sacred and it costs money. You have to put your fears aside. It’s more complicated to go and get freedom, but you have to fight, whatever the scale of the fight, there are plenty of them. You must never forget that freedom is sacred.

This grandfather was a symbol for you, a guideline. In turn, you became a guide without wanting to, through the vagaries of life, through encounters, by becoming a father-in-law. I would like us to approach this song that has been adopted by the French public in an extraordinary way. Where does the song come from? Father-in-law ?

It comes from the love that I developed, which I didn’t expect for a little girl who wasn’t mine, it’s the situation of many people, so it can be a real adoption, but also like me, to simply become a stepfather or stepmother.

“My love for this little girl is infinite, even though she is not my daughter. There is something mysterious about that and it is beautiful. I wanted to tell it in ‘Beau-papa’.”

It’s a special kind of love, because of course, the child doesn’t come from us, we can never replace blood ties. But I still really noticed that family wasn’t just blood ties.