Jeanick Fournier | “Let’s enjoy life now”

Another interview? This is the third in less than a year, he is told. “You have to strike the iron while it’s hot,” responds spontaneously the singer Jeanick Fournier, whom we met in Montreal.

His victory at Canada’s Got Talent dated exactly one year ago. It was May 17, 2022, and since then, Jeanick, a former beneficiary attendant in palliative care, has led a hectic life: she signed a contract with Universal Music Canada and is already launching her second album. It’s a life she’s long dreamed of and sings about on this album, alivecomposed of original songs in French, written to measure.

The singer from Saguenay, at age 50, benefits from this dazzling success. His debut album ranked 13^e on the Billboard of Canadian albums and in first place in Quebec the week of its release, October 7, 2022. She knows that everything can stop overnight and that is the theme of the song Do not forget me, written by Andréanne A. Mallette. “It’s a song she wrote following her release from Star Academy where she asks the audience not to forget her. By participating in television shows that make us instant stars, we know that we can disappear very quickly,” confides Jeanick Fournier. She quotes the lyrics: “If the train passes and it leaves without me, please don’t forget me, keep my words, keep my voice, somewhere deep inside you”.

She says she is enjoying the present moment with her energy and her ardor which seduced the public.

She explains that she told her life story to Guillaume Moffet, artistic director at Universal Music who became her great accomplice. He organized a writing camp where about twenty songs emerged, then they chose them together.

On the production, we find in particular Max-Antoine Gendron (who collaborated with Marie-Mai), Aaron Paris (Drake) and, on the writing, there are collaborations with Ariane Brunet, Carole Facal, Alexe Gaudreault, Josh Alexander and Patrick Bouchard.

“What a beautiful gift to see my life in songs! In the skin, it’s my meeting with my lover Michel, with whom I’ve been with for two and a half years, and this moment of electricity that we still experience: “When the lightning fell, it touched you, I t I’m under my skin, with you I can go higher, I go forward with a light heart with you by my side. »

It is about his children in When the curtain falls. “My two children are my priority and the song I lead them for you is meant to be a hymn to difference. “It’s the difference that will guide you, it makes you such a great being, I don’t hold wisdom, but I can make you a promise, I will always be by your side.” My children are extraordinary in their difference [ils sont trisomiques]. »

The launch of alive was done in Saguenay. “I really wanted to be there with my musicians, singers, friends and family. I have friends I’ve known for 30 years who had tears in their eyes listening to the songs, it was so moving,” says the one who will sing at festivals over the summer and go on tour in September. .

This year has been full of surprises. “I still don’t realize everything that happened. I realize how lucky I am. »

What changed the most in her life were the many trips she made, because she chose to stay in Saguenay.

It’s in the song 24 hours. “One Sunday morning, my boyfriend and me, we looked where Coldplay was performing. It was in Philadelphia. We bought tickets, we flew, we went to see the show, we did a crazy thing and we will keep an extraordinary memory of it for the rest of our lives! “, she says.

If there’s one thing she learned from working for 17 years in palliative care, it’s this: you have to enjoy life now, because you don’t know what your tomorrow will be like.

“I’ve seen so many patients who had saved up money to have a great retirement that they never had because they got sick, so let’s make the most of the moment. Life is now. Enjoy it, you too, you’ll see, it’s great. »

The Scrapbook alive out May 19

alive

Jeanick Fournier

Universal Music Canada