After five albums aimed at adults, Jérôme Charlebois is turning to a new audience: children.
New ? Not exactly, actually. His concerts already reached a very family audience, underlines the singer-songwriter, who we meet in a park in Saint-Lambert, on the South Shore.
However, this is the first time that Jérôme Charlebois has written and composed pieces for children. An idea that came to him while preparing materials for a competition in which he ultimately did not participate, he confides.
In this new adventure, the singer brought his partner, Annie Roy, with whom he has been used to sharing the stage for several years.
“The album sounds like me. Musically, it’s not very far from what I do,” he says about Little words for big kids.
On the very festive We are going to dancehe also reconnects with the West Indian influences of his last album, Black funpublished in 2019.
The difference between this opus, intended for primary school children, and the previous ones lies above all in the subjects covered, believes the one whom his lover describes as a “big child”.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Singer Jérôme Charlebois and his partner, Annie Roy
I tried to think of themes that might amuse them or that might convey a message.
Jerome Charlebois
Sports, with We’re going to play hockeyto music, with Baby rockerto traditions, with Halloween Or The sugar shack : the titles are indeed likely to appeal to many children.
Valuable advisor
If Jérôme Charlebois wrote the vast majority of the lyrics of the songs, Annie Roy, who is also a teacher in 5e year, gave him valuable advice to refine them.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Annie Roy
When you’re a teacher, you always put on a show. My audience is exactly their target audience. So I knew how far he could go and where he had to stop.
Annie Roy
Towards the end of the creative process, she even had the young people in her class listen to a few pieces. I want light, which deals with the environment, is the one they preferred. “I think the subject really went after them,” underlines Jérôme Charlebois, visibly excited by this new project.
Walks for children
Presented as an album intended for 5 to 11 year olds, Little words for big kids will he be able to charm both the kindergarten students and those of 5e year ? Jérôme Charlebois believes it. “I think there is always a phrase, a chorus or a piece of music that will reach everyone. »
To his father and producer, Robert Charlebois, who suggested that he make upbeat songs ideal for dancing, he replied that he should also add ballads.
For what ? Because he remembered a show given by his father in front of many families. The moment that most captivated the young people was not the one expected. “During the walks, the children all went around the piano,” remembers Jérôme Charlebois, who remained marked by this moment.
The album Little words for big kids will be transposed onto stage in the coming months. The premiere of the show by Jérôme Charlebois and Annie Roy will take place on November 19 at La Petite Église, in Saint-Eustache.
Music for children
Little words for big kids
Jerome Charlebois
Garou Productions