Before listening, we are attracted. Interested. Beyond the convincing and promising signs. Not only because there is this beautiful team whose names make their combined effect. Of course we say to ourselves: Antoine Gratton in the artistic direction, the arrangements, the production, rich idea, he is an attentive ace full of ideas, it cannot be banal, while being resolutely pop. Yes, we are immediately seduced by the amazing pairings of lyricists and composers: mazette! Pierre Huet-Andrea Lindsay is not ordinary. Laurent Paquin-Andrea Lindsay either. Contributions from Carole Facal here, Laurence Nerbonne there, and then Daniel Beaumont, Julie Valois… and Marie-Élaine Thibert herself!
It smells fresh, new, all that. Even revisit It’s the beginning of a new timea symbol of the Staracademian entry on the scene 19 years ago, but otherwise, the shock of the words of Stéphane Venne and a slam by David Goudreault in the middle, it tickles curiosity.
This disc inspires confidence. The artist’s photo — especially in the boxed version of the album, which also contains a poster and a set of dazzling postcards — says it all in its bold colors: come on, come on! Come in ! Whoever you are, faithful of the first era or bewildered passers-by, note: it is indeed Marie-Élaine Thibert, spectacular and not just a little assertive. “It’s me now,” she smiles without being modest, but without a hint of pretension, on her side of Google Meet. “I know who I am, what I want. I am a singer on the verge of forty, who feels good, who is on her X, as they say. I experienced full support for the first few years, then I came a long way on my own, and now I’m working with a team again. [GSI, des aguerris], but in my own way. I belong to myself more than ever. »
A love letter to those who hold on
You can hear it. This can be seen. It resonates and it shines. “I’m here, on the stage, watching you / You seem to me to be feverish and full of truth”, she sings in the intro piece, part presentation, part love letter, part profession of faith. Towards the profession of singer, in the long term, towards the people who have held on and are still holding on “and who need to feel that they are living very strongly, and finding themselves, and celebrating”. A new new time, in a way. A new zero year. “It’s like a big reset. We’re going to take off our soft clothes, dress up colorfully, go sing, dance. I think it’s an album that’s less au I than at we. Our story, it is hard in the big chunks, but it is also beautiful, and we feel solidarity for having gone through all these waves of the pandemic, the trials of life. It’s funny to say, we were isolated, but we lived that all the gang together. »
Ideas, ideas, an Antoine Gratton
Genius of Antoine Gratton, it gives an eighth album of great scope and great proximity at the same time. The strings of the Quatuor Esca, the voices of the Petits Chanteurs de Laval, the brass, the keyboards, there is a freedom of action that delights, while being effective pop song. “When he tried arrangements, he always looked at me sideways, and it was clear to him and to me when it was the right thing or not. He always had plenty of other ideas, an incredible joy in creating. With him, you have confidence, you have more audacity, you want to try things out even more: we were going to find it, that was for sure! She has a good example: “At one point, he took out his car keys to make bell noises on the piano strings…”
Confidence, for Marie-Élaine the performer, meant daring to sign, alone, the text and the music of The immediate. “A big challenge for me. Finally, we have to believe that it can be. It’s still a story of trust. “When you start at Stéphane Venne, the step is high. It’s no small victory that his words exist on the same album as those of a Pierre Huet in These are my eyesskilful text where it is the singer who looks at us, and not the one whose eyes everyone is looking at, or the words of a more than eloquent Laurent Paquin in You didn’t believe me, evocation of the #MeToo movement. “There comes a time when you go. It took me 19 years to write my first song. I finally understood that if it was not the best song in the history of the song, it was not the end of the world. It says what I wanted to say, that’s what’s important. » The music is frenetic, the tone a little breathless: it was time for this song to come out… « Finally, I’m quite proud of it. »
local product
Let us mention that Our historywhether in boxed version, in single CD, in download, is only available on the site marieelainethibert.com. No in-store distribution at this time. “It’s a gesture. A way of saying: if you are interested in what I do, come see me, come to my virtual shop. It’s the same as the tickets you buy for a show. In principle, when you want to encourage an artist, it can be done directly. Everyone says: buy local, buy Quebec. Well that’s it, my local product. We are not obliged to enrich the Spotify of this world. The idea is to help each other live together. ” And why not ? When you feel good, in your right place, well surrounded, you better measure your fair value. “I repeat myself, but it really is the engine of everything. I trust. A confidence that looks a little, a lot like happiness: multicolored.