“Music is my refuge, it’s truly my secret garden”

Every day, a personality invites itself into the world of Élodie Suigo. Tuesday October 1, 2024: the author, composer and performer, Kimberose. She is back with a new album, “Roses” and will be at the Salle Pleyel on November 20.

Diva, singer with a golden voice, Kimberose is capable of singing jazz, soul, blues, rock. Since her arrival on the scene, she has never ceased to be praised and supported. When you listen to it, you hear Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald…

We also discover a determination, an energy like Tina Turner that we could feel through her duet with Grand Corps Malade, for example, in the song Our best years or with his song George which pays tribute to her father who died when she was 20 years old. Today she is back with a new album, Roses. Twelve new songs including one with Nile Rodgers.

franceinfo: In your new album, English and French mix. This means that it’s it, we finally found out who Kimberose is?

Kimberose: In any case, I had the feeling of finding myself even more with this album. It’s true, I went looking for roots that I had somewhat put aside with this language, French, which is also my language.

“Paying homage to my two languages, French and English, without putting barriers on myself and just having fun, it did me a lot of good.”

For what Roses ? Because life is thorny?

Completely. For that, but also for many other reasons, since the rose is beauty and its thorns, and I find that that resembles us. We are always made of several things. We are never just gentle, we are changeable. And at the same time, I found the rose pretty because its cycles resemble our lives. The rose is born, grows, flowers, it blossoms and then one day it withers and then it is reborn in a certain way through others.

You have often sung with an urgency to live, with this notion of lack. Your father contributed a lot to this. There is a song called Miss You. Is lack also part of your personality?

It might be a little dramatic to say it that way, but I feel like I’m living with a little piece of my heart missing since he’s gone. It’s funny that you’re talking about him, because this song isn’t necessarily about him, but he’s out there somewhere, that’s for sure. It was while listening to this song a few months later that I realized that it referred to that too. Of course.

What do you keep from him?

But I keep everything. Exactly, I keep its thorns. I also keep the beauty of its petals, of all the things it transmitted to me. And above all the music. Because I think it comes from him too. He was someone who really loved music, who listened to a lot of music and who always encouraged me to make music.

There is this omnipresent voice that represents you. What does she mean to you as a singer?

I was lucky to be born with this voice. She gave me so many gifts in life. She allowed me to do a job that I love above all and she took me to concerts all over France, sometimes abroad. It brings me to meet extraordinary people, to meet the public and without this voice, I would not have experienced all that. I am very grateful to him.

A word about Nile Rodgers. A participation from this artist is not nothing, it is rare. How did this happen?

It’s crazy stuff. It started at “Taratata.” I met him on set a few months ago now, and our agents at the time knew each other. They introduced us. A meeting in a corridor of the legendary show “Taratata”. Even today, frankly, I don’t really realize it. For me, he’s just a music legend and the fact of doing a featuring with him on my album, once again, is a huge opportunity.

Does music finally allow you to say what’s on your heart? I think of the song Skin flower where you precisely say that you regret having damaged your mental health because of your sensitivity.

Yes, it’s true. Music gives me a platform to say everything in a certain way. And even say things that we can’t necessarily say when speaking. It’s my refuge, it’s really my secret garden. And there, on this album, the garden is open. I know that these are emotions that connect us all to each other because we all go through this, we all go through the joy, the heartache, the disappointments and the missing of certain people who are no longer here.

“In my music I talk about human feelings that I think truly connect us all to each other.”

To finish, I would like to talk about the concerts and the tour. There is the Salle Pleyel, on November 20. It’s a legendary room, with very special acoustics. What is it like to go on stage? The playground, the magical moment?

Oh, it’s a bit like that, but it’s beyond that. It’s also a bit of the final step. I started this album at home, a little alone, after returning from a tour. A little down to find myself in normal life, this transition is sometimes a little difficult to make. And then, writing these songs for months, doing them in the studio and then being able to bring them to life on stage, share them in a moment of immediacy with the public, to see the faces, it’s incredible. I can’t wait. This is something I’m looking forward to so much. I’m bothering everyone with this at the moment, that’s all I’m talking about!