Natasha St-Pier releases an album of Christmas songs

Natasha St-Pier is one of the most emblematic singers with Quebec voices, supported by the French public since her debut in France, she has already sold five million albums around the world. The meeting point with the French public remains the musical Notre Dame de Paris in which she played the role of Fleur de Lys in 1999.

Friday November 10, his new album was released, Christmas Songcomposed of 11 essential Christmas titles, such as Oh Happy Day, Sweet nightor My Christmas Tree.

franceinfo: How did the desire to create this album come about?

Natasha Saint-Pier: I’ve wanted to make a Christmas album for a long time and people always told me: “Yes, but in France, we don’t listen to Christmas songs that much.“As a result of being told it, I ended up believing it. But, very recently, the director of my label, at Warner, told me: “Natasha, do you want to make a Christmas album? I made a list of the songs most listened to by people during Christmas. Are there things you like?“Obviously there were things that I liked! And I told myself that I wanted this album, you have it for the preparations, when you wrap the gifts, when you are going to prepare the recipe which is your family tradition , when you are going to decorate the tree. These are moments that I love to do in music with my son and this year, we are going to do it with this album. I hope we will have fun. I hope that it will bring magic to your home.

Christmas is a time that we generally experience as a family. When we listen to these songs, it sometimes reminds us of memories of people who have disappeared. Is the strength of these essential titles that they allow those who are absent to still be present with us today?

I think it’s a bit of a Proust madeleine, Christmas music. Some of these songs are attached to really very specific memories from my childhood. When you’re a child, Christmas is magical, but when you’re an adult, Christmas is work! So, being able to bring a little magic back into our adult lives feels good.

When did you realize that music was going to be your life?

After ‘Die Tomorrow’, I decided to stop this job which I found too futile.

Natasha Saint-Pier

at franceinfo

I took a year to sort everything out, to think, to ask myself questions. During that year, I didn’t make music, I didn’t mix with musicians and that’s when I realized that I loved it, because, ultimately, I missed it.

You are currently touring churches, it is a very special place for you. Did you need this tour, Natasha, to refocus and get back to basics?

In a performance hall, there is a set, a stage, curtains. When the show is over, we leave the set and real life begins again. In a church. There’s no scenery, it’s real life all the time. There is no stage and I am three steps away from the audience on the altar. It remains a real contact, which can be extremely intimidating, but which at the same time is extremely real. When we sing in churches, when we sing slightly inspired texts, we bring something different to people, which is more than entertainment. It’s good for the ego because you feel like you’re serving something.

The birth of your child has revolutionized your life. Has it changed your outlook on life?

I was much more mechanical, much colder, before I knew him, very much in control. My son was born with congenital heart disease. And that was one of the moments in my life where I really lost control because I wasn’t going to be able to operate it myself. I couldn’t control all of this. That’s when I learned to trust others and a surgeon I didn’t know, who is human, and who can make a mistake.

When you have a child, you learn every day that it’s not all about control, it’s all about adaptation.

Natasha Saint-Pier

at franceinfo

The hardest thing to do in life today is to show your flaws. So, when we’re in the studio, we have to accept not being perfect because it’s through us, our mistakes and our weaknesses, that we ultimately grow and manage to touch people. People don’t want to see perfect people. It’s funny, perfect people. I want to offer people things in which they will feel free to be normal.

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