Soprano is the most popular singer of his generation. Also a rapper and composer since the end of the 90s, he started with the group Psy 4 de la rime before embarking on a solo career. His titles Cosmos, French Prince, Clown, Millionaire or Hiro reached the top of the charts and that’s not to mention his sold-out tours. Friday, June 3, he released a reissue, plus three unreleased tracks, of his previous album: Star Hunter: Stadium Edition.
On June 15, his journey will be hailed by a six-episode documentary series on the Disney+ channel.
franceinfo: How did you feel that such an important channel could take an interest in you and devote a series to you?
Soprano: It’s incredible. It’s incredible because it’s been 20, 30 years since we worked with my friends. 20 years of doing concerts, tours and it just goes up, up, up. My manager was in Sixth grade with me, my brothers are on stage with me, we’re a big family and that’s what we wanted to show a bit through this series, how young people from the neighborhoods have organized themselves, and who, with professionalism, have managed to build everything they have built.
Always with a smile by the way.
Still ! That’s important. My mother told me : “Even if it’s not right, you have to smile, it soothes some pain“.
It’s funny because this documentary tells a fairy tale when it started off badly on paper. It feels like deep down you knew you were going to make it, that music was going to be part of your life.
“I knew music was going to be part of my life, but I never thought that one day we’d be touring, playing stadiums, ending up with diamond records everywhere.”
It was not in the plan. Arrived to make a small gold record, it was madness! Arriving to fill the Dôme de Marseille, it was extraordinary! But this is beyond me. Doing the Stade de France, never in my life! In my head, it’s Johnny! It was then that I became aware of the sphere in which we had arrived. It’s amazing, I’m at a loss for words.
Today, you are re-editing your previous album, Star Hunters: Stadium Edition. It’s a real concept to take people somewhere else, to allow them to escape, to reach out.
Already, it’s a concept album. It’s not a usual album since we went back to the 80s with lots of references to the films I grew up with. Suddenly, when we saw that the tour of the stadiums was done, I said to myself: I have three pieces. We’re going to put them on to thank the people who have been supporting us for a long time and to underline this concept of star hunting.
There is the title: soldier of peace, a real sounding board at the moment with the war in Ukraine. You have always cared about others. What is your view on this conflict which has shaken up, in addition to the pandemic, the world population?
“I am apolitical, I cannot change the world, but through my songs I sing peace. I try to do the best precisely because it is always the same people who are victims of human bullshit.”
That’s what I say in the song at one point, we didn’t even have time to take off the masks that other things happened. It’s not just the one in Ukraine, I think it’s important to realize that it’s in our behavior that we can try to move forward. There are people in the Comoros who tell me: “We are here at the moment, we are going through a lot of hardships, misery, and when we hear that there is a war in such and such a country, it affects us because we know that it is always the people who is affected“. Unlike those who declare war and are warm at home, people are forced to leave their homes, their families and that’s why I made this song, soldier of peace.
You’ve had your head in the stars for a long time and we have the feeling that with this album, you wanted to share that with your audience, with people, give them hope too.
Yes, because when we were in full confinement, even I lost hope when usually I am an eternal optimist. In the three new songs that we added, there is a song called Revenge mi. I needed to party, to dance, to believe that we were in Mexico, in Rio, because with all this news, we need a little light, a little hope to try to move forward, without turning a blind eye to what is happening of course.
Soprano will be in concert on June 11, 2022 in Lyon, on June 18 in Marseille, on June 25 in Bordeaux and on May 6, 2023 at the Stade de France.