The young Swiss artist unveiled his first album, “The Game”, on April 28. He mixes his musical influences with a melancholic tone. We met him for the occasion.
Since his participation and third place at Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam, Gjon’s Tears or Gjon of his real name, Swiss of Albanian origin, has settled in the French capital to make a childhood dream come true. On Friday April 28, he released his first album titled The Game. But to only 24 years old, the very sunny young singer has already lived a thousand lives.
Gjon’s Tears or the tears of a grandfather
“The first time I sang was for my grandfather. I was seven years old“, says Gjon with a crooked smile which reveals his emotion. It was one of the most important moments of his life. It will mark the beginning of his “career” as an artist: “He asked me to sing him his favorite song, Can’t Help Falling in Love of Elvis Presley. At that time, I wasn’t singing at all so I learned it phonetically. He started crying in front of me. She tears were very important because in Albanian culture old people are symbols of strength and power, they are supposed to remain unmoved. JSo I felt like a superhero. That’s why I wanted to keep these tears in my stage name: Gjon’s Tears, the tears of Gjon”.
His grandfather was a mentor for him: his “manager at the time” as he likes to call him. He struggled to find him the best castings. The nine-year-old singer then went on to television programs in Albania first, then in Switzerland and then in France.
“I did a lot of shows because it was a different time, the power of social networks was less. I could participate in a show like participating in a game because there was no replay. It wasn’t something that was retweeted on Twitter so it was really a game for me. It was a place where I could go wrong,” explains Gjon with a touch of nostalgia. At thirteen, the musician clicked and decided to stop the castings: “II had to stop singing, above all I had to learn to write.outer. Ihe most important thing as an artist is not to play, it’s to listen. Listening is more important than interpreting. I havei discovered lots of different musical styles like that“, he admits.
It was at the age of 18 that Gjon began to compose : “I was part of an academy where I created my group. We did a lot of festivals in Switzerland thanks to this academy. Mhis mum filmed me at one of the festivals and she sent it to TF1 production without telling me. Following that, I did the castings for The Voice, I was on Mika’s team and it went very well. I made it to the semi-final. I was very happy“.
Eurovision, a key step
But the turning point of his career is obviously his participation and his third place in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021: “I was looking for credibility, confirmation by the professional world but also by the public. Obviously The Voice was great but for me it was not yet a validation because it only affected France. There I really wanted to have an international validation. To finish first of the jury and third of the public, it was an extraordinary moment. I felt it as a professional validation. I said to myself now I have proven and above all I have proven to myself that I am an artist”.
“That said”, nuance the singer, “The experience of The Voice has given the necessary confidence for Eurovision and above all to forget the numbers… Because when you know that you have 180 million people watching you, that if something stupid happens to you, it’s scarred for life , it is extremely impressive and stressful”, he remembers. “But on the Eurovision stage, I felt so ready that I could give what I wanted, people felt that sincerity there in my voice”, says Gjon.
Gjon now measures the step taken. “We worked for months for three minutes, for a song, for a staging, for lights. Receiving this award at the end was a real consecration. I knew at that moment that I had to make music, I was sure of it“, continues Gjon.
A dream collaboration
After all these enriching experiences, the 24-year-old artist has finally materialized what all young singers dream of: a first album. Through this project, Gjon’s Tears wanted to present himself, show who he was as an artist but above all reveal all the facets of his personality and his talent by mixing all his musical influences: “I am Swiss of Albanian origin and I sing in French and English. It’s the multicultural side that is important to me, it’s a real richness. It’s a chance to have different color palettes to draw inspiration from. Then you sell your own painting, a unique project“.
To produce this first album, Gjon moved to Paris to get closer to French-speaking culture because “this is where it all happens“, but above all because he dreamed of collaborating with Zazie: “I am a very big admirer of his work. I think she’s the best current singer-songwriter. I compare it with Radiohead. For me, it is the same author qualitatively. What she does is really something subtle with lace, with a lot of musical intelligence. My dream came true, we worked together on the song A beating heart“.
An eclectic and nostalgic album
Thirteen titles, thirteen different inspirations. It was important for the musician to make a very eclectic record: “I didn’t want my album to just go in one direction, it’s more of a puzzle with rock, disco influences or more instrumental things.” And nothing is not left to chance: “I really wanted to open this album with a synth that we find in the scrapbook Kid A by Radiohead. It was also a nod to the musical director I worked with, Tim Bram. He has worked with Birdy, London Grammar and Paul McCartney. He was there when Radiohead recorded this famous album“.
The album plays a lot on the duality between melancholy and nostalgia: “Melancholy, I see it as sadness of the past and nostalgia, the joy of the past”, but also that between life and death: “The album is called The Game because each song is like a round won or lost but it’s not because we lost a round that we lost the game so we have to keep fighting, keep playing the game. People often say that the most important thing is the process, the path that we take before arriving at knowing whether we have won or lost the game. I would say that what is important is not the process but the fact of reliving the process as if it were the first time. I’m so glad there are still people like that. That’s what I find beautiful in life. This is what the song Pure recount and that’s what I want people to understand with this record”.
But the common denominator of this project remains the powerful and touching voice of Gjon: “Pno matter the arrangement, I wanted that voice to be in the center because I think that’s what defines me. I hope that will be what will remain in my history“.
Gjon’s Tears at the Café de la Danse, in Paris, on May 13 from 8 p.m.