Tiakola, Jacques, Lujipeka and Pierre de Maere, who are the male revelations of 2023?

James

Unclassifiable, rebellious, nonconformist: these are the adjectives that best sum up Jacques. Since debuting seven years ago with the EP Everything is beautiful, this electronic music artist fiercely cultivates his differences. “Fascinated by the sharpest trance“and through the dancefloor, his uniqueness was first affirmed in an experimental research that was both playful and dancing, based on the sounds of his environment put on a loop. His image as a mad scientist, which he maintains with a tonsure extraordinary capillary which helped to identify his character very early on, he also develops it on stage, where he is able like few of his peers to improvise with everyday objects and to compose live with the public, and this with a certain magic. Last year, after two years of silence used to recharge his batteries in Morocco, Jacques finally released his first album IMPORTANCEOFVACUUM, which develops a new facet, more accessible, that of a fresh and inventive synthetic pop sung in French. As for the texts and the clips, they reflect the lunar and dizzying digressions that his overheated brain constantly generates. “We value growth, wealth, creativity, the phallus, etc. While absence, lack and nothingness are always perceived negatively. On the contrary, we must remember the importance of the void”he said to Tsugi Magazine upon the release of his album. Whether or not he wins the Revelation Victory this year won’t change anything: Jacques has long been awarded the prize for originality.

Lujipeka

With the Rennes rap collective Columbine, of which he was one of the two main voices, Lujipeka released three albums between 2016 and 2018 (Clubbing For Columbine, Enfants Terribles And Farewell Soon). A triplet that blew a wind of renewal on local rap, and quickly conquered an entire generation. With them, Lujipeka experienced packed houses all over France and the feverish crowds of very young fans, mostly female. In 2019, the long-haired rapper took off solo while continuing to dig the same furrow of adolescent torment and disenchantment, an additional point of young adult concerns. His first album, Russian mountains, released in November 2021, imposed him both as a singer (he modulates more and frees himself a little from autotune) and as an author capable of tackling all subjects, including the most serious such as domestic violence and mental health, without ever departing from a disillusioned tone and a youthful romanticism that hit home with his generation. “She has venom on her teeth but no blood on her hands / We’re not that different when she takes her medicine / No one knows she’s sick, we don’t talk about it, we walk around / Me also, I was offered to rest in the hospital”he rhymes to the reggae rhythm of Russian doll. After being entrusted with the five-day creation residency at the Trans Musicales in 2021, Lujipeka, 27, will fill the Zénith de Paris alone for the first time on March 31.

Tiakola

He wanted to be a footballer, he became a rapper. But Tiakola put the same energy and rigor into his music and rhymes as an athlete aiming for the gold medal. Result: his first album melo, released at the end of May 2022, rose directly to number one in sales in France. A success that crowns a journey started within the 4Keuss collective, a group of friends from La Courneuve where he grew up, which he had joined once his World Cup dreams were buried. With them he released two albums, Open heart (2018) and Artist life (2020) before establishing himself solo, first thanks to a swarm of featurings with prominent rappers like Gazo, Dinos or Niska, then on his album meloas “melodious“. In fact, the softly haunting melodies constitute the strong point of his songs, ideal for undulating lasciviously on the dance floor, whether they come from the intimate marriage between modern rap beats, R’n’B and African music de l’Ouest (Tiakola, William Mundala of his real name, is of Congolese origin), or his self-tuned phrasing, particularly swaying and also singing. In his texts, he alternates hope and fear of tomorrow, smoky allusions to the deal , sentimental serenades and words of wisdom.”Sex, drugs, all these diamonds are exported“, he sings, “All this is ephemeral, we take nothing with us“six feet under. However, nothing prevents you from bringing home a musical trophy during your lifetime (before offering yourself the Olympia on March 12).