“I am very lucky to see that after all these years, my theaters are still full, all over the world. I have a lot of gratitude,” says Lara Fabian. The singer-songwriter is currently writing an album and performing with her tour I love you, where she performs all the great songs in her repertoire. But before embarking on her tour which will take her throughout Quebec, she answered questions from our readers.
How do you envisage your return to the stage? What emotions do you have, and what do you miss most about your Belgium? — Clélia Lacroix
French fries ! They are really better than elsewhere (laughs)! There are many things that I miss about Belgium, the cordiality, the good-natured side, the people I like who live there, the gastronomy and the jovial side of the Belgians. As for my return to the stage, I am still torn between the immense joy and enthusiasm that inhabit me and a feeling of insecurity. It’s my nature, I’m made like that. I always have a little moment where I wonder: is it going to be okay? Will you be up to it? Did you choose the songs in your repertoire well? I always have this little voice and then another that tells me: stop, it’ll be okay! I always juggle these two sides of me.
If you hadn’t been a singer, what would you have done? And what is the song you would have liked to write? —Christina Dabel
I wish I wrote the song to see a friend cry by Jacques Brel. It is probably one of the greatest declarations of love in the broadest sense of the term, and one of the most sincere and disturbing songs.
If I hadn’t become a singer, I would definitely have chosen a profession that has to do with children, especially child protection. Our humanity is sometimes cruel and unpredictable with children and I would have liked to help them so that they had the minimum in terms of rights, care, and listening. I would certainly have found a space between the social and the legal to be able to help them. There are a lot of horror stories and it really bothers me.
You have gone through many transformations in the industry and the music world. What change did you find most difficult, and what impact did it have on your career? — Étienne Bolduc
Like everyone else, the most difficult change is what happens to us that has changed almost completely. We had to find a way to continue making music, continue to create and finance while being more resourceful and adapt to the fact that this equation became shaky. I am one of the very lucky artists, because I had successes in another era. I have acquired knowledge, I can coexist with these transformations with more comfort than young artists who are in great difficulty. It’s a challenge, but it was also a way of reinventing oneself, of understanding that there is perhaps a way to do things differently and without the excess that there was sometimes before. What I find positive with this big change is the direct link that we can have with people through social networks, it allows us to be in direct contact, and that’s a good thing.
The economics of Spotify benefit everyone except the artists. I hope that there will be laws that will allow a rebalance so that the distribution of what it brings in is more equitable, and that the artist can refinance their art through the listening of their music.
What place does Quebec have in your life, and what do you think of Quebecers? How are we different from Europeans? — Christiane Hubert
Quebec is my cradle, it is the one that gave me birth a second time. It is the place where I had the right to be myself, the place of Quebec is therefore predominant in my life and precedes in many respects any other place, even if I am of Italian-Belgian origin . Of course, Belgium is my native country, Italy is very important, just like France where I also have an incredible audience, but Quebec is that place in the world where the little one in me managed to grab a hand of someone who really believed in me and allowed me to be myself, so it’s a very precious place for me. Quebecers are beings who do not bother with embellishments, they are very simple, in the etymological sense of the term. Connections, discussions, relationships are infinitely easier and nourished with great lightness.
You say that transmission is now your new passion, and that soon you will have your own singing school? — Katrin Tremblay
I’ve been talking about this for a while, but I do so much! In 2026, I’m really going to have to get started! A singing school is one thing, but I’m not going to address people as we address voice technicians, but as humans who choose singing to follow a certain path, like a journey. With my future students, we will find a way to work on music, a way to unfold, to be a little happier, more playful, balanced. Singing is not a space where you become famous, but above all it is a place where you can be happy. Singing feels good, it’s regenerating, relieving, liberating. Singing also teaches us a lot of things about ourselves.
What led you to pursue a career in Quebec? —Pierre Lamontagne
I was invited to participate in a television show, I fell in love with Quebec and Quebec really did it back to me. I arrived around the age of 19, and I found my bearings there, the feeling of feeling at home, and it’s a long and beautiful story that has lasted for almost 35 years.
Lara Fabian will be in Montreal on June 10 and 11, in Ottawa on June 14 and 15 and in Quebec on June 17 and 18.
Check out Lara Fabian’s website for tour dates