They and they are not necessarily just born but they and they are in full bloom and already count or will count in the musical landscape here. L’Impératrice, Barbara Pravi, Silly Boy Blue, Terrenoire, Myd and Chien Noir (without capital letters) are nominated in the Revelations category (female and male) at the next Victoires de la Musique.
For two years, the pandemic has not been kind to emerging artists, deprived of stages and visibility. All the more reason to present to you these six “hopes” on the threshold of recognition, who should in principle play at the ceremony of the 37th Victoires de la Musique scheduled for February 11 at the musical Seine (Boulogne-Billancourt). An evening to follow live from 9 p.m. on France 2 and France Inter with OrelSan, Clara Luciani, Juliette Armanet, Feu! Chatterton, Angela etc.
The Empress
Named in the Female Revelation category, they are however five guys and a girl in The Empress. If the singer Flore comes from jazz, the musicians of the group (two keyboards, a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer) have varied tastes, ranging from rock to classical, via Michel Legrand and Michel Berger (from whom they take over So much love lost). But what brings them together is the groove, and in particular the club music of the 70s and 80s.
After Matahari, a remarkable first disco-pop album released in 2018, and an international tour, the sextet took a new step in singularity last year with their second album Tako Tsubo (which means broken heart syndrome in Japanese). Made to let loose under the disco ball, this solar electro-pop record produced by Renaud Letang (Feist, Souchon, Chilly Gonzales) is full of message tubes like fear of girls, a humorous feminist anthem, or Hematoma, which denounces the influence of social networks on our imaginations. Sung in the most delicious voice of the moment, this very accomplished record is incredibly fresh. A sign that the training is on the right track: it is on view at the prestigious Californian Coachella festival next April after being scheduled for the 2020 edition, canceled due to the pandemic. The Empress is already our best ambassador.
Barbara Pravi
“Listen to me, me, the half-singer / Talk about me to your loves, to your friends / Talk to them about this black-eyed girl and her crazy dream / Me, what I want is to write stories that reach as far as ‘up to you, that’s all“: we have rarely heard such a clear cry from a young singer. And it paid off: these words of here, augmented by the expressive voice and gestures of Barbara Pravi, conquered not only France but also the world since she won second place with this song at the last Eurovision Song Contest.
Claimed since in concert in many countries, this 28-year-old author, composer and performer, often compared to Edith Piaf and Barbara, seems to be at the dawn of a resounding career. After having written for a long time in the shadows for others (Chimène Badi, Yannick Noah, in particular) and having been pushed for a time against her will on the side of pop, this assertive personality imposes herself with her album of French songs We don’t lock up the birds, released in August 2021. Her unique voice that rolls the r without seeming to, her sensitive and autobiographical texts and her naturalness in interviews: everything confirms that this Parisian committed against violence against women is here to stay.
Silly Boy Blue
Former music journalist and ex-singer of the group Pegase, Nantes native Ana B. has been flying on her own since 2018 under the name Silly Boy Blue, a nod to a track from David Bowie’s first album. In 2019, at the Rock en Seine festival, this author, composer and performer impressed us by managing to win over an audience that did not know her, when she appeared alone on a small stage with an electronic keyboard and a guitar. Over delicate melodies, it was her voice, both fragile and powerful, that made heads turn and linger.
A fan of The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees and Placebo, Silly Boy Blue places himself resolutely on the melancholic and dark side of strength but does not refuse any style (pop, electronic or folk), and happily goes from a stripped-down ballad to a dancing hymn. Performed in English, his painful songs can be enjoyed on his first album Breakup Songs released in June 2021. A disc with an explicit title which, like a diary, lays bare her feelings and revisits the ghosts that haunt her after a difficult breakup. The broken hearts will draw from it what to spend this moment of depression in good company. Just return of the things for that the songs of the others helped a lot when she was younger.
Black land
Terrenoire is the Herreira brothers: Raphaël, 31, and Théo, 24. On his first album Opposing Forces, released in September 2020, the duo developed a particular style, one foot in song, the other in electro, with romantic poetry as a red thread. The beauty and uniqueness of Terrenoire manifests itself in moving stories of love, life and death (Behind the sun evokes without pathos their father who passed away from cancer in 2018), inhabited songs which do not forbid themselves nor a soft rawness (Fuck me, Margot was dancing on me) nor social commentary (Misery).
On February 4 will appear the continuation of their first album, eight new songs under the title Death and Light, with which the brothers explore a more luminous and dancing facet likely to ignite the scenes even more in the coming months. Raphaël and Théo, who claim with Terrenoire their Etienne origins (Terrenoire is a district of Saint-Etienne), will once again show their attachment to the territory with 60 cliffs, extending the splendid tribute to their hometown I care about her wrote and sang with fellow Stéphanois Bernard Lavilliers on his latest album.
Myd
After years of officiating in the electro collective Club Cheval and producing and composing for others (from Brodinski to Theophilus London or SCH), Myd, 34, joined the Ed Banger stable (Justice, Mr Oizo, Breakbot etc) for a series of pop-house EPs. Then he released his first album last summer, Born A loser. A disc in which this craftsman of sample-based electronics wanted to put everything he is, humor and sadness included. Which earned us a very successful euphoric pile-up, rather fun and dancing in nature, without excluding a touch of melancholy and some happy dissonances. This anti-snob of electronics even offered the presence of Mac DeMarco on a title, Moving Men, accompanied by a joyful animated clip.
“If I can bring a bit of humanity and good humor back to electronic music which is sometimes very cold, that suits me well.“, he confided this summer to the magazine Tsugi. Myd, who studied at the Fémis for four years, also signed the remarkable soundtrack of the film Little Peasant by Hubert Charuel, nominated for the 2018 César. At the time of the Victories, on February 11, Myd will in principle be on a full tour in North America. If he comes to play in a trio at the musical Seine for the occasion, it will be between two dates in Vancouver and Washington. The world is already making eyes at him. Soon France?
black Dog
His artist name, he borrowed it from a pirate character from Treasure Island by Stevenson. We still know little about black dog alias Jean Grillet, 35 years old. Grown up in Bordeaux, he started playing music at a very young age: piano at 6 and guitar at 13. Then he started a band, met Marc Daumail from Cocoon and decided with his help to go solo under the name black dog (without capital letters). Before being named among the male revelations for Victories this year, this singer and musician had already been spotted by professionals: winner of the Chantiers des Francofolies in 2020 and 2021, he was also winner of FAIR 2021 and wrote for Vanessa Paradis and Benabar.
His first EP True stories, was released in May 2021. If he usually summarizes his style as a mix between Sufjan Stevens and Kanye West, this delicate EP composed of six songs navigates between song and pop. His clear voice and the softness of the instrumentations earned him to be chosen with his True story in piano-voice for an advertisement for La Redoute. Black Dog seems on its way to becoming man’s (listening) best friend.