If Hoshi comes out on Friday his umbrella heart, his fourth studio album, moral side no gray clouds on the horizon. We meet her at the end of August on the terrace of a café in the 13th arrondissement and she confides to us her “eagerness” to be on tour – which she will launch on November 8 in Lille. “It’s the first time that I feel so serene with the scene. I love to do concerts but, generally, it worries me. Lately, I had preferred to lock myself in my room, to write, confides the artist who will celebrate his 27th birthday in mid-September. There, I feel good, I want to see people, pick up the guitar and jump everywhere on stage! Saturate the guitar to ward off the storm it has been through…
Strongly marked by the online harassment of which she was the victim – a single Internet user was sentenced to two months in prison in June -, Hoshi, who has to deal on a daily basis with Meniere’s disease who, she sings, “nibbles her eardrums”, exorcised these dramas by conceiving her new opus.
What does this image of the “umbrella heart” symbolize for you?
In the animated film My Neighbor Totoro, there is a scene where the hero has an umbrella that is too small for him. I related this image to crying and imagined a small umbrella that would protect my heart from tears. I went into a little delirium around this, this bulwark against sadness.
Your songs have always been very personal but, in those of the new album, you evoke particularly intimate things. Did you feel a need to indulge yourself?
It is more personal but it hurts me less than the others. I can say that this is the album whose design did me the most good, it cured me of something. I was able to take stock of my life. It emptied me of a lot of things.
It also opens with “Bad dream”, where you list the highlights of your life, and closes with “I learned”, where you take stock of your introspection…
I have learned is the last song I wrote. I wanted to end on a positive note. I often say that melancholy inspires me but I have really learned from everything I have been through. The last few years have been a lifelong learning curve.
For three years, you have been victims of misogynistic and lesbophobic cyberbullying. In June, one of your harassers was sentenced to two months in prison. How did you experience this episode?
This really messed me up. Besides, I didn’t go to the trial, I was annoyed by the way things were done. Only one person was judged while I still receive insulting messages today. I now have more distance from that, I blocked a lot, I use applications that allow me to avoid seeing insults and threats. I protect myself a lot – we come back to this image of the umbrella – because, otherwise, I would have sunk. The last few months, frankly, have been really tough. Now, I systematically file a complaint – it happened again recently – but I no longer expect anything.
You sing “Superstar” in duet with Izïa Higelin who was at the heart of a controversy this summer after having imagined Emmanuel Macron as a piñata. Did you talk about it with her?
We talk a lot. She got a lot of hate messages. I showed him my support. What she said or did did not deserve such hatred. But, suddenly, the title took another turn with this story, it took on a sister dimension.
Juliette Armanet was also taken to task for having expressed her hatred of the “Lakes of Connemara”. As a female artist do you feel like you have to be careful what you say?
Always. When it’s not me, it’s Juliette, when it’s not Juliette, it’s Izïa or Yseult… There’s always someone who gets the hang of it and it’s never at the same time . It happens too often, it’s tiring. It’s unbearable. It is good that there are debates on certain subjects. But what happened with Juliette Armanet is nonsense, she just gave her opinion on a song.
You talk about Ménière’s disease which “gnaws at your eardrums”. Does it allow you to exorcise your anxieties?
Yes and also to collect. I realized that, in my audience, a lot of people suffered, not necessarily from Ménière’s disease, but from more or less significant hearing problems. Every time I talk about it, I get a lot of messages. It keeps me going and helps me find balance. I don’t take medication, I quit, but I’m adopting a healthier lifestyle. I go to bed earlier than before, I don’t eat any salt at all… Lots of people have taught me this kind of little tips that the doctors didn’t necessarily give me. I haven’t had a seizure for several months. The hearing loss is irreversible, but I get used to it. I prepared my tour according to that: I don’t do more than two dates in a row.
Another duet from the album, “Ne saute pas”, with Calogero, talks about suicide…
I went through a period where things weren’t going too well. I didn’t really have any suicidal thoughts, but for weeks I was drawn to emptiness. With Gia [Martinelli, artiste qui est sa manageuse et, sur le plan privé, sa compagne] we lived in a building, on a high floor and I had this desire to jump, but without the desire to commit suicide. I regularly receive messages from young people who tell me they want to get it over with and I don’t really know how to help them. So maybe talking about it in music and telling me that I too had times when things weren’t going well can help them.
How was the collaboration with Calogero?
He has always been kind to me. We were never very close, but he always sent me nice messages. Calogero is one of my favorite composers. He really has his mark, you instantly recognize a piece he composed, it’s super inspiring. And then, there aren’t many artists who make pop rock anymore.
In “Then you danced with me”, do you talk about your partner and manager Gia?
Yes. We are also very close artistically. We designed the majority of the titles together. Today, Hoshi is almost her and me. It’s the first time I write happy love songs, it feels good. After all the harassment I experienced I just wanted to talk about love, to do something beautiful.
Is it easy to combine life as a couple and a creative duo? Is there a moment when you say to yourself “There, we stop working and we go into private life mode”?
Not really. I even believe that it brings us closer. We work together even more. She understands everything I’m going through, I understand her days. We’re in the same time zone. I’m more of a night owl, she joined me on that. It’s super inspiring, I wouldn’t have been so inspired if she hadn’t joined my team officially.
You also dedicate a song, “Marcel”, to your grandfather. Why this tribute in music?
When he left, it was hard. I didn’t have time to let him listen to this album – I think he would have liked it. This song, we wrote it the day after a visit to the hospital. Gia and I have never cried so much as making this title. I wanted it sober, it’s a voice piano with strings, that’s what he liked to listen to. He was a big fan of Aznavour and Brel, so I produced this song in a way he would have liked.
In “Mauvais rêve”, you sing: “I’m releasing a new album, will it touch people? You ask yourself the question after your two previous opuses have been certified platinum and double platinum?
Yes, because this album is more rock than the others and I give myself more to it. I always have pressure, as soon as I do something in music or in life.
Why this more rock orientation?
I’ve always listened to a lot of rock, but it’s true that I did less of it, there were fewer overdriven guitars in my other albums. It came back gradually, naturally. I went back to listening to almost nothing else. The influences on this record are the emo era, My Chemical Romance, Green Day… I like guitar sounds like that, they speak to me, that’s what I listened to when I was 11 and I always listen.