Belgium could give a good lesson to French song

The Victoires de la Musique will have a strong Belgian accent this Friday. Stromae and Angèle dominate the list of nominations for this 38th edition with respectively four and three citations each. They compete in particular for the trophy for the best album and for those of the best and the best artist. The counter increases to ten if we add the two appointments of Pierre de Maere and that of Mentissa, who have a good chance of winning among the revelations.

Admittedly, since its creation in 1985, the ceremony has already rewarded artists from Belgium. Maurane, Axelle Red, Natasha Atlas, Lara Fabian, among others, have found their place on the charts and Stromae has been praised for his part five times. But this 2023 edition, which will be broadcast on France 2, may end in an unprecedented Walloon raid. At a minimum, the made in belgium will be highlighted.

Because yes, belgitude is a trademark. “I would put Mentissa a little apart because she fits into the category of vocal singers and that’s in the spirit of Victories. But I see an obvious link between Stromae, Angèle and Pierre de Maere. They have a real proposal of “characters”, with a scenography, a clothing bias, the sense of happening, “says Thomas Pawlowski, author of the book. The 1000 favorite songs of the French published by Glenat. “The three are from Brussels or its surroundings, continues the specialist in French song. It is a cosmopolitan city and these different influences can be found in the musical production. »

“I really feel the influence of Brussels – its mood, its weather, the people who live there… – on my music. As a singer, I’m from Brussels”, confided Angèle to 20 minutes two years ago, during the release of his album Ninety-Five.

“We don’t care, we do things, we try”

“We don’t put up any barriers musically speaking,” Mentissa tells us. When French artists come to make music in Belgium, we realize our specificities. We say to ourselves: “We don’t care, we do the things, we try.” The Belgian artist has in his DNA the fact of doing what he wants, without following trends. The 23-year-old singer takes the example of Stromae: “He came with his own style and it worked. »

Multitude, the latest successful opus of Stromae is indeed distinguished by its marriage of sounds. Cumbia tunes meet the polyphonies of the islands, South-East Asian percussion rubs shoulders with the harpsichord, and text song is dressed in electro.

Pierre de Maere notes that with the album Square rootreleased in 2013, “Stromae managed to get everyone to agree”, that is to say to bring together the trendy fringe and the general public around Tremendous And Papaoutai. He develops: “In France, generally, either an artist on the France Inter label, or the NRJ label. It’s extremely rare to see a project that combines the two when, in the United States, it is common for innovative and well-made albums to be also hyper mainstream, like those of Billie Eilish or Kendrick Lamar. The 21-year-old artist, whose debut album, Look at me, released at the end of January, has the same unifying ambition: “I am not saying that it will happen tomorrow. But if it happens in ten years, I think I would have achieved something. »

“We are less academic than in France”

Carried by the tube One day I will marry an angel, Pierre de Maere has already succeeded, in a few months, in making his style known to as many people as possible. He likes the “drama” and it shows in his opus, which he qualifies as “generous in emotions”. “I really like this passion. I find that in France, it’s lacking, there’s a tendency to be jaded. Me, I want to be enthusiastic and give much more than what is necessary. »

So French artists would have a lot to learn from their neighbors? “Belgians are a bit crazy. They dare and I think that’s what pleases, diagnoses Mentissa. In the Belgian mentality, there is a nonchalance in the right direction. “I am not a sociologist but – by dint of saying it, it will no longer be true – we do not take ourselves so seriously in Belgium, continues Pierre de Maere. We are perhaps less academic than in France. There is a form of spontaneity and naivety that allows “happy accidents”. You’re never safe from something fresh and new working like that. “As a matter of fact…

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