Some have discovered it with Attack, his first big success in 2018. Others a little later thanks to 1st time, his duet with Alonzo on domestic violence. In just a few years, Imen Es has become a key young artist on the new French r’n’b scene. Dubbed by her idols Amel Bent (with whom she signed the tube Until the end) or Vitaa, the 23-year-old singer already has several gold and platinum records to her credit, including her first album Our lives released in February 2020. Not to mention millions of views for his clips on YouTube, enough to make you dizzy.
She returns this Friday with a second album entitled Is, in which she talks about friendship and love, sentimental disappointments or toxic relationships. There are also many feats, with Niro, Vitaa or Camille Lellouche. Management of success, duets, links with his sister Fedoua and his musical “big sisters”… Imen es answered questions from 20 minutes a few days before this outing.
Your music was very successful very quickly. How do you manage that, and at only 23?
I still can’t manage it so I won’t be able to answer you correctly! After that, I try to be myself, not to take a big head or look down on people. I especially try to enjoy it, not to deprive myself, but not to exaggerate the success either. Yes, millions of people watch my music videos, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to change or try to be a different person. They liked who I was so there’s no point in changing.
In the last title, “Little sister”, you measure how far you have come since your childhood when you cover Wallen’s hits. Would the little girl you were have imagined that?
When I was little it was a time when I dreamed a lot! But we don’t know what the future holds so I had no idea that I was going to get that far. It is a great pride for me.
You grew up in Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis) it seems to me?
I was born in Sevran and I grew up in Goussainville (Val-d’Oise).
Are you still there?
No, I came back to Sevran. In fact I was born there and after the death of my brothers and sisters [Imen Es a perdu plusieurs membres de sa famille dans des accidents de la route] we moved because my mother could no longer stay in this apartment where we lived with them. So we went to live in Goussainville in a bigger house. I did my primary there and arrived at the colleague, when my father died, my mother could no longer, well it was mostly me rather who could no longer live in the house where I had grown up with my father. I went to live with my sister for a year so that my mother could sell the house and find something else so that I could come back and live with them. It was very complicated times for me. The moves were never intended, they were linked to not being able to stay in a house where we lived with loved ones.
I did not know…
No, but it’s the first time I’ve talked about it like that, that’s why. [Elle a raconté l’histoire de sa famille dans la chanson viES sur son premier album].
In fact I wanted to ask you how attached you are to your city.
We came back because my mom felt safe there. My brothers grew up there so people knew us. And since we no longer had men at home – my big brother had also made his family and his life – my mother said to herself that in Sevran we would be safer than anywhere else. We ended up with three girls, my mother, my sister Fedoua and me, and that’s it.
We discover the voice of your big sister Fedoua in “Little sister”. Is singing a family affair?
I owe this talent to her because she was the one who trained me when I was younger. She didn’t know that I would get that far, that’s why in the song she says “I could never read the future”. She was the one who pushed me to sing, to do concerts with deodorant in front of the mirror! If I hadn’t had a big sister I don’t think I would have been into music.
Since then, you have made feats with Amel Bent or Vitaa who appears on this album. Were they idols for you?
Sure ! Zaho too. These are the feats I’m most proud of, I think. These are artists that I listened to when I was younger, I tried to sing like them, I dreamed of being a star like them… And in the end I do hits with them, it’s crazy! It is a source of pride.
Do you see them a bit like big sisters?
Yes, especially since they are very caring people. They advise me a lot. Vitaa helped me on my album, Zaho also for our song together [la chanson Là-bas]. Amel Bent, it is thanks to her today that I am a little more comfortable on stage. I was very self-conscious about the scene, I was very, very scared and it was she who showed me all the techniques to stress less.
During their project “Sorore” Vitaa and Amel Bent had told us about this crossing of the desert for some r’n’b singers during the 2010s, after the big hits of the 2000s. Do you have the impression that the gaze on this musical register and on the singers has changed?
At one time as you say, there were no more female artists in the business, we only heard the men. Vitaa we didn’t hear for a long time, Zaho too, Amel the same… And today we all came back like a bomb, there are new artists, old ones too, who still have their place! We are even more listened to more than men because before there were only them, we were a little sidelined. But today we are there, and en masse.
When her album was released in September, Léa Castel explained that at one time when a singer did a feat with a rapper, it was mainly to accompany her on the chorus. You who regularly play feats, do you have the feeling that the relationship has rebalanced at this level?
Yes now it’s not that thing at all, everyone does their verse, their chorus. If we do a feat it’s really to mix our two voices and our two worlds. In the old days the artist sang and you just came to make little melodies behind. I think it’s much better today, we are equal to men in music whereas before we were used a little bit in relation to our voices. But since there is a lot of auto-tune now, men manage to play their songs without us. It’s a lot more worked and a lot fairer for us.
Several male artists are featured on this album. How were these choices made?
When I go to do a song with another artist, it’s because I like what he’s doing. It’s not by obligation, it’s just that I like it, I want to work with you and enter your community. See if I can do what you do.
Are artists like Niro or MHD artists that you feel rather close to?
Artists that I really like and listen to a lot.
Regarding MHD, did the question of keeping the feat or not arise in view of the recent legal news of this artist? [neuf personnes, dont l’artiste, seront jugées aux assises en 2022 pour meurtre] ?
Not at all, I really like what he does, he’s a very nice person. I didn’t know him personally, it was just his job that I loved and when I worked with him I saw that he was really someone with a big heart. Frankly I have nothing to say about this man at all. So on the contrary, if I can even push this piece to explode I will push it.
Another feat appears on the album, the one with Camille Lellouche. How did this duo come about?
The first time I heard Camille’s voice I was in shock. As soon as I made my second album I said I wouldn’t release it if these artists weren’t in it.
Just like she did in a song, you also broached the problem of domestic violence in one of your first songs “1st time”. Why did you write this song at the time?
It is not something that I have experienced personally. With Alonzo we wanted to get out of those girl-boy feats where we always come back to the same thing, to these “I love you / you don’t love me anymore”. We then thought of the relationship between a little sister and a brother who protects her. But protect her from what? It was a time when almost every day on the news we saw marches to pay homage to women killed by their ex-companions. I told myself that it was a subject that could touch me so I suggested that we talk about these men who beat their wives. And also from the fact that out of fear, out of love, they do not say it.
Do you think it is important for artists to speak out on these themes?
I think it can help women talk about it. Many still do not dare and are afraid. We don’t realize it, but music helps a lot, it helps people who are depressed, who are sad, who are afraid… They find a lot of refuge in the texts of their artists. Sometimes we sing without knowing that it can advise and help someone. It’s almost the best thing about music.
In this new album the song “La Go” speaks of a “narcissistic pervert”. You say in particular “let the go breathe, live, free, exist …”. Have you yourself met a toxic person in your life?
We may have all had a toxic relationship in our life, or our loved ones, our brothers and sisters, our friends, our cousins … Today we see a lot of friends and girlfriends who deprive themselves of doing lots of things, to actually live, to be happy, to enjoy life and their loved ones because their sweetheart is too jealous or wants to control everything. And you are locked in your home while he is living his best life.
You are close to your family and friends but also to your fans. You organize a preview with them before the release of the album, and a signing session this Friday. Is it essential for you to forge a strong bond with your fans?
Yes and especially outside social networks. I don’t yet have this thing of talking, taking snaps, asking everyone how it’s going… I’m not at all in the virtual world, I prefer to meet people, discuss face to face, see people and find out who is listening to me. I find it to be much better and to be memorable things for these people. When I was ten, if you had taken me to see the singer I loved the most, I would have kept that in my head all my life! Seeing her in real life, having a little photo or even a smile, it’s unforgettable. I prefer that to replying to a post or comment on social media.