“The world, the world of tomorrow, we all stuttered about it, without understanding anything about the new law of the elements which scared us and the hairs at the same time…” At the end of January 2021, France is in full curfew when new world of fire ! Chatterton comes to his ears.
While the health crisis leaves little hope for a short-term calm, the text of this song – chosen to announce the upcoming release of the group’s new album, clay palace – resonates with an audience expecting “the next world” without really knowing what it might consist of. A misunderstanding: the lyrics were in no way inspired by the Covid. A shame: if it is named in the “song of the year” category at the Victoires de la musique 2022, new world almost didn’t even make it onto the disc. Back to his strange fate.
The first words were put on paper in 2019, in the heart of the Cévennes. Two of the group’s members, singer Arthur Teboul and guitarist Sébastien Wolf, agreed to spend a few days in the green in the middle of the tour. “We were in a house eaten by nature, a silent place, one of the few where you can still see the stars. It was very hot, it was a heat wave, recalls ArThur Teboul for 20 Minutes. While chatting with friends, we talked about issues such as global warming, the excessive exploitation of resources, the idea of always optimizing and making useful our time and energy, the tendency to forget the game… We were talking for ourselves- ourselves, we are not sages or givers of lessons. We felt that the system was out of breath, the arrival of the Covid almost a year later only exacerbated this. »
“I thought I was too lyrical”
The singer wrote, in his first draft – which was kept in the final version: “Hugging, that, we could”. This is proof that this title had not anticipated the irruption of barrier gestures and physical distances in our daily lives. “I thought to myself that I was perhaps going a little too strong, that I was too lyrical,” he confides, now that we know that the sequence of events proved him wrong.
Fire ! Chatterton, accustomed to texts full of symbols and puns, therefore found himself with a piece that has no real equivalent in his repertoire. Arthur Teboul says it: “This song was made in a very spontaneous way, I think you can feel it, it has a very natural sweetness, a simple joy. »
Clément Doumic, who officiates on guitar and keyboards, continues: “We found her a little too naive, so much so that she almost did not appear on the disc. And then, when reality caught up with us [avec l’arrivée de la pandémie], we said to ourselves that it was a sign, that it found such an echo that it had to exist. The challenge was to make such a simple song interesting. »
“In the studio, you have to be open to accidents”
The challenge was not won in advance. “At the very beginning, when we played the piece, we had the impression of being teenagers in rehearsal. We hadn’t found the right arrangements, the right rhythms, a leg was missing, which we couldn’t print, says drummer Raphaël de Pressigny. The more pop it is, the more the texture and the sounds can make things a little outdated or refer to a too particular style that will look pastiche. This kind of piece requires attention to give it style, character. »
Everything was played out in the cozy atmosphere of the studio, conducive to creation. new world was then a raw material, without subtlety, which had to be polished. “We never go to the studio to record a finished song, otherwise you’re carrying something dead,” says the singer. With the songs, you have to be open-minded until the end to keep it alive. Of course, this has to be prepared, but leave spaces of freedom, be open to accidents. »
Supported by producer and mixer NK. f – who notably worked with PNL, Damso and Angèle – and electro composer Arnaud Rebotini, producer of clay palace, the group manages to find the right ingredients. “There can be a spark to an arrangement. There, we had the idea of putting all these eighth notes with very synthetic sounds, of using a lap steel, a particular guitar, to launch the chorus”, sums up Feu! Chatterton. The miracle happens. “The night we recorded, I said to myself that the single that was to launch the album was not Full screen corn new world ! », relates Raphaël de Pressigny.
A last minute choice
“All five of us are our first judges, underlines Arthur Teboul. When a piece does not satisfy us unanimously, it is that there is an objective which is not reached. Even if, at that time, it had been identified that new world could be a single, an hour before the last meeting with the label, we were still thinking that we would release Full screen first [ce titre a fini par être exploité en septembre]. »
It is therefore in extremis that this song was chosen as the business card of the new disc. Much good has taken them: by their admission, on the whole of the opus, it is this title “which touches people the most easily”. Added to the public’s acclaim is the recognition of their peers via this nomination for the Victoires de la Musique in the best song category. The trophy could thus crown the destiny of a piece for which nothing was won in advance. And that would complete his beautiful story.