Is it really worth it to wish Vitaa and Slimane a happy new year? They start it on a cloud. Not only did their album "Versus" start 2020 leading album sales ahead of Angèle and Johnny Hallyday, but it finished 2019 in 8th place (with 273,207 copies sold), ahead of big sellers like Lomepal, Les in four months Bastards and Mr. Pokora.
Their duo is the surprise card of the past year. “We are the first surprised, admits Slimane, who has released two solo albums since 2016. And all the more happy, grateful, upset. "We live it like amazed children, because we know how rare such a success is in our profession, recognizes Vitaa, she who has five solo albums to her credit since 2007. To say that we almost missed out ... At the start , we weren't very keen on a duet album, for scheduling reasons. "
The two artists, who befriended as jurors of "The Voice Belgium" in 2017 and 2018, had succeeded at the end of 2018 in a nice blow with the single in duet "I give it to you". "At the start, this song was to enrich our solo reissues and it was a success," says Slimane. A member of the team suggested recording an album and we went into the studio without knowing much. But the magic was immediately incredible. "
"People felt that this project was not a marketing coup"
"The songs were born one after the other, as if by a miracle," enthuses Vitaa. We were in a ping-pong of ideas and texts, we launched challenges. We did not want a light and radio album, we wrote like a dialogue, on the thirties, the man-woman relationships. Slimane brought me so much and soothed me, I who constantly doubt. "We have combined our strengths, our universes, our sensibilities and our taste for popular music", continues the singer, who had started in "The Voice" - which he won in 2016 - with a cover of ... Vitaa.
This collective work with their teams - Renaud Rebillaud and Meya Music - lasted six months. And the success was immediate. Not only was their album (on the Mercury label) immediately the first in sales at the end of August, but their tour began to fill up even before its release. "I think people felt that this project was not a marketing coup but told the story of a true friendship," says Vitaa. "By making an extremely intimate album on social issues, we ended up talking to a lot of people," confirms Slimane. It is a different project from the others. Duo albums are common in the United States but rare in France. "
The two artists recharge their batteries remotely, before a year that promises to be busy too. Their tour (in France, Belgium and Switzerland) will start on March 7 in Beauvais and will end at the earliest in April 2021 at the AccorHotels Arena. They have already sold 130,000 concert tickets and the start of the tour is sold out. "We are all the more impatient when we thought of the scene when we were recording the songs," admits Slimane. “On stage as on TV sets, stress will be cut in half and the energy multiplied concludes Vitaa. It's so much better for two. "