Louane's photo on the cover of his 3rd album, “Joie de vivre”, was born out of a double miracle.
That a world famous photographer has accepted his invitation.
And that this Englishman was able to come to France the “shoot” in July, between his confinement and the closure of his borders.
It is indeed Martin Parr, 68, who made this singular and eye-catching photo, in which Louane poses with a severe expression in front of a beach club called "Joie de vivre".
The cover of Louane's 3rd album, “Joie de vivre” ./Martin Parr / MAGNUM PHOTOS
Why did you ask the great photographer of normality and color, who captured the British working class and seaside holidays like no other?
“Because my album is introspective and very personal,” replies Louane.
For the cover, I wanted something very authentic, a photo of the truth, taken in the North, where my roots are.
What I like about Martin Parr is precisely this truth that he conveys in his photos, his aesthetic close to that of my region and his way of playing on sarcasm and irony.
I thought he would say no, because he never did a record cover
(Editor's note: but his photos were used for albums, including one of Madness)
.
And a little French artist, I thought he wouldn't care.
But he listened to my songs and he accepted.
"
“The photo was taken in Le Touquet in front of the beach club where I went when I was a kid,” explains Louane.
She imposed herself on us in the middle of the shooting day.
The contrast between the name of the club, "Joie de vivre", and my closed head, it represents the roller coaster that we know in a lifetime.
»How is Martin Parr at work?
“Too nice, adorable, funny and cool,” enthuses the young woman.
He takes few photos.
He knows what he wants.
"
She's amazing, Louane.
At 23, she has already received a Victory and a César, sold out two Zéniths tours and sold two million albums.
And now she returns after two short years of absence with a daughter, Esmée, born in the spring, and therefore a third album.
“Joie de Vivre”, which will be released on October 23, was put into orbit this summer with a stunning pop single, “Donne-moi ton cœur”, written and composed by Belgian rapper Damso.
“In truth”, to use her tic of language inherited from childhood, Louane is a fulfilled young woman.
Meet.
We feel happy to come back to music ...
LOUANE.
It is no longer fun at this level.
I'm hungry for music, I missed it a lot.
I want to sing everywhere, to go on tour again.
Well, it's not for now, I'm a little frustrated, it's normal, but I don't want to endanger anyone, my family or my team.
What have you been doing for two years?
I needed to take time and step back to achieve everything that happened to me, from the most difficult
(Editor's note: the loss of his parents)
to the most extraordinary.
I took a break to clear my head, to learn, to travel, to inspire me.
I traveled a lot, in Europe, in Asia, I took time to see my family, my friends, for me.
I needed to feed myself, to learn.
I have sung very little in public, just twice, once with one of my favorite singers, Julia Michaels, in Lisbon.
For two years, I've been listening to it on repeat with PNL.
But I did a lot of music, wrote and composed.
It was essential because it is a very personal album ...
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Just like "Give me your heart", song in which you address yourself ...
It's a song taking stock of what I've been through, with nostalgia, pride and acceptance.
Damso wrote it from what I told him about me.
He also wrote “Undecided Poetry”, which tells the beginning of my love story
(Editor's note: with the musician Florian Rossi, his companion and father of Esme)
.
I lived this extraordinary meeting, it still is, and I told him live.
"Give me your heart" contains many references to your past, as to your nanny, who was very important ...
Yes !
That's a beautiful story.
It was she who made me sing and took me on stage.
I posted the first video on Instagram.
I was convinced that I started at 8 years old.
I was actually 5 years old.
She raised me with my brothers and sisters.
My parents raised me, of course, but they worked a lot.
Monique took care of the six of us every day, that's no small feat.
We are still very close, I called her two days ago.
We listened to five tracks from your album.
What jumps out loud is that your voice has changed ...
It's not motherhood, it's because I quit smoking.
It was important to me and my ENT doctor too
(laughs)
.
Since then, I have more ease.
I also took a lot of singing lessons, because I found that I was no longer at the level.
And then I finished my moult quite recently.
It is longer in women.
The titles are also very varied ...
The album will be very eclectic and less organic, with electro, pop, trap, Latin and Portuguese influences.
I'm Portuguese on my mother's side and it was important for me to have a bit of Portugal.
But I don't sing fado in Portuguese
(laughs)
.
There will also be ballads, because that is my essence.
It is difficult to name all the directors as there are so many.
For now, I don't want to be in the studio with just one director.
I am one of those artists who cannot make up his mind.
The album was to be called "Poetry indecisive".
The theme will be the link between all these musics.
How to describe its theme?
The “Joie de vivre” of the title is that I am both proud and happy about what happened to me and nostalgic, because I did not have time to be weaned from my childhood.
It's a world that I left, I became an adult and this album serves me to say thank you to my childhood, to my roots, in Nord-Pas-de-Calais
(Editor's note: she was born in Hénin-Beaumont)
.
The images of my music videos, my clothes, my jewelry, everything comes from there.
I wanted to have the strength of the North in this album.
Is this return to basics linked to your motherhood?
It is rather a nice combination of circumstances.
I started working on this record during my second tour, in 2017, and I wanted to know who I was, where I was.
The arrival of my daughter has increased things tenfold.
But I already needed it before.
When I took my break, I didn't know that I would be a mother two years later ...
How did your confinement go?
I was lucky because I experienced an exceptional event.
I became a mother.
It gave us time, the opportunity to get to know each other well.
It was hard not to see our families, we introduced our daughter by FaceTime and by photo to our loved ones.
But this period really united us, we pampered it and we took advantage of the calm.
So we're lucky to have a super cool baby.
