His publications on Instagram, followed by tens of thousands of music fans, are like mini acoustic concerts.
Bare voice and PJ Harvey-style guitar slung over her shoulder, azure gaze facing the camera, Charlotte Cardin films herself without any filter, offering musical snapshots of disarming authenticity.
In 2017, the oracle Elton John was among the first to notice the young Canadian singer, to whom he paid tribute by placing her tracks at the top of his Spotify playlist “Elton John Loves”, even though she had not recorded only two EPs.
“Charlotte Cardin's voice is rough like that of blues singers, but she opens up to very contemporary soundscapes, like trap.
It’s a window with a view of our time,” he emphasized.
Also read: Charlotte Cardin: “It was by imitating Céline Dion that I learned to sing when I was very little”
In 2021, the singer released her first album,
Phoenix
, followed by a first sold-out tour.
Since then, every time she releases a song on Spotify (more than 2 million subscribers), Charlotte Cardin creates a small revolution.
Author of hits (the latest,
Confetti
, topped the charts), accomplished pianist and guitarist, this former gymnast with the slender silhouette of a Jane Birkin – she measures 1.78 m – could have pursued a career as a model.
But she retains a bitter taste from her first experiences of fashion shoots, when she was a teenager.
“I felt like I was just a Lolita.
I had to be recognized as a musician and artist before agreeing to put my body back into the spotlight.
I also wanted to choose the way to exhibit it.”
A career as a musician
Her new album,
99 Nights
, can be listened to like a personal diary that she wrote over 99 nights between her hometown, Montreal, and Paris, where she has lived for a year with the actor and singer Alyocha Schneider – she sings a duet with him in
Ensemble.
This introspective record reflects this artist, by turns melancholic and sunny, like her danceable pop, full of ascending rhythms and ruptures.
Raised in Montreal in a family of music lovers – her father is a biologist passionate about rock, her mother is an epidemiologist and pianist – Charlotte followed the advice of her grandmother, a music teacher, for whom it was essential to learn to play an instrument.
Cool luxury
In images, in pictures
See the slideshow11 photos
See the slideshow11 photos
When she looks back today on her career as a musician, there is a dark flash in her eyes: “When I was little, I never saw women playing rock in a band.
If I had seen more female musicians, I would perhaps have done bass and not piano, the instrument recommended for girls.
In pop, women musicians are not represented enough.
We have Kim Gordon, PJ Harvey, Chrissie Hynde, Taylor Swift…, but when you think about it, there aren’t that many!”
At 16, after ten years of singing and classical piano lessons, Charlotte was struck by a Radiohead song (
No Surprises
) and began to compose one song after another.
She was 18 when her current producer discovered her in a jingle where she sang for a coffee brand.
She will then be noticed on the set of
The Voice
, Quebec edition, and immediately releases a first EP, followed by others.
No one should be afraid to use the term "feminist"
Charlotte Cardin
Confident feminism
When asked if she considers herself a feminist artist, she nods with a frank smile: “I am a feminist.
No one should be afraid to use that term.
Equality between men and women should be obvious, but it still does not exist in the world of music.
It’s by talking about it that things can change.
»Among the women she admires?
She cites photographer Annie Leibovitz, “for her ability to show the strength, sensuality and softness of a woman.”
But also Céline Dion, “an extraordinary performer.”
“It’s thanks to her that I learned to sing.”
Perfectly bilingual, Charlotte Cardin carries within her the dual French and Anglo-Saxon culture: “My parents favored the French language, but my grandmother, originally from Alberta, always spoke to me in English,” she remembers.
Romantic, in memory of her grandmother who watched over her musical career, Charlotte always wears her jewelry like talismans, like a small silver ring deformed by time that she never takes off during her concerts.
99 Nights, Parlophone/Warner.
In concert on December 6 at the Zénith, in Paris.