Angèle, the return of a queen

At first, it's like a song by Brel: "I wanted to see Angèle and we saw Pépette..." In the suite of the chic Parisian hotel where we have an appointment with the author of "Balance your what” for an exclusive interview detailing her big comeback suddenly bursts the young Pépette, a kilo of love, a gangster's head on a tiny body, and a crazy energy to jump from seat to seat without regard for the luxurious furniture. "When the dog is there, you have to manage the dog", philosopher Tristan Salvati, co-producer of the two albums of the Belgian singer, and who spent long months at Studio ICP in Brussels with the beast, almost as star on social networks as his teacher. The unmanageable Pépette jumps, makes a gliding flight, before landing on our knees to lick our face. " Oh sorry ! exclaims, horrified, the tall blonde girl dressed in a green mohair crop top sweater, jeans and 70s platform ankle boots that we did not see entering.

At first glance, Angèle (because it is her), 25, has not changed. She is just more and more ravishing – the assertive, radiant beauty of a Bardot from Brussels who would have grown up in the age of rap and “likes” – and is familiar from the start. “I grew up in a school inspired by new education where we used to talk to our teachers,” she explains. What is good, when you use familiarity with people, is that you have to respect them a little more. “She is also surprisingly relaxed, joyful and spontaneous, while the announcement of the release, scheduled for December 10, of a new album is equivalent, for her record company, even for the entire music industry, to a tremor. earth force 8 on the Richter scale. Because, since her triumph, every blink of Angèle's eyelashes has become an industrial issue, or almost. With her first album - the unforgettable "Brol", sold one million copies in France, five hundred thousand worldwide - and her jam-packed tours where thousands of young girls sang each song word for word, the ex-debutante has conquered the undisputed title of new pop princess with texts. Not to mention her awards at the Victoires de la Musique, her rank as Chanel fashion and beauty ambassador, her appearances here and there at the cinema (including "Annette" by Leos Carax) and her status as a committed spokesperson for her generation, strong in three million subscribers on Instagram. Not enough to disturb Pépette, who turns around us, all wriggling.

"I have a more calm look at what I want, and what I don't want"

With this new album in sight, we therefore assumed a slight pressure. But no. “The pressure, I had it a lot in recent months during the creation of the album, tempers Angèle, twisting in her chair like a teenager from Bretécher, because I am not very indulgent with myself. But, there, I am especially very happy to be able to resume a relatively normal life and share my music. On the first album, I had been caught in such a whirlwind that I had forgotten to take advantage of it. I want to kick. “Same relaxation with his accomplice Tristan Salvati. “Angèle came back to me, after all the madness of her concert at Bercy, in August 2020, he says. At first, she just wanted to have fun. There was no question of a second album. But, after listening to his new songs, I said to him, wait, I think it's a little more serious than that. On four titles, she had already written, very spontaneously, without thinking, at least two hits. » One of which is the first single, « BXL JTM », a tender tribute to his native city in a hectic mode as light as it is irresistible, with deceptively simple electro pop arrangements. “Even if, in the studio, for Angèle, it is pleasure that comes first, he says, she is also a great hard worker with very sure instincts. For this title alone, we made thirty-one versions. »

By her own admission, the singer has grown, matured. "For me, a world separates my 21 years and my 25 years," she says, touching. The pressure she had put on her own shoulders, because she was just starting out and was very afraid of failing in the face of a mountain of new experiences and responsibilities, faded. “I have a more calm look at what I want and what I don't want. She makes the difference more clearly between the sublimated Angèle, Chanel ambassador, "the thing that makes my grandmother cry, and which is a real consecration", and the everyday Angèle, who posts no-make selfies up or grimacing on social media. Her great apprehension of constantly living in the spotlight was also succeeded by the idea that an almost normal existence was possible, provided that she lived in Brussels, where her familiar presence went almost unnoticed. There, she frequents the places she already frequented when she was younger, walks Pépette in training without any paparazzi pointing her nose. And offers herself a whiff of belgitude which has contaminated even the album, which she has decided to call “Nonante-five”, for 1995, the year of her birth. "When I celebrated my birthday, she explains, I was in the middle of building this second album, I became aware of what I had the chance to experience thanks to music and I told myself that I I still had a lot to talk about, even if it was going all over the place. And I thought of my 25 years, which is a pivotal age when we are no longer really teenagers, but not yet adults. I have friends who are already thinking about getting married, having children, others who haven't even found their way yet. And then the little extra is that in the nineties, everything was super interesting artistically. »

She draws, proud and happy, her smartphone to show us the cover. A concept that she imagined a long time ago, then designed before entrusting photographer Nickolas Lorieux with the task of shooting it and Asile Studio with the retouching and 3D. She details the photo, whose pop and quirky side makes us think of Billie Eilish. "Here's me on a roller coaster train, staring straight into the camera with a top-of-the-class smile. There, next to it, the girl playing the Game Boy is me too, even if no one recognizes me. We don't really know what I'm doing here. Behind, there are other characters, expressing different emotions. The idea is that life is a roller coaster, with its ups and downs. Sometimes the climb is exciting, and the descent crazy. Sometimes it's really scary. »

The album should be, according to her, "more organic and warmer", and address more personal themes such as celibacy, emancipation ("the idea of ​​separating from toxic relationships", she specifies), falling in love, although it should also include some social themes. “I think I wrote it in a less naive way than the first, she confides to us. I never imagined that “Brol” would be listened to, and, when I think back on it today, I tell myself that there were some really cheeky songs. " Like what ? we ask him. “Like 'Balance ton quoi', she replies, which was very spontaneous, and which I never imagined for a second would become an anthem. At the time, I was very young. I was told: “Are you a feminist?” I would say, “I don't know, wait, let's calm down.” I felt like there was a different way of treating men and women in our society, but that was it. As soon as I started to dig into the subject, I had the answers to my questions, and I told myself that I was going to pass them on. When the clip came out and it got a lot of reactions, both positive and negative, I hadn't even thought that there would be people to challenge the fact that we wanted to fight sexism. Then I understood,” she concludes with a laugh.

This child of the ball, daughter of singer Marka and actress Laurence Bibot, sister of rapper Roméo Elvis, will have paid dearly the price of her meteoric rise, which started very modestly with concerts in Brussels bars. Media whirlwind, smear campaign on social networks, outing in the tabloid press: she omits nothing and talks about it for the first time in a documentary produced by Netflix and broadcast on November 26. “These are things that I had forgotten a little, and that I found by rereading my diaries, she confides to us. Clearly, there were times when I had lost the real Angèle. I'm not sure if it's success, or if it's age – maybe I was at an age where you feel lost, even when you're not famous. I had trouble understanding what was going on, I didn't recognize myself in the girl who was singing on TV. I told myself that if people decided that they had the right to know things about me or that they projected their fantasies, it was because I no longer belonged to me, that I had lost control over my image. One case in particular seems, from his point of view, very violent. In September 2020, his brother Roméo Elvis was accused of sexual assault by a young woman he met in a shop in Belgium. Quickly, he recognizes the facts and publishes an apology, but Angèle is taken to task on social networks by those who reproach her for her feminist commitment and advise her to sweep in front of her door first. As if the little sister was guilty of the actions of the big brother. “Obviously, I didn't experience it well, she admits, suddenly modest. Such a subject could only be hurtful, just like the responsibility that was given to me and that is still given to me today. It's supposed to make you blameless, even to the people around you, as if you were responsible for the rest of the world. »

"Yes, I fell in love with a woman, but look, it didn't change anything, actually"

Another media tsunami, triggered this time by the posting, in August 2020, on her Instagram account, of a photo of her proudly displaying on the back of her T-shirt "Portrait of women who love women" and a sentence full of humor revealing his relationship with his companion at the time, the Youtubeuse Marie Papillon. A declaration of love described by the press as a “political gesture” and widely commented on. "When it was a question of posting this photo, she explains to us, I had already been 'outed' by the press [''Public'', November 2019, editor's note], it was no longer a scoop , but an affirmation. The idea was to say: yes, I fell in love with a woman, but look, it didn't change anything, actually. She continues: “Too bad that loving women is political. I would find it wonderful that it was no longer a subject, even if, objectively, it still is, and I can't blame people for bringing it up. At the same time, it is important to talk about it, because we all need representations. As a teenager, if I had had more examples of lesbian, gay or bisexual people on TV or in the cinema, I might have understood more quickly that I was bi. I would have lied to myself less, and I would have had other stories. Finally, it's unimaginable, the number of messages I received! Recently, a girl confided to me: “I like girls, and I never told anyone.” »

In 2021, will Angèle still have the same fascinating power of bewitchment over her audience, over her generation? "She's mega-talented," says Tristan Salvati. She has this unique, very natural vocal identity, this voice of life that makes the syllables sing. Perhaps it is due to his way of pronouncing the words in the Belgian way? I have often noticed that the great French-speaking performers, such as Céline Dion or Stromæ, were not French. The singer, meanwhile, says she is ready to assume the inevitable “return to normal” after an apotheosis for “Brol”. "I'm much less fragile and much better surrounded than before and if the album doesn't sell, I'm ready to cash in," she says. Less fragile, no doubt, because today Angèle fully assumes her vulnerability. "At the time of the first album, for example, I very little called my parents for help when I had moments of doubt, because I didn't want them to think that their daughter was tired, she assures. Now, I tell myself that vulnerability is a trait of my personality and that I have to accept it. Just like his stainless sincerity. “The whole idea of ​​this album is to be sincere. When I'm not, it shows. Like Pépette in the middle of a five-star salon.

Album “Nonante-five”, (Romance Musique/Universal). Released in December.

Single “BXL JTM” (Romance Musique/Universal).

Documentary “La story d’Angèle”, on Netflix, November 26.