On his roster, he collaborates with the hottest stars of pop culture – from Lana Del Rey to Drake via Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Pharrell or even soon, Mylène Farmer.
Woodkid is also “one of those rare artists who considers the continuity of all disciplines – dance, fashion, cinema, photography, etc. – that fascinates him and which he does not want to decide between”. His new album, S16, is another series, another one, for a great arc.
It is shown at the Europavox Festival, in Clermont-Ferrand, Friday 1 July from 11:45 pm.
I made it clear that all the pictures we saw of you for two years, in the clips or on the “pale yellow” of the color session for example, were not real. Between holograms and digital special effects, will you really be there on Friday (smile)?
It’s a mystery, and an illusion (smile). I really like playing on the illusion. The craft of the artist is a kind of craft of mythical obsession, magic and transformation; So it’s a very musical show, but it’s also very visual. I am a director as much as I am a musician.
The show is a hybrid form of these two love stories. Since it’s also very cinematic, there’s an idea that I really like about fantasy.
The festival set is not the one that is generally presented indoors…
We specifically choose festivals that specifically allow us to present our creations as we envisioned them. It is the same view indoors as it is outdoors. We decided not to accept offers that did not allow us to do so.
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This show is based on your second album, S16, which is a relatively sad composition. How do we get everyone…
I don’t think melancholy is a brake on bringing people in. It’s a personal opinion, but it’s all about variance. It is important to me to take people into intimate, emotional, and moving areas so that there is more joy in life’s brighter, more danceable phases.
This album plays a very special role in relation to the golden age, which I also play. The ups and downs and silences are essential questions.
The key question was: How did you explain this show and create the bridges between these two worlds?
There’s never been any question about living with only rhythmic titles, it’s almost a misconception in the sense that, again, there’s this question of variance, about the biology that we’re discovering over time that makes you understand that certain rhythmic processes don’t work over time, for example.
You have to break them to get them back. The ups and downs and silences are essential questions.
New in more ways than one, the 2022-2023 season of the Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand has been revealed
There is a story to tell, with its ups and downs.
yes. But it’s almost scientific to me. This work to interact with the audience, really understand room tension, and manage people through musical processes, performance, and rhythms. Anyway, there are a thousand ways to live. I’ve seen huge concerts by Massive Attack or Radiohead which were very low tempo, very immersive and impactful.
I don’t believe in the boom and boom race. Anyway, I don’t want to participate in this race.
Does the precision it requires still leave room for the letting go which is precisely the magic of life.
naturally. This is even the topic of live. The relationship between intention, which must be mastered – that is, the ability to be together – and at the same time composing music.
It’s not a matter of getting into the contemporary game of everything out there on the computer and eventually just coming to sing on tapes. I have a large group, we are nine on stage (and 25 total on the way). So there’s the idea that this is a playground.
It is a company that consists of creating freedom zones and restrictions zones. The neighborhood is the tension between these two things. This is what interests me the most.
Whenever you are in a dominant and controlled environment, you can allow yourself to be free sometimes.
exactly. After that, I have no problem… I’m a big fan of theater, plays, etc. which are very distinct forms which, however, have a grace that can be different, from night to night… I do not have a pure view of music in the sense that I do not see it as something that you should not cheat.
I return to the questions of illusions and psychics. The only question: how does the audience react, is it loud or not?
Coming back to the original question about image manipulation, especially to you. What is the meaning of playing between fantasy and reality in this way?
No, but it’s just that I don’t want to take pictures for example, and that I’d rather stay behind my computer (laughs).
Don’t you go further?
Maybe… but I don’t like to over-explain my artistic approaches. I believe and hope my work speaks for itself and creates confusion on its own without having to explain much.
The extent to which your many collaborations feed into the “single” part of your business.
People tend to think that my collaborative work is a “side” job, but it’s almost the opposite.
I’m a director on base, I’m used to working under other artists and I’m very excited about that. My step aside is my career as a wooden kid. It is also what allows me to be free. To answer your question, I always learn a lot from others.
Julian Dowdon
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