At the age of 31, Jérémy released his first album, which is the result of years of work in music. If it is the Star Académy 7 who revealed him, it is his talent that will inscribe him in this hard environment that is the music industry, allowing him to work with the greatest of the French song. If life has not always been simple, it is his passion for music that will lead him to his first successes, even if it has been in the shadows. A hyper-active artist, he is already thinking about his future projects, such as the development of his first musical show. More confident than ever, Jérémy is only at the beginning of his creative process. One thing is certain, this artist is to be followed closely. It is with sincerity and sensitivity that he gave himself to us. Hello Jeremy! Can you start by introducing yourself? My name is Jérémy Chapron, I am an author / composer / performer and musical director. I've been working in music for years and now I'm coming back as a singer. Precisely, we will come back on your journey. You did Star Academy 7, can you tell us about this experience? Explain how it was done, how you experienced it and what it brought you. The star Ac' for me, it's really a 100% positive experience. It's really something that I have a memorable memory of, that allowed me to exist. To exist in this business, to have first contacts. I came from the provinces, I didn't know anyone in music. It allowed me to exist from a more emotional point of view too, more personal and to live moments just incredible. I had been doing singing competitions since I was a kid, I was enjoying my passion. I saw in all the singing competitions Charles Aznavour, Celine Dion, Patrick Bruel and I at 18, I found myself singing with these people. I told myself that whatever happened, even if after that, nothing happened. I would have already had an incredible chance that few people have been able to experience. So it's an incredible adventure for me, which will remain engraved and it's the kind of thing you tell your grandchildren. It was wonderful, I have lots of memories. And in fact, it allowed me, even if it took time and the road is always long, to have a first toe in music. And then, a few years later, to be able to live this passion to the fullest. Although, and I'm very happy about it, it was in the shadow of the artists. I had a lot of fun there.
How does it feel when you sing with Charles Aznavour, Johnny Hallyday? How does it feel at that moment?
It's hard to explain because I was 18 years old. That's my strength, I was a little unconscious. I saw the artists scrolling, especially since it goes at an incredible speed and pace. Every week, it never stops. It's like being watered in a giant buffet with only wonderful things to eat, all the time. So we don't even realize that what we're eating is incredibly good. There are times when it runs more and there are times that are out of time. I remember with Charles Aznavour, I will remember it all the time. Singing with someone who is a legend, an absolute legend who worked with Brel, Piaf. Wow! So, it was already crazy! And then he took me by the neck and said, 'Look at your audience. Look each of them in the eye because they are the ones who will make what you will be. That will remain engraved in my head because he was a monster, a legend. And I was next to this legend to sing a song that was still almost more legendary than him. It's, in fact, so crazy that it's unbelievable. It makes memories that make us a little unique. Because moments like that, we are very few to have lived them.
Did you want to sing professionally since you were little?
Not basically, no. In fact, it's not that I didn't want to, I hadn't even asked myself the question. I came from Reims and we know very well that it is an environment where you have to know people. So I never, really asked myself that question. I was studying, I worked in the social before. I was going to take a professional baccalaureate, since I went to Paris when I was 16 years old and I said to myself: Well, maybe we'll go back to school, because we'll have to do something anyway! I was about to start and that's when I was called to do the Star Ac'. I didn't believe it. We are invited to a casting, we are already happy, we tell ourselves that it will clear at the next stage. And then, it never cleared and I found myself in front of the castle what! So, it's really crazy! 
It is thanks to a chain of events that you were able to live music!
Exactly! Yes, that's right. It's all these changes, we arrive, we come out and we say to ourselves: I have a possibility, go ahead, I try. And then, in fact, the road is terribly long. Since I have known everything, the worst as well as the best. The moments when there was nothing, there was no job, no money. The bad encounters, bad people in the business, which meant that everything could have stopped, because I had nothing, I was short of everything. And then, at some point, it starts again. But yeah, it allowed me, in any case, to get into it. Surely unconscious, again. If I had children or young people coming to see me, I would tell them to be a little less unconscious than I am. I followed the trick without giving myself any other way out. It was very, very complicated but one day it matched and I was able to make a decent living from this job. The post-Star Ac' period was hard, you had a string of bad encounters. How do you deal with the fact that you have been highly publicized and find yourself in trouble after all that, not knowing what to do? I didn't just have bad encounters, I had a few bad encounters that made it complicated. Media coverage, for once, it's fine. On that point, it was very sweet for me, because there was the Star Ac' after, a lot of TV promo, a lot, then the tour. So actually, I've seen the thing go down little by little in terms of notoriety. You get used to it, and then I quickly realized that it wouldn't be a problem for me not to be recognized on the street. So, it was very pleasant, indeed, it was very pleasant because, yes, we can not say that people who give us love by stopping us like that, it is not pleasant. But I've seen in others, candidates from before or from my season, for whom it can be really, purely destructive. Me, I did not live at all badly this after-mediatization, it was more: what are we going to do? What am I going to do? Where am I going to find my place, is my place in music? These are the questions that will arise in the years that follow. But the media coverage, I lived it rather well because I was not addicted to starification. After that, you started working in the shadows a bit. In particular, by composing for Garou. Can you explain how it went, how you worked on it to finally, in addition, meet a great success! There was almost no pressure because it really came to the climax. I worked with a producer with whom it went wrong, so I had nothing, no more contacts. I closed myself off from everyone. I didn't even have anything to live on. So, I went to see a friend in Montreal, we went to an inn that Garou owns with friends of his. We have a great evening and then just the next day, we say with my friend, we were making songs, for me. We say to ourselves: Ah! Do we just write a song for Garou, that would be great. But like anyone, a bit in utopian mode: Come on, let's make a song! We make a good song, we think it's cool, and then we call it. At first, he tells us no, and then he says yes, because he listens to the song. We didn't know he was making an album, we didn't have any contact and then in the end, he finds himself having the song, two weeks after we made it. Garou falls completely in love with the title. He calls us back and I find myself, little guy like that, with Garou who calls me in video to talk about the song. He recorded it with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. So I, who am passionate about everything that is orchestrated, I live something crazy and especially that I really did not know that he was making an album. And sure enough, he was on the end. So, we fell at the right time.
On the album, there was Plamondan, Cocciante, Daran, Obispo who are huge stars. There was no reason for us to find ourselves there.
I think it's a real stroke of fate that at that time, I had nothing, no longer really anchored in the music and it allowed me to have done something, to have a title that works. To realize my first dream, which is to make a platinum record, as I saw in Fréquenstar with Laurent Boyer when I was little. It made me dream and I got it for this title. And all of a sudden, I started to exist as a shadow music guy. It launched you, you regained confidence! Then you continued to work for other artists in the shadows? Yes! I've worked for a lot of people. Initially as a composer, and then later as a director. Because there's a sequel, after that, I worked for Kids United, from day one until today. 
Can you tell us about your career with Kids United? It's a very special adventure, Kids. You have to know that I arrive as a director. I was doing my little demos at home, but I had never made for an album that was really going to be released. To make a song is to make the arrangements etc. I find myself on this project, because it's a very small project and through a contact sum, I end up having the opportunity to make titles. And then this project, it completely surpasses us, since we thought we would sell 30,000 thousand albums overall, it would have already been a wonderful success. And then we sell 1 million. I was able to access this project because I was starting to get a small business card. I had done Garou, I had done two three things. So I existed when people asked me what I had done, because that's always what we ask. We don't ask: Make me listen to a song. We always say: What did you do? What's your CV? A bit like in any company. We are very CV. It allowed me to have one, to arrive on Kids. To be able to do this little project that explodes and I explode with it!
I become someone who works on a project that makes millions of sales, tours around the world.
I end up recovering the musical direction of the tours, to put on the shows. And then it's a project that is incredible humanly, because in addition, it was something that was special, but it was my work before. I worked in the social field, I was a caregiver. I was working with children during my training. I have always been close to youth, close to children. This project, it was made for me because it was natural, it linked the music and at the same time the love of people. It's special because the advantage of working with children is that there are no lies. That is, a child who does not want to do something, he does not do it. There is a real sincerity with them. And lo and behold, I've experienced crazy things, I've traveled all over the world. We have been singing at the United Nations, see Orlando Bloom, David Beckam, New York. We played in Miami, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, all the Dom-Tom. And then, we did big rooms, we did two Bercy. Finally, I had some incredible moments. So, it was very formative, you continued to learn, to make your weapons in music. You were completely blossoming in composition, directing, was that really what you wanted to do in music? Exactly. It's mostly that I found myself doing that, because that's how it was actually. At one point, I talked to my manager who said: You make good songs. Put yourself at the service of others, maybe there, for the moment, it is the best thing to do. I had done one or two singles that didn't work. Perhaps we had not found the sacred fire on it. So he said to me: Put yourself at the service of others, I think this is the moment.
At first, it's a bit hard to wait and then we think: Well, ok! He's right. He's right, I'm going to start working.
And then, in the end, taking a step back, I realized that what mattered most to me was to experience great things. I loved being on stage as a singer, but the most important thing was to live incredible moments that are given to few people. And I quickly realized that by doing it for others, I would be more likely to experience crazy stuff.
I've worked for a lot of artists, I've discovered a lot of them. It gave me more chances to experience crazy stuff and it did. As a singer, there are one or two, three big maximum, who really fart a year, big big max. So the possibility of meeting tomorrow on a Zenith stage, it is still quite low. While working for many artists, we have the chance to find his songs sung on big stages, in front of thousands of people, find them on TV. To live all these emotions that are related to our work, on stage, on TV etc. Which is necessarily more difficult, when you just defend your head.
All these experiences have allowed you to acquire enough skills to go solo and release your album since you release it within the year. Can you tell us about the album? Yes, it allowed me to take a step back. To make songs and above all to know, really, who I was as an artist. And at some point, it came from oneself. There were some who told me: It would be nice if you did your own thing, it would be cool. I really knew, at one point, what I wanted to do, exactly, musically. I thought: Okay! That's what I like. That's what I want to give to people, because that's what I'd like to feel as an emotion, that I like to feel when I listen to songs. I feel like I'm finally, completely in tune, between what I like to feel and what I think I can make my songs feel. I also came to the conclusion, I felt, that I had enough good songs, to make an album. That it represented me, that I thought was cool. I first made the album a first time, which I completely put in the trash. It was good, but it was a first step to getting to something else. It was completely full, real musician, real drummer etc, it was great but it was not the me of 2021, it was the me of 2009. So I had to go through this step, to come back to another step, to start working with the one who co-produced the album with me, whose name is Yann Bordejo and who is my friend. He's a sound engineer and we've worked together on many, many albums. We found the sound, and then it matched with the songs.
He took a little more urban side, on these pop songs, variety songs and we arrived at a recipe that worked well.
And then, the confinement precipitated the fact of telling me: I have to find something to do, otherwise I will fart the lead. I had opened my studio, because I had found my little cabin. I said to myself: Well, I have to get out, I have to move. I had my cabin, my studio that was five minutes from my house and rather than staying at home watching Netflix series, I went every day to do some music. And then as I went along, it was born and I thought: Oh yeah, there was a magic happening at one point. When we started making the 1st titles, I told myself that I had found exactly, what made me vibrate and what I wanted to be able to give as an image, to people. So a kind of crazy magic, to get to something that I thought I was happy to have done, to be proud of. But that's more than that! I found the formula, thanks to all the people who brought me their knowledge or talents. It's exactly the album I would have dreamed of making because it's, at the same time, an album of songs, real songs that work piano-voice. And at the same time, to my surprise, I still find it very chic. I think it's an album that can be listened to as much in a very chic and very opulent apartment, as in the countryside. I think it's an album that can speak to everyone. 
You were able to find out who you were. It was the right time and even the Covid period didn't stop you from working on your album, doing things the way you wanted. Exactly, because at one point, there was a kind of urgency to get better, to do things. I have never been more productive in my life than during this time. Ok, there was the first half, it was nice, we didn't do anything. It was cool, we ate diet, we made bread, it was very nice. But we have arrived at another moment where we see that it lasts. I thought: I'm not going to hold out like this because I'm really hyperactive. It really wasn't possible, it really wasn't possible for me. It's a period that allowed me to be hyper creative. I put on a show, a production company, I made my album. We had to do things, we had to create. I think that's super important. The moment we look we say to ourselves: Oh it will not restart, it's complicated … Not! You have to create! Me, I really decided to do stuff telling myself that it was for the after. You have to be there for the aftermath. I think normally I might not have had time to do it because I would have worked on other projects. And there, everything was a bit on stand-by, because all the musical partners were wondering a little about what was going to happen, which is normal.
It was only me left to occupy, so I said to myself: One day I will get into it.
I took out some stuff and I said to myself: There I have 5/6. Oh they're cool! Oh that's bien! And then 7! And then I recomposed two, three. My friend Yann joined me, we started to realize. It started to be born and I like: Wow but wait, it can really be great! My manager followed me and the advantage of working in this business, now for quite a few years, is that I had a lot of people with whom I collaborate, whether in promotion, record company etc., who have been great with me. Who are now really friends, see friends. I found myself with all the people I worked with, with whom I collaborated every day, for the artists we worked for. They all gave me a tremendous hand. I am surrounded by a crazy team that I could never have dreamed of, or even accessed. In fact, everything is going well! I was able to have a great clip, a great photo shoot, a great cover. I have the best of everyone and then I had the chance to work with them, now they work with me on this project. So it's a joy, what! I have the best of everyone to fulfill the dream of my life, actually. Finally, an album at 31 years old! And then I'm super proud that it's coming now. It won't have arrived too soon, it won't have arrived too soon at all and when I think about it in hindsight, I say to myself: This is exactly how I would have dreamed it. Times are complicated, we can not do concert, how do you intend to defend your project. Do you already have small ideas? Oh yes! The advantage is that it's my job to swarm with ideas, for others, artistically. I am lucky to have a great team, I am very well surrounded and above all, now, to be a force of ideas too. I know exactly what I want, actually. I know exactly what I want, I'm super open because I work with a lot of different people. I have lots of ideas, whether it's acoustic lives, shoots I'd like to do, content I want to create. I am tremendously well surrounded when it comes to the promotion and development of this project. So I did my job, I returned the album. It is finished. It's great because now it's much easier because I've worked with a lot of people, whether it's video, sound etc. There, I can create content, imagine things that I would have dreamed of doing. And that becomes possible because I know studios that can play the game, or people willing to clip stuff. So there you have it, there are a lot of things that happen behind and in parallel with this album. Which will be pretty content and that will continue to bring this project to life artistically. It's a huge pleasure, I really want to have fun and give it up: Wow! Look! As if I were a kid who came home from school with a nice drawing super proud. It's a bit like that actually! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOx6cmmGZUY Can you go back to the show you put on and tell us a little more, if possible? So that's something that has nothing to do with my album. I worked in the studio, a lot live and by working live, I realized that I really loved it, I really loved the show. I loved the studio, but I loved touring, shows and especially editing. This adrenaline that I could have on the Kids, to say: Here, we're going to go on the next tour. It's June 6, we're coming back on January 7. The first date for 45 Zenith dates. Now we're putting on the show. And so, we have to go up, we have to find ideas, we have to say to ourselves: But what will make people vibrate? That adrenaline, it's incredible! Until we get to the first day and find ourselves in front of five thousand people, asking ourselves the question: Is it going to work or not? It had been crazy.
When I was a kid, I watched a lot of musicals, French musicals or even Broadway; Grease, Hairspray, West Side Story.
The Ten Commandments, the Sun Kings, all that. I always told myself that one day I would like to do it. And so, I created a youth musical show that I'm developing as well. It took me a lot of work, but with the Kids, mine of nothing, I think we developed something. With the children, I think we managed to find an alchemy, whether it was to do concerts, songs, ways of doing things etc. And so, to find something that was accessible to children, where they have a wonderful time, but also parents. And this alchemy, I wanted to put it at the service of the musical show I created called Little Red Riding Hood. There is a hyper original side because it's very funny, there is a lot of second-degree humor. So it's a show that is made with songs, but only with covers. We can go from Joe Dassin to Maître Gims, from Lomepal to Jean Jacques Goldeman. It's a story that's hyper modern, super fresh. Drawn from a hyper known account but which is completely revisited. So there you have it, I tried to take everything I did during these years and put it at the service of creating a first show.
You have to create it's super important.
I did it because I wanted to do it and I went for it. Everyone told me: No, but you're crazy! Don't get started now, the theaters are clogged, the booking schedules are clogged, then you realize, wait a year. But no, no! I'm not going to wait a year. Because if I wait a year, I'll be at the same time as everyone else. What I wanted was to create and I was not mistaken. I'm coming back to residency soon to put on this show. After, it will be time to develop it but, the idea is to do the editing of the show. I was not at all mistaken, people were much more available because there is nothing to do and they have ultra desire. All the partners I'm working with on this show have ultra, ultra desire to work, they are super happy. There's a kind of magic of: Well, let's go back, it's great. All the people who told me: No, we have to wait. You see, it's dangerous… Life, yes, it's dangerous. In any case, it is taking risks. Without taking risks, you can't hope to do great things. I needed and wanted to do it, it blew me to death. It is now that we will create for when it will get better. 
You have rubbed shoulders with many artists and great artists. Who inspires you to create? When I was a kid, I was inspired a lot and I think you can hear that sometimes in my songs. Me, I really come from, and it's completely assumed, I come from the great variety, from pop. I know, I beat all my friends to variety quizzes. When today, everyone knows all the urban, I know the whole variety. The two singers who really influenced what I did were Calo and Obispo. Initially in terms of composition, they are great composers. Pascal, he makes songs just amazing, for everyone. And then they are two guys that I feel very, very close to in their way of composing, because I was fed up at that school. These are guys who write for others. I was rocked by all the variety, from Brel, to Piaf, through Celine Dion and Johnny Hallyday. And the funny thing is that I had my father who always listened to songs, in the morning with CDs. He was in the car and he listened for weeks to the same song. I have memories because he was taking me to school, no, but it was crazy! For a month, he listened to the same song, it toured five times in a row. There must have been about 10/15 minutes to go to school, by car, and she was running all the time. So I have memories of Tina Arena, Hélène Ségara, Vivo Per Lei, all that. My father, he really listened to the great variety and what is funny is that these memories, they came back when I worked with Hélène, with Tina. He was listening downwind, I worked with Garou. I sang with Celine Dion.
All these people, when I worked with them, there was a kind of nostalgia.
I can't stand to see people saying: Oh but that's normal. No, in fact, there is nothing normal. There's nothing normal about it, it's magical. So yes, we're all the same, whether it's an artist who has sold 2 million albums, or anyone on the street, we're all the same, of course, exactly. But we won't be able to take it off, and that's why it's beautiful. We will not be able to take away that magic. It's that people I listened to when I was a kid, or my parents listened to when I was a kid. So when I worked with them, it always came up. We worked, we did the work, it was cool. But in a corner of my head, I always said to myself, there was the 12-year-old kid who told me: Jérém', it's still funny life, fate is still incredible. If we had told you that when you were 12 years old… And now, you're doing that! So it's cool, but realize how lucky you are. We are not in idolatry, nor in fana sup', not at all. We're in the: it's magical how a 10-year-old kid who listened to music. Whoever did singing competitions and who sang Patrick Fiori, who sang Garou, Piaf, Brel, finds himself one day working with all these people in the studio. And as a composer or as a director, that is to say really as a partner to put himself at the service of the artist. yes, that's amazing. It's magical!
I never lose that magic and I always keep it deep inside me, because that's what keeps me constantly grounded.
Because, that's actually the truth.
You were rocked by the French variety and in addition you had the opportunity to sing next to the people you loved as a child!
Do you have a word for the end, for our readers? Yes, I want to tell them to always hang on. Not to listen to people who say: Well, it's not possible! To go there and then try to do as much as possible what makes us happy in life. This album is the best example. That is to say, I come back with a project that makes me completely happy, that I love, where I am very well surrounded and I have no pressure, I have no pressure to succeed. I wish to be successful huh, but I wish that people who listen to this, feel the same as me. Let them tell me: Wow! I listened to your song. I listened to it because I was left by my girl or my guy and so I listened to it. Or: I was in the car, I was coming home from this. Where: I was not well. I was happy and I listened to that. It's getting into people's daily lives, that's what we did with Star Ac'! When I get a story from someone who goes to work, in his car, or picks up his kids from school and puts my song on, he gives me a place in his life. It's so amazing! That's all a bonus. I take it, I am happy and enjoy, do, do! That's what you have to do, that's what you have to remember.
Finally in your life, you have been able to combine the music you love and the social since you are and like to be close to the people who listen to you.
But exactly! It couldn't be summed up better. Music for me, what I do in this business, even more live, that's exactly it. I did social work, I worked with the elderly, people with disabilities, children. It was my job before and I loved it. Because I love people, I love people deeply, I deeply hate idiots too but I support them like everyone else. In music, people give it back to me, I can go and see them. We can give them the maximum and that's what I say to all the artists I work with: Never forget that when you do a concert, there may be people who struggle for months and months. Our job is to give as much as we can. We can give dreams, so let's give, give, give!
And I do it because I love people deeply.
Thank you very much Jérémy for this interview, we wish you success for this first album as well as your future projects. See you soon! Find Jérémy Chapron on Instagram @jeremychapron
