Meet the artist Igit: lyricist, author, composer

Author, composer, lyricist and performer. Igit writes for himself and for others. We had the chance to meet him and to be able to exchange with him about his career, his universe but also his future projects. JF: Your next EP comes out on January 21st, the first single La Bonne Epoque is already available. How did you work on it? IGIT: I worked a lot with a keyboardist called Nino Vella who won with his duo Rouquine The artist. We had already worked together on other projects. For this one, we decided to do something we no longer see. We wanted to do the recording almost in the conditions of the Live. We didn't put any constraints, a bunch of songs on the EP were not retouched, that's really how the recording was done. We did not want to tamper with or make a smooth rendering. Just a true rendering, as true as possible. We worked without tempo, as if we came to your living room and played for you and in front of you. JF: Working together, what was the division of work? Did you do the lyrics and he did the music? IGIT: On most of them, yes, I came up with texts and little bits of melody that I had in mind. After that, he followed all that. As we worked a lot together it was easier to understand each other. The process: the exchange of ideas, it was very fluid. JF: You work with a lot of different artists, especially writing a song, how do you come up with these song ideas? IGIT: It depends, when it's for other people, I tap into the things they tell me. We talk, not necessarily about songs, I discover them. In general, there is a little sentence that comes. For example, for Barbara Pravi, I remember, we were discussing what she meant, then she would punctuate her sentences with "Voila", it made me click. I figured that's how we should bring the song. For me, it's different, it's in the sandstone of walks, I will look for the idea everywhere, in my life, in my observations. I'm looking for hooks. Words, something that will trigger a song afterwards. I often start with the title. I sometimes go for a walk. To leave the house in the morning and tell my wife "I'm going song hunting". It means walking around and being as carefree as possible. It happens like that to find songs, they are not all good, far from it. We do a lot to keep relatively little. Let the ideas come, I think that's the secret. https://youtu.be/YN6kXmr1-6Q JF: Your concert on January 25 at La Boule Noire is already sold out, does it add pressure to know that the public is waiting for you with firm feet? IGit: Personally no! Besides, it takes pressure off me. I'm quite troubling so every time I'm at a concert I say to myself "hold on! Maybe there won't be anyone." I love the atmosphere of the concert, if there are people, if it's full, it takes away pressure. I'm more relaxed. What's stressful is that it's a Parisian date. It's special, family, friends are there, journalists too. I'm from the region too. JF: I was able to listen to your first EP called " Like Angel Do " which was in English, why did you choose to return to French afterwards? IGIT: It was a special project, because I lived in Toronto and Slovenia for a long time. So I was writing in English because that was the language I was speaking at the time. It wasn't really a start because I was in a band before and we made songs in French. It was after that that I made an incarceration in English. I think thinking in English, it had to come more easily. JF: You have to your credit several hits in very different styles, do you know from the writing, when a song will be successful? IGIT: More and more! I have songs that have been successful but I didn't expect so much, but overall, I didn't have any surprises either. On Voilà sur Bim Bam Toi , it's sure that the success in the end exceeds our expectations but we suspect that it will work all the same. These are songs that have had the chance to export internationally. The fact that I've been doing it for years I'm starting to understand, to put my finger on what is a good song, what makes people listen to it, whether it's pop or a little different. It has to do with the hook as we used to say. JF: The moment you present a song to an artist, is the pressure different? IGIT: The pressure is very different, it's complicated, I assume it's not something you have to do, if the song is strong, it's something that feels and so you don't need to sell it. It has to stand out, that's what I'm trying to do. To make an alien. That's how they work, the songs. Besides, it's rare to hear my songs on the radio, often they work on YouTube, on platforms (Spotify, Deezer) I think they are a little apart. So they don't play much on radio. https://youtu.be/EmklvhI6Quk JF: You've done a lot of songs for Eurovision in recent years, do you feel like you're being labeled as a lyricist for Eurovision? IGIT: No, on the contrary, I love it, I love it! This atmosphere. I didn't have the Eurovision profile at the beginning. But I got caught up in the game. I was called to do Eurovision destination, I entered a little in the seraglio. I became a bit of a Eurofan afterwards. This multicultural-competition side. It's the only competition for original songs and that's also why I like it. The idea of being able to express oneself, discover new artists. A trick without formatting. Songs like Bim Bam toi found their audience because they had this journey. JF: Is being an author, composer and performer of your songs a way for you to have control over your creation? IGIT: Not necessarily, since I have a particular approach to the song, I have trouble I think of singing other people's songs. I still started this year with going through the existence that I did not write. Initially, it was a song for Barbara Pravi. She sent me a sound cloud with various songs she wanted to put on her album. This one caught my eye. She didn't want it so I offered to sing it for her. This is the first time this has happened to me. I open up with age (laughs). https://open.spotify.com/artist/2LtwY1FwTKv3Ox8h8oFGLa JF: As a singer, what do you listen to as other artists? IGIT: I try to listen to a little bit of everything. A lot of Anglo-Saxon stuff. Du Brel, Gainsbourg too, Ed Sheeran, Post Malone is varied… JF: Do you think these authors influenced you? I am thinking of Brel and the authors you have quoted. IGIT: Yes, necessarily, since I like them very much. I think the connection with Brel is his way of telling stories. Brel is a singer who speaks very little about himself. He tells a lot of stories. These people, the flat country, Brel, it's a lot of descriptions. I think that's really the great resemblance between us. He tells stories and so do I. Many singers are good storytellers of their daily lives. I'm not too interested. There's a connection in the fact that it's very well interpreted as well. JF: What is your definition of an artist? IGIT: It is someone who has something singular to say and who says it in a singular way. I meet a lot of people who are defined as artists, often we hear mockery like that, he is not a real artist he does not write his songs. An artist necessarily has a talent, something singular to defend in his identity. Something singular does not necessarily fit into the codes of what an artist is for the general public.