Eddy de Pretto was very much in demand on Friday at Solidays 2018. It was at a press conference that we met him.
30 minutes with Eddy de Pretto to get to know him better and ask him some questions. It's short, but in the end it's already a chance that we took advantage of. Here is a summary of the press conference.
Cure, the name of your first album, it's a cure of what in fact?
Eddy de Pretto: Cure of life, cure of youth, everything! I wanted to dwell precisely on the sound of the word Cure, which particularly interested me; maybe even more than the meaning which is a little hyper established. So yes… It feels good, writing this album did me a lot of good… Especially on the whole first part of my life. But I liked the consonance of cure because it came a little to mark the ear, titillate, tap in the ear. Cure, it's not very pretty, see a little disgusting. That's what I wanted to look for in this definition of this album. Something not necessarily very pleasant at first listening, which can sometimes offend, which may not do good. That's how I wrote it, without sparing myself, without censorship. I thought Cure defined this feeling quite a bit.
This album is full of moments of discomfort, very personal moments about you, your family life… Does it really feel good to sing it every night?
Eddy de Pretto: Yes, I think so. What feels most good is that it's a pure crazy ego trip: the fact of being in front of more and more people singing your songs ! And I think that's what fills you day in and day out. You sing them and you have a different dialogue every night with the audience. It's like dating and the warmer the encounters, the bigger they are, and the more they make you feel good. You tell yourself that there is a feeling with these people and it's great! There is a real exchange, real sensations. The hardest part is going back to my room after sleeping alone.
In your texts, you are very raw. Is it a necessity in the current context not to embellish words?
Eddy de Pretto: This way of writing came very naturally to me. I followed this instinct in front of my piano or my computer of how I wanted to clarify things. For me this precision it brings a side without censorship, without being afraid of offending. I loved looking for synonyms of certain French words that could be little used, that could be more direct or disgusting. Because I like it! The album was really made by instinct. For a first album, I had to tell the first part of my life. I have been writing for 18/19 years so I had a lot of material to go and draw in several things, in several periods of all your childhood, adolescence. It turned out that this is what marks in my writing: this harsh, raw, direct side. It's more the feedback of people than mine by the way, because it's my way of speaking in real life too.
Was it important to talk about homosexuality? Did it change anything?
Eddy de Pretto: Cure is not an outing, I talk about my stories and I happen to be talking not about Vanessa, but about Jimmy. But other than that, I feel normal. I don't want to put that forward, to over-text, to highlight the things that are in the album and that are for me quite clear and banal finally. I do not differentiate according to the sexual orientation of the artist whether it is an album made by a straight or a homo, it changes nothing. Things haven't changed for me either!
The media coverage rose very quickly for you, does it scare you too?
Eddy de Pretto: Listen… It's okay (laughs)! I grew up with reality TV, star academy… We've seen people emerge like that. For me this media coverage is not definitive. What interests me today is to confirm the rest, to go even further and to show that it was not just a wave, a chance, a stroke of luck that made me get here. Prove that there are still things to say and not just a media coverage of six months and then we forget. It is one of my dreams to be part of the long term. What's happening is cool but above all it makes the future possible!
The risk of an oversized ego is a recurring theme in the album, do you ever have one?
Eddy de Pretto: Every day! (laughs) No I don't feel… I try to measure it as much as possible, to stay very calm and to put a certain distance with all this. Precisely, to be able to question him, to talk about it with my friends. Back to basics: with my friends I have not changed! And even for them I haven't changed. What troubles me is that this notoriety is above all the look of others that changes on you and that's what you have to work on. Show these people who think you are no longer accessible, to tell them I have not changed, I am the same person, there are no worries, we can talk to each other as before. Often people put a kind of social hierarchy, vis-à-vis what you have become. And that's a bit annoying because it locks you in. There is something quite compartmentalizing in this notoriety sometimes.
Do you think this new notoriety will trigger a career in cinema?
Eddy de Pretto: Maybe… I have requests, proposals. I will stay focused on the music for the moment, on the text, the desire to want to say things and we will see what the cinema can offer me next.
You said you don't fit into the mold physically, is it a kind of revenge on life today?
Eddy de Pretto: I don't know. I repressed when I was little about being a little different. I wanted to include myself as much as possible and be with others, to be like everyone else, even though I felt quite clear differences. The fact that I play Barbies for example, it made me different. Beyond any knowledge of sexuality, I rejected all this, it was not conscious in this way. So today, yes, it makes me feel good to be there, to have some recognition, but I don't know if it's in response to something… certainly… But I couldn't say for sure.
Excess is your dream, does Solidays allow you to realize it?
Eddy de Pretto: Yeah! I think my goal is not precisely defined, but in any case it is part of a step forward, a certain achievement. Playing in front of so many people like that is a dream.I didn't think I could play on big stages like this. I saw it from afar when I was younger and now to do it, it's pretty crazy and I'm a little scared I admit.
Did the fact that Solidays is a committed festival encourage you to participate?
Eddy de Pretto: No, not necessarily, even if I fully agree with the fight against AIDS. We worked with my team on the festivals we could do this summer, Solidays arrived and I thought it was very good and here I am!
There's someone who is also present at the festival, it's Martin Dust of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who wrote a song for you. How did you meet?
Eddy de Pretto: We met at the Institut supérieure de la scène where he worked. It was my singing teacher who made me discover it. He wrote Moscow Street, this beautiful song, and I had worked on the composition. It's one of the few collaborations on this album that I loved. It's the only one I kept on the album.
Barbara Pravi did a cover of Kid and we wanted to get your opinion on this feminized and feminist version.
Eddy de Pretto: Cool! Very well. It's cool that all the people who have been affected can cover a title in their own way and in a totally different way it's great. It is a rehabilitation, more than a recovery. I am delighted. Bravo Barbara Pravi!
What does the future of Eddy de Pretto look like?
Eddy de Pretto: I want to bring out stuff. I'm starting to write and work again so I still have things to say about how I feel, these questions… These new sensations that I have for a year soon. We were talking about notoriety: there is also this desire for anonymity once you have this notoriety, this work of evolution in relation to people… That's a theme that might excite me! Telling the banality of things too; that's what I want to keep. I want to stay in the most precise in the emotions I have outside the notoriety.
Eddy de Pretto will be on many festivals this summer before continuing his tour that will take him to the Olympia on November 6th. We wish him good luck!
Eddy de Pretto's Facebook page
Photos : Antony Gomes – http://www.antonygomes.com/
