“I don’t care to know that one of my albums sold less”, assures Zazie

Interviewing Zazie is always the promise of having a very pleasant time. She’s not the type to give herself the air of a star or to pass on the unpleasant instruction that such and such a question will be prohibited. The artist speaks casually, sometimes opens parentheses, slips in puns as if nothing had happened. Spontaneity is key. When we find her on the terrace of a café in the 20th arrondissement of Paris this Wednesday, she is in the middle of a discussion with her manager. If ever she is annoyed at being interrupted in the middle of her conversation, she doesn’t let it show. It is with a smile and relaxation that she welcomes us. We meet her because, in September, she released an EP (a kind of mini-album) of four titles, very appropriately titled THE Pexpecting a new batch of songs by the end of the year.

These unreleased tracks find a balance between expressing a certain anger and letting go. “In this period when obscurantism can return, it is good to cherish the light that we have in us, that which we can have by discussing with friends. We’re not going to change the world, we’re going to do it again for one night. I like utopia because, in it, there is hope, a “what if we…””, she tells us. The interview will focus on his relationship to the music industry and its requirements. Zazie tells how the promotion is not the exercise that delights her the most. Nevertheless, she answers the questions of 20 minutes without showing the slightest fatigue. Another sign of his elegance.

Is releasing an EP a form of freedom?

Yes, the first reason was to find a little levity in the face of the diktat of formats. It seems that artists with a thirty-year career only release albums… Who decided that? And when ? I can understand the idea of ​​focusing efforts on promotion, but I wanted to go against that a bit. I was in the studio to finish the album. I was told that I had to wait some more. What’s the point, actually? Sometimes two or three years can pass between the time you create a song and the time you release it. In an interview, we find ourselves talking about it while being in a different state of mind. There, it’s fresh. Our lives are not just about becoming sales reps on our own. Talking about it like we talk about it when we’re in the studio, it’s more fun, it makes me feel less “very representative of my self”.

Are you interested in the sales figures for your albums?

I’m one of the rare artists who loves to know how many records they sell. I don’t care if I sold less, that’s not why I’m going to do another strategy, another promotion or that I’m going to do anything and everything and talk about the culture of olives in lower Provence, but I like to know where I am. Do we make music to sell? To live, yeah. We live very well. In the same way that I accept very well that people like or dislike such a remark, such a concept, such a subject, I have the impression that they give me the right, for thirty years that it lasts, to continue to be myself.

Do you try to analyze the reasons why one album sells less than another?

Sure. Cyclo [sorti en 2013] didn’t make huge sales at the base – the tour was great – so I had that reason for satisfaction. I realized that, on the whole, the journalists told me: “The album gives us news of us and we are going badly. I found myself psychoanalyzing them. They told me: “Me in my life, this happened… [elle joue le ton de la confidence chez le psy et rit] ” Something crazy ! It was super funny. After three days of promo, I said to myself “Ah yeah, the cow, they are bad! Some were wrong. For instance, Where are we going was a song about fame and I was asked if it was about death.

Were there other sources of misunderstandings in your career?

No not too much. You have to constantly remind the music industry who you are, trying not to be too narcissistic. There are principles, like releasing a single – poor thing, he’s all alone – supposed to be the calling card of everything else. However, on an album, a song does not necessarily have much to do with the whole. They say it would be nice if this single was an up-tempo track [rythmé]. Why ? I still don’t have an answer to that. When you release a slow song, you feel like you’re taking huge risks. In 2007 I met my label and fought to get out I am a man. For my second album, in 1996, I was told: “We’re going to release Man Sweet Man in singles. We will not sell the tail of one, but it will allow a more global understanding of what you do. »

Are there any songs that have become hits to your astonishment?

Yes. man sweet man, exactly. At the time, it had not yet been released as a single, I was just starting out and I had managed to fill a Cigale. I was too happy. It was my first scene worthy of the name in Paris. I was terrified, very nervous. I nearly broke my ass three times. I started to sing: “I rehabilitated…” and then people started screaming what happened next. I had the notion of what an audience was, but not yet what was going to be my public, that is to say people who come to hear songs from me that they liked. At first, I thought, “No, don’t sing! Let me…” because they weren’t delivering the best version in terms of musicality (laughter). I didn’t cry, I behaved well, it was crazy, I still get chills when I tell you about it. Often, the people around me in the record company say to me: “Look at what works in your album. Today, we talk more in terms of views than sales. It’s crazy because it’s not necessarily the singles or the most sophisticated stuff in terms of production that are the most listened to, but rather slow tracks with very simple lyrics, which go towards universal emotion. I think people need tenderness.

You released your first album thirty years ago. During these three decades, the music industry has changed dramatically. What is the most significant upheaval in your opinion?

The fact that, sometimes, the industry and people tend to confuse exposure, the fact of being everywhere, including on the networks where one posts one’s life one’s work – Zazie at the beach, Zazie in the process of lunch – with the reasons for which we do this job, namely music. Yesterday [mardi], I did a promo day where I was told more about aging and my lock of white hair than about my work. I accept this exhibition game, the fact that people sometimes want to know a little more than a song.

I also miss the time when radio shows weren’t filmed. We could arrive shabby, jogging, with greasy hair or just out of a club and do a show that was often more interesting than today because it was more spontaneous. There, we have to be a little careful, it’s TV radio. There’s a kind of pornographic and voyeuristic immediacy that doesn’t suit me. Maybe it doesn’t suit me because I’m less and less young and it doesn’t suit me (laughter), but I don’t think so.

When I refuse to do something, I am told: “But that’s so many views. Yes, man, but are these people going to buy – if that’s the purpose of the promotion – the record? The best marketing for an album is the album. Afterwards, we can do tons around it but does Cabrel spend his time on the networks? No. Souchon either, and that does not prevent them from selling. Sometimes you have to take a step back and say “I’m not going to do that”. Because if it’s to talk about the upsurge in handbag theft, I’m not the expert.

You will be, for the first time, on November 12, on the set of “Star Academy”. In 2015, you were very critical of the show that you considered “humiliating”. Have you changed your mind ?

Nope ! (laughter) I have not changed my mind about the principle of reality TV. I refined the thing a bit, since I do The Voice, telling me that in addition to this reality TV aspect, these shows are about music. We do our job there, we will sing our song. Is it better to do a very classy, ​​very journalistic show, which makes you talk about anything and everything, or do your job in a popular, slightly bizarre show? And what’s more, we’re going to sing with a little girl or a little guy who’s going to be scared to death, we’re going to help her, be a teacher, that’s still a human encounter. From the moment when I am not asked to go to the castle of star Academy and to participate in the fact that they are filmed H24, that suits me.

Did you hesitate to accept the invitation?

Not so much because, by dint of finding myself on promo on sets where I’m made to talk about politics or things I’m not a specialist in, I tell myself that as long as I’m asked to do my job, I’ll rather say yes.

You will find your coach chair for the next season of “The Voice”. Is it a role that you will play with enthusiasm?

Yes. When it was offered to me, I was at my wit’s end, trying to finish my album, manage the covers, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was on the verge of a little burnout. There was half of my face that died at the thought of adding more work and the other half that smiled like an 8 year old child who has a swimming pool. I said yes in five minutes. HAS The Voice, there is also a lot of human, warmth. We are in the front row to see people who will emerge, who will perhaps be the artists of tomorrow. I like the transmission. A baker can have an apprentice. For an author, composer and performer, it’s more complicated. From time to time I am asked to do masterclasses in musical theater schools. It’s always interesting, but it’s complicated because you have to do it on a case-by-case basis. In The Voice, case by case, it is there. It is, in all humility, gratifying to help someone, to put them on the right track.

My first question was about freedom. My last will be to know what freedom would you like to be able to grant yourself?

That of releasing an album without promoting! (laughter) To release an album is not to want to sell an album, in fact. As I have the chance to earn a good living, I think that more and more I will try to direct myself towards that. I think it’s not bad to give people the choice, even if we sell less. It is also a courtesy to have in this world of constant demands and consumption. That doesn’t mean that I won’t make more scenes and that people won’t see me anymore, but that people will see me less. I’m going to be seen elsewhere (laughter).