The Soprano Sunday interview: “Being a dreamer is an extraordinary strength”

What can you reveal about the design of the show you are preparing for stadiums?

A central stage will serve as the landing gear for the ship in which I arrive. And for more proximity to the public, four other stages will be located at the four corners of the stadium. This device looks like a big star: thanks to the branches that connect each stage, I can go from one side of the stadium to the other.

Like a metaphor for your last album : Star chaser…

I was looking star wars in the 80s and that gave me the idea of ​​multiplying the references to films where we traveled in time and space. Moreover, the album was released when Thomas Pesquet was in the stars. The planets have aligned, really!

Did you manage to approach him during the last show of the Motherfuckers (broadcast on March 4 on TF1)?

Sure. We laughed a lot together. I told him that in space I had knocked on his door to come and have a shisha with us. But he was too busy (laughs).

We feel nostalgic for the 80s…

In my forties, I realize that this period was the best of my life. In shows like Dorothee Club, there was a lot of escape, freedom, colorful outfits. And when I hear Clara Luciani or The Weeknd today, I see the desire to return to that carefree era.

You are celebrating 20 years on stage in 2022. What is your view of the path traveled from the northern districts of Marseille?

I am still unaware of what is happening to me. Yesterday fans were telling me that my music has accompanied their lives since adolescence. Doing stadiums like Johnny, Indochine or Mylène Farmer, selling so many records when I wasn’t destined for something big, it’s crazy.

“It is together that we can move forward”

The secret of this success is work?

Many working artists fail to fill stadiums. Above all, I believe that my texts speak to people by evoking their daily life, the sorrows, the pains, the joys… And there is also the positive side of coming to party in a stadium.

We feel you more serious on the text of Forest where you make childhood, difference and suffering rhyme?

Forrest Gump, who gives the song its title, is different. However, there is no more positive than him. He runs behind his dreams and shows that beyond suffering and helplessness, great things can be achieved. Basically, I’m talking about me actually. I was different because I was a big dreamer, because of my skin color, the neighborhood I come from, rap… Nothing was simple, but like Forrest, I ran.

A documentary series will be dedicated to you in June on Disney +: To life, to death. Why this title?

Everything I’ve done I’ve done with three friends and this six episode series tells the story of our friendship. We see how we overcame the problems to continue to move forward. Lots of little doors were closing, not just the big ones. So it was life and death for us.

In the current anxiety-provoking context, what message do you want to convey?

That the doors are reopened and the sun is at the end. The pandemic has not helped us, and we are entering an election period where some are using fear to win votes. Amalgams emerge, there is demagoguery and things that divide us. But it is together that we can move forward.

Singing Crazyyou also claim the right to madness and freedom.

We all need to let go. When you don’t look like anyone, you’re told you’re crazy. So I sing that if being crazy is being happy and free, no problem: call me crazy!

Is being a dreamer in 2022 a fault?

No, it’s a quality. Hope is no longer something very common today. When I see what is happening between Russia, the United States, France and these peasants on the Ukrainian border who have not asked for anything. But also all those people who are caught in a vice by wars all over the world. As a result, being a dreamer is an extraordinary strength because it allows us to tell ourselves that we are going to get up, try to change things and take advantage of this life which is unique and so short.

Closer to the stars, but also closer to her fans, Soprano is giving her dreams a flavor of reality ahead of her 2022 stadium tour. Her invitation to chase some 625 stars runs throughout March across five cities in France.

The first 125 stars will be dispersed in Strasbourg from Wednesday 2 March. The campaign will continue from March 9 in Marseille, March 16 in Lyon, March 23 in Paris and March 30 in Lille. Participants will have eight days per city to unearth hidden treasures.

“For me, the stars are synonymous with luck and light. It is together that we will look for them, ”rejoices Soprano.

The modalities of geocaching will be explained on the site hunterofstars.games from March 2. Several clues will appear on interactive maps as well as on “treasure maps” to be collected from Crédit Mutuel branches, a partner in the operation.

Town after town, Soprano will meet the winners at a special event with a signing session, presentation of gifts and other surprises from the chef, all in an “interstellar setting”. With the head in the stars.

More info on riffx.fr/soprano