How the Final Single Came Together
This is the third and final single before the album drops — was that closing position always the plan, or did the sequencing shift once the record came together?
You can have some clues during the process (like "this song might be a single") but the sequencing definitely comes once you have the whole album done, and you can take a step back and watch the whole picture to choose the songs you want to put out first and in which order.
The song sits on the line between holding on and letting go emotionally. How much of that tension in Andréa’s vocal was direction from you versus her own read on the lyric?
I tend to let the singer interpret the song as she or he feels it first, try not to set boundaries, more directions maybe, then work on editing and switching lines etc to fit with the song as the vocals and music inspire me.
The video follows her through the streets of Paris — did that visual grow out of the song’s theme, or was it a separate brief from the label?
It was my idea after spending a lot of time on tour talking about our cities of Paris and Marseille with Andréa, and how much we loved them. As I wanted to bring the light on her in the video I thought it would be cool to have her wandering in some of her favorite places in Paris, so she could really own the video.
You’ve said the effect music has on people matters more to you than the music itself. How do you actually judge that while a track’s still unfinished and nobody’s heard it yet?
I judge it by the effect it has on me, as if I was the first person to listen to it, if it moves me then it means that I am in the right direction.
How the Album Found Its New Sounds
Andréa’s been your touring vocalist and bassist since 2020 — what changed this time that pushed her into five album tracks instead of staying mainly a live role?
The last tour was really intense and we spent a lot of time together in so many amazing places, which obviously made us talk a lot especially about music. Also we sang a lot of songs backstage before each show and it made me realize the amazing range of styles and mood Andréa has in her voice, and all of that combined led me to collaborate with her.
The record moves through very specific regional textures — African-inflected on “City of Gold,” Brazilian on “Do Meu Coração.” What stops that approach from flattening into a tourist’s version of those sounds?
Well maybe that's what it is! "Tourist Songs" that would be a concept album, I mean I'm just a tourist when I'm outside France.
About City Of Gold, I've never been to Nigeria, it all started with a DM on instagram by DEMIGOD who asked me to collaborate, then I've checked her sound and voice and I felt it, I felt that there was something to do with it, a new vibe that wasn't on any of my albums before, but that was moving me so much, I really was moved the first second I heard her voice, so when something like this happens you have to follow your instinct, no thinking too much and do it. And it happened so easily: I sent a loop, she sent me back the vocals, I've worked on that, song done. This is so rare.
About Brazil, I have a special bond with the country, because my lover, Samantha (who sings on the song), is Brazilian, so we went together often, and I feel (and I hope) that I'm more than a tourist now, but Brazilian music is so vast and so rich, I guess you have to be born there to play and sing like that. In the song you can clearly hear that it's Brazilian inspired music made by a European, but I love it, it made me feel like I'm growing.
Robin Coudert produced alongside you — a name best known for Phoenix’s sound. What did having him in the room change about your process, and what did you push back on?
Rob brought me so much. First on the production, the sound and the instruments used, he is such a good musician, can play everything, and we have total freedom in the studio.
Also he convinced me to sing with that high voice, that I didn't think I was capable of (my first reaction was to push back indeed), and now it's something that I want to do on every song, it was really a game changer for me, a personal revolution.
You’ve described the album as tied to that first-days-of-summer feeling in the South of France. Can you actually write from that headspace anywhere, or does it require being there?
I think I have it in my bones no matter where I am, but being elsewhere is sometimes even better, because you miss it and dream about it and that frustration can be a source of inspiration, compared to being there and just living it, enjoying it.
How He Keeps Instinct Ahead of the Algorithm
Beyond the sound itself, what’s actually feeding your songwriting these days — is it visual, literary, something entirely outside music?
I would say life in its entirety, I mean it could be a moving scene that I witness in the street, or a moment between lovers, or at the movies or animals, it could come from anywhere, but I try not to think too much about it, more to live it and let it infuse.
Algorithms and platform logic increasingly shape the creative choices a lot of artists make — track length, where the hook lands, how a song is built to be discovered. Do you find yourself reacting to that pressure at all, or do you deliberately tune it out?
I tune it out, I just try to focus on the emotion that the music simply brings me, I guess/hope that's what stays at the end, no matter the format friendliness of it.
What does your actual toolkit look like right now — specific software, plugins, hardware you build a track around? And with AI-generated music suddenly everywhere in the last few months, where do you personally draw the line on using those tools versus what it does to the idea of authorship?
An idea can come from anywhere, and at any time, not necessarily in the studio. I still have my favorite instruments, Juno and Moog and Korg synths, bass, guitars etc. On this album I used a lot of splice samples, it helped me to build beds for songs to lie on, but no AI software, I've tried once and I didn't find it really interesting, I mean the interesting part is the time you work on the song and magical moments come at you.
How the Songs Change When They Hit the Stage
“Moon” got a second life years later through shares by artists like Jennifer Lopez and Lizzo, plus a Netflix placement. Does that create two different audiences at a show now — people who know the album and people who only know that one moment?
I don't really focus on it at shows, I'm just enjoying the moment with smiling and dancing people. I met some of them after the show but that's not really a subject we talk about.
The tour runs from London to a closing Marseille date. How differently do you play a hometown show that already knows every lyric versus a city discovering you live for the first time?
It's gonna be our fifth time in London, so I hope there will be people knowing us. I don't make any difference in the way I'm supposed to play depending on the audience. At least before the show. Once on stage and the show has started and you've felt the audience you can adjust your way of being, but not really before that moment.
You’re playing MeetFactory in Prague on October 30th — not one of your longer-standing markets compared to the Western European stops. What do you adjust when you’re not sure how familiar the room is with your catalogue?
Same here, maybe the only difference is that when you play in front of people who don't really know you, you have to go and catch them, be more intense maybe but I'm not sure because it would mean that we're less intense in front of audiences that know us, which is not the case.
On stage it’s just you, Andréa and Raphaël on drums. How do you keep the album’s range — soul, R&B, dance, the more contemplative electro side — from getting flattened down with just three people playing it live?
You have to forget the albums when you play live. I mean you play the songs from the albums obviously but it's more important to interpret them, feel them with the audience and the stage energy than to try to sound like the album. As soon as it sounds good on stage, then it's the good version.
Kid Francescoli plays Prague's MeetFactory on October 30. By his own account, the priority on stage is making it sound good live — not replicating the record. So don't expect "A Kind Wave" to sound exactly the way it does in your headphones.
