Tag: Stromae

Video by William Ruben Helms

New VIdeo: La Bronze Shares Sultry and Atmospheric “Viens”

Nadia Essadiqi is a Montreal-based, Moroccan-Canadian singer/songwriter, musician and actor. An as actor Essadiqi has appeared in the French language, Canadian series Trauma, season 3 of ICI Radio-Canada Télé’s Unité 9, the TOU.TV webs series Quart de vie, the short film Forêt Noire and the sci-fi project, Projet-M,

Essadiqi is best known as the acclaimed pop artist La Bronze. 2014’s self-titled, full-length debut received an Emerging Artist of the Year Award nomination at the 2015 Canadian Music Week Awards. Although she may be best known for singing lyrics in French, in 2016, he released a Maghrebi Arabic rendition of Stromae’s hit “Formidable,” which garnered quite of buzz across Canada and elsewhere. She followed that up in 2017 with the release of her sophomore album, Les corps infinis.

The Montreal-based artist’s third album Vis-moi was released by Montreal-based label Audiogram last March. The album’s latest single “Viens” is a slow-burning and atmospheric pop ballad centered around skittering beats and glistening synth stabs paired with Essadiqi’s ethereal cooing, a soaring choral-driven hook and a woozy bridge. The song thematically focuses on something many of us have experienced at some point — the attraction towards someone or something that isn’t necessarily right for us. And as a result, the song evokes an uneasy and irresistible push and pull, full of carnal longing.

Directed by Eli Jean Tahchi, the accompanying video for “Viens” was shot during a recent trip to the small town of Salé, Morocco. The video begins with the Moroccan-Canadian artist laying down near an open window, presumably attempting to stay cool on a blistering hot morning. We later see the Montreal-based artist in a white gown, running through the town and towards a cemetery. Eventually we see La Bronze at a cliff with the waves crashing below, followed by seeing her dance at the seashore with the sun setting. While surreal, the video also manages to capture the push, pull and collision within the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Sebastian Dutilih and Belle Doron, Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based electro pop duo CUT_  quickly became international sensations across Europe with the release of their rework of Stromae‘s “Papaoutai.” And adding to a growing international profile, the “Papaoutai” rework went viral on Spotify and received quite a bit of airplay across Europe — and as a result of the growing attention the Dutch electro pop duo were receiving, they caught the attention of the renowned indie label [PIAS] Records, who recently signed Dutilih and Doron to an international deal.

After signing to [PIAS] Records, the duo retreated to the French Alps to work on new material and the first single from those sessions is the Leo Abrams co-produced single “Tune In Tune Out,” a single consisting of a propulsive yet shuffling production featuring handclap led percussion, stuttering boom-bap-like drum programming,  cascading layers of synths with Doron’s sultry, jazz-like vocal stylings and an infectious hook in a song that feels mischievously, coquettish and bold while possessing a radio-friendly feel — but just under the surface is a subtly dark undertone. As the duo explains in press notes “we want to belong to both worlds; the dark alternative electronica that excites us, as well as forward-thinking pop that sticks our heads . . . we’re always trying to combine our love for the two.”