Enfnts Terribles

You’re currently very busy with all the preparations for the release of your debut album in June. How are you getting yourself ready mentally and physically?

I’ve been doing a lot of dance training for the live shows and the videos that are coming up. We’re going to release two singles before the album release so that’s not much time for making two videos and all the other shoots that are coming up. I also try to take as much as free time for myself, which is very hard these days. To be home and not do shit is so hard.

I’m not only a singer and have so many things to do. Right after this interview, I’m heading into a meeting with architects because I’m designing 8000 square meters. It’s so hard to find time for myself at the moment, but I have to. Otherwise I’ll get crazy with the album release.

The media are slightly going crazy for you and calls you ‘the next big thing of 2020’. How happy are you with the response so far?

Of course, I couldn’t be happier. I want things, but I never expect anything. I just want enough to live for myself. But on the other hand, I need to be a millionaire, because I have to save some people from poverty in Africa, so I have these different objectives. I just have to say that I’m so happy with everyone’s response, but I wasn’t expecting that. I expected things to take more time to be honest.

The music that I’m bringing is not the music you used to hear, because when you look at the top 10s all over the world, there’s nothing like my music. It’s as if I don’t really belong anywhere, so I need to work harder and I’m just so glad that people actually wanted to give it a try. It gives me so much happiness.

You have worked very hard on your first album. Is there maybe something you can already reveal that you haven’t told anyone yet?

There’s a song about prostitution on the album that I really, really love. The lyrics of the song are awfully difficult, but it’s the song I’m most excited about since it will bring a lot of drama. Drama in a good sense, because I want people to talk about actual topics. My whole album is so fucking heavy!

“Dilemme” and “Tout Est Gore” are the chillest songs on the album to already give you an idea. I really want to bring those subjects out and want to start conversations, because we can only change things, if we talk about it. That’s why I talk about things that could be seen as negative, but they are just the reality.

What were the first steps you took as a child or teenager in order to become a singer?

As soon as I started writing, I started writing songs. I did all school shows and my mother was organizing about ten parties a year. Parties in Africa are with like 200 people and that was only my family, so it was always a big event. We had to do multiple parties, because there were so many people on different sides of my family. I was basically performing at each of them and was like: “I want to read a poem for you!” and everybody thought: “Okay, you again.” (laughs)

I was really happy, singing, dancing, … I was just a born performer. When I was young, my best friend was the ‘brush in the mirror’ and had this Britney Spears-situation going on in my room, so it was a concert every day at home.

You already put out two songs. What did you want to show with “Dilemme” and “Tout est gore”?

I wanted to show my versatility as an artist. I wanted people to understand the bigger picture without getting shit, because you only have about three minutes to tell a story. For “Dilemme”, I wanted my listeners to understand the sorrow I had in me and all this duality. That’s why the title of the song is “Dilemme”, because it was so hard to choose at some point between being alone and being with people.

That’s the big decision I made in my life, because I was so confused by the human kind my whole life. Because I’ve always been extremely happy, like I said, and was extremely full of love, I used to tell people I loved them so much. I could be in relationships with women and men, and everybody couldn’t understand why I could love someone so fast. I was actually freaking them out and didn’t understand why people were so freaked about it.

At some point, it was really, really hard and I think, the last time I cried about it was this Christmas. It’s the day that makes me sad the most, because it makes me think of why love seems to be such a problem for many people. For example, I don’t get the concept of not saying “I love you!” to the person you’re in love with. Especially since I’m from Congo, where everybody is so extra.

“Dilemme” says that if I could, I would live alone far away from people I love, because the people you love the most, hurt you the most. I was really thinking that I’d rather be alone and live by myself, because I love myself, than being in this world where nobody can actually just purely love each other. It was a real teaching moment with my boyfriend to show him what the power of words is.

You can show me that you love me every day, but you have to say it to put it into distance, action and so many other things. Words have a power, otherwise musicians wouldn’t exist because the words we say, touch so many people. The power of words is giant and that’s why I think it’s more difficult to insult someone than beating someone up. You’re skin will eventually repair, but when people destroy you mentally with words, it’s way harder to overcome that.

With “Tout est gore”, I wanted to tell something completely different. I wanted to show the power and the confidence I have in me. The whole song is almost an ego trip, where I’m feeling good and at the same time, point out that everything is “gore”, which means that it’s so bloody, violent, dangerous and so extra like a Tarantino movie, that you start laughing at a point. It’s just the perfect metaphor for my life, since it’s so dramatic that I start to laugh with it. “Tout est gore” is about the fact that everything is trashy, but I’ll overcome everything.