Paris (AFP)

"It's like a prequel" describes Eddy de Pretto to AFP: the singer signs his comeback with a successful second album, a succession of flashbacks between ungrateful first singing turns, outbursts of love and artificial paradises.

In interview, the artist is like this disc ("To all the bastards", which comes out this Friday at Romance Musique / Universal), accessible, endearing and unfiltered.

Under his eternal white cap, he will sing thus during the interview of Charles Aznavour ("As they say"), of Jacques Brel ("These people") - references in his radars for their art of setting the scene - or will search on his phone for a song by Frank Ocean ("Be yourself"), another of his influences.

Eddy de Pretto (27) sweeps away the word nostalgia to talk about his 2nd album (successor to "Cure" and its 300,000 copies sold).

"I don't think so; I said to myself + I'm going to write a second album, where to go to draw? +. Not in the past two years anyway: the tours, the fact that my champagne has gone to the top range, who cares (laughs)! ".

- "Tender look" -

"I wanted to tell more experienced things in my flesh, I went back further, it's like a prequel in a way: how I came to make music".

"The idea was to take things that have built me ​​up and take a loving look at it, even if it wasn't as beautiful when I was living it."

"To all the bastards" - a dedication to all those who like him did not fit in the boxes - thus opens on "Bateaux mouches".

That is to say the first stage-stages of a young Eddy de Pretto-apprentice singer.

Finally escaped from Créteil, where he grew up, in the Paris region, he entertained tourists on a spree on the Seine with a marked repertoire.

"The + Ave Maria + passing in front of Notre-Dame, + Good morning America: how are you? + In front of the Statue of Liberty, + La vie en rose + at the Eiffel Tower ... oh the clichés! (Laughs)" .

"Rose tati" evokes a person who mattered to him, his "free, decadent aunt, + freak +, who told me + you will be what you want, stop listening to them (those who tried to fit him into a mold, editor's note), go for it! ".

- "Getting lost in the party" -

We can also hear the benevolent voice of this aunt, who now lives in the South of France, one day when she left a message on her answering machine.

As usual, Eddy de Pretto does not hide anything about his way of life, multiplying allusions to drugs.

When we ask him if his notoriety has accelerated the temptations, the answer is straightforward: "No, I have always been in the party, always had drugs, well there is no more party at the moment with the crisis. sanitary (laughs). I have always liked to get lost in the party ".

He also sang it in his previous album with the famous "Fête de trop".

If he assumes his "life of decadence", he puts limits there as revealed by the title "Sorry Caroline": he refuses the trap set by the cocaine-routine.

"The addiction will not have me, I am the commander," he insists.

His loves pass by, carefree ("I have too many guys to love (...) Other nights to undress") or bitter ("The others who were around you / Had the weapons to make you come").

And always fun to be believed when it comes to talking about sex ("The zone").

Exposing also affects his work on melodies.

With "Qqn" he reveals the root of his compositions, the piano-voice base which precedes the effective r'n'b formwork.

"Yes, with + Qqn + I wanted to show the before and after of my music, to be as close as possible to the intimate".

One last formula which can sum up the disc.

© 2021 AFP