Seducing Americans to sing in French

When Québécoise Josie Boivin started her music project under the name Munya, in 2018, the last thing she expected was that her dream French pop songs would catch the attention of major American niche media.

However, to his surprise, the influential Pitchfork praised his song Kisses everywhere. She was then invited to South By Southwest, Spotify offered her support, and The New York TimesAnd painting And many other posts were good words to her.

So prestigious rolling rock Just joined the show.

Josie Boivin, a young girl from Arvida trained in classical piano and jazz who grew up listening to Françoise Hardy and watching MusiquePlus, still can’t believe it.

“I am not Charlotte Cardin, but I have established my name on the American scene,” laughs this young woman, who is so grateful for everything that happens to her that she thanked the author of these lines for caring for her.

• Listen to Anaîs Guertin-Lacroix’s column at the Philippe-Vincent Foisy mic on QUB Radio:

on the map”

In any case, this unexpected welcome showed him that it was not necessary to sing only in English to break into the United States.

On his first album Travel to MarsHalf of the twelve tracks are in French, in whole or in part, which will be released tomorrow on the American label Luminelle Records.

“Before I left the Monya project, I didn’t know what language I wanted to write in. I wrote one in French and it seemed natural to me. I released an EP North Hatley By not having expectations. I didn’t think I’d go to the US first. My songs in French put me on “the map” and that’s really surprising. I think Americans like weird things,” said the person who left Quebec a year ago to settle in New York.

Dominated by bass and steam, Mona’s music can evoke the music of his countrymen Men I Trust and Milk & Bone as much as artists like Beach House or Stereolab.

science fiction fan

The title of her album is a nod to her love for science fiction, born when she watched the famous Georges Miller movie, Journey to the moon, from 1902. She took charge tonight tonight, Smashing Pumpkins, whose music video was also inspired by Méliès, had marked his childhood.

Space travel is a recurring theme in songs Travel to Mars.

“During the pandemic, I wanted to get away from everything. I got away with this desire to go to the stars,” admits the person who composes all her songs herself.

As for seeing her at home, on stage, we’ll have to wait in 2022. She can’t wait. “I miss Quebec so much. “