arts
Interview With Pomme
23 year old singer-songwriter Pomme (or Claire Pommet to her family and friends) exploded on to the French music scene back in 2017 with her debut album,
À peu près. The album was followed quickly, in 2019, by
Les failles, which has been re-released in a stunning deluxe format by Wrasse Records in the UK. Having postponed her tour numerous times due to Covid, Pomme is finally relishing her time on the road.
While she isn't venturing up North we speak to her about her upcoming London performances.
Hi Pomme, how are you?
Hello, I’m good! I am currently in Bourges playing Céline Dion’s songs for a special show with Safia Nolin. It’s nice and warm.
You are back out on the road again, how has the live experience changed for you as a result of Covid?
Well, I have been experiencing so many ways of playing live since Covid, people sitting, wearing masks, then playing two shows in a row to split the crowd, then festivals in the summer 2021 and starting to
get back to 'normal' again, and all of this was my very first headlining tour! So yeah, it was a little bit weird and very sad sometimes, when we had to postpone over and over. But it has given me a different taste of playing shows I guess, I feel even more lucky to
be able to do it.
Your album Les failles cachées was first released a few years ago. Has your relationship with the record changed since you wrote and recorded it?
I don’t think so! I surely changed as a human being, developed more confidence in my art, grew, wrote a lot of new songs that are different from Les failles, but my relationship with it remains the same: this album was made with absolute truth and humility, with the desire to love myself more and to get closer to myself. it allowed me to find my public and my truth, and I really love it with the same emotion even after a few years.
The release has won numerous awards, did you ever anticipate the success?
Absolutely not! I wrote it while breaking up, in a beautiful house in Bourgogne, France and the only goal that I had was to heal. To try to say things that I couldn’t express with words in random conversations.
I was 20 or 21 when I wrote the songs and only tried to accept my anxiety, fears and lack of confidence through music. so seeing it win awards and stuff was very very surprising for me.
You are two albums into your recording career, is a third on the way?
Yes! There is a third on the way, coming out later this year.
With your success not just restricted to the Francophone world, what burning ambitions would you wish to achieve next?
Oh, I guess I’d just love to see non francophone people come to my European shows cause it’s always fun to meet people from the country you’re playing in. Also, I think I’d like to play a US tour someday, because most of my biggest inspirations come from there. I’ve never
played there before.
You are playing London at the end of the month, for those who haven't seen your live show, what can they expect?
it’s a show that I created specially for this European tour, it’s a solo show. I’m playing Les failles songs mostly, but also a few songs from my first album
A peu près, and maybe one or two unreleased
songs...! It’s very intimate and raw, I feel like I wanted to introduce myself in the simplest way.
Earlier this year you released a stunning collaboration with Aurora, how did that come about?
I actually contacted her a few years ago to sing one of my songs together and I abandoned the initial idea but our labels kept us connected and we’ve been getting along really really well from the first call, as if we were childhood friends or cosmic sisters. I really love her. After a few Zoom meetings she asked me to write and sing a French part on a song of her upcoming album (that came out in January) and singing it together was the best feeling. I hope we do some more music in the future cause I’m not really dreaming of any
collaboration apart from her.
Finally, while speaking of collaborations, who do you dream of working with?
Haha, I answered this without knowing! I don’t know, I just want to have a cup of tea with Joan Baez and Dolly Parton because I’m so lucky to live in the same era.