Both gentle and powerful, Yseult presented a most captivating piano-voice concert on Wednesday evening as part of the Francos de Montréal.
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On the enormous stage of the symphony house, the grand piano, the only instrument in the room – apart from the organ which inhabits the premises – seems very small. Then past 9:15 p.m., Yseult went on stage in a halo of light and a long-sleeved white dress, reminiscent of the toga of a gospel choir. His voice is huge.
Firmly grounded, the singer was captivating from start to finish. His intimate and powerful songs, halfway between trap and French variety – played in an acoustic version for this show – resonated with beauty in the almost full house. This uncluttered way of playing them also gives a lot of impact to his lyrics, which are sometimes heavy with meaning.
The artist, muse of L’Oréal Paris for a year, offered a concert all in sobriety, but not without tenderness. With her charisma and her desire to break the codes of “beauty” and popular aesthetics, she brilliantly knew how to charm and make the crowd shudder, who repeatedly applauded her loudly, giving her an ovation even before she left. ‘she only pushes the first notes of her recital.
Revealed during its passage to the French tele-hook New star – in which she reached the final – Yseult has released, since the release of her first full album in 2014, several à la carte songs and mini-albums under the label she founded, YYY, including Noir (2019) et Brut (2020). It is also with these EPs that the young singer managed to break away from her electro-pop style, adopted at the start of her career.
It is these pieces that she presented at the Maison Symphonique on Wednesday. Demonstrating her most versatile vocal skills with striking ease, the singer played with the melodies and rhythms of her often-revisited songs, including INDELIBLE et SEX. We could have heard a pin drop during the first verse of the songs BAD BOY, CORPS et Nothing to provesung softly a capella, for which the audience once again rose from their seats to applaud.
Between two sentimental ballads, the singer-songwriter, born in France to parents of Cameroonian origin, slips in refreshing moments of humor to which the audience, always very attentive, laughs.
Before making her debut on the boards of the Maison Symphonique de Montréal, singer Naomi made sure to warm up the room. The young woman obtained the mandate after meeting the French singer on the set of Star Academy, last March. She was then one of the artist’s dancers.
Yseult will be at Lac-Drolet, in Estrie on August 20th.
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