9:00 a.m., June 11, 2022
When she’s not in Rome or Rio on the lookout for a jazz club, Melody Gardot divides her time between two apartments, one at home in Philadelphia, the other in Paris, her city of heart. In this country where his albums and concerts sell better than elsewhere. Thereby Between them two, his new opus recorded in duet with the Franco-Brazilian pianist Philippe Powell. Magnifying his ultra-sensual voice and his Francophile romanticism, he unveils several songs written in French, including the aptly named Sunday flowers. “It was composed on a Sunday evening, says the singer. That day, Philippe woke me around 11 a.m. to announce the passage of a delivery man with flowers sent by a darling. I was so tired from our sessions the night before that I fell asleep again! The song comes from there…”
Tall, untied hair, Melody Gardot hides her eyes allergic to too bright lights behind smoked glasses. Of the star type, by turns cool and distant, she seems at ease perched on her high heels and tapered in faded and tight jeans, topped with a sexy corset compressing her chest. The image of the early Melody, clinging to its crutch, survivor of a serious bicycle accident in 2003, has lived. The struggling caterpillar no longer overshadows the glamorous butterfly.
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But what’s with my Sundays, darling?
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“But what’s with my Sundays, darling?” », she asks from the start, deceptively familiar, lively and not very focused. In the second that follows, Melody Gardot hisses the creatures that accompany her everywhere, two miniature chihuahuas who stare at you with their strange eyeballs. Pete, the caramel male, and Diva, the chocolate female. “They are 10 and 4 years old, they are an extension of me”, declares the American in a French strewn with charming mistakes, chirping in a kind of singing momentum over overplayed intonations.
Obligatory brunch
” Sunday ? Late. » With a fixed smile, she leaves a silence. We bounce back somehow: “In short, you hang out? » “Oh no, my name is not Charles”, she replies, proud of her bon mot in French. Finally, she launches: “Sundays and days off, it’s delicious to take your time. But I don’t like the idea of hanging out. People often imagine that in music we get up late every day. It’s wrong ! We start at 9 a.m. every morning, like everyone else, we have responsibilities. »
In Paris as in Philadelphia, his obligatory Sunday meeting is brunch. “That’s why I prefer American Sundays!” We have the little sausages, the bagels, the good bacon. In France, it’s more complicated, even the butter you have to ask for! » A scandal for the singer, who prefers brunch at home. “It’s more intimate and easy to prepare in Philadelphia, where I can buy everything in an “all food” or at the old Italian market. In France, I have to go to five different shops to find the right ingredients: cheese, champagne, fruit, etc. » In Los Angeles, where she spent time recording her first records, she says « pothead » them ““Farmers markets”, all hyper organic…”
In any case, the appointment is sacred: “Sunday is basically a family day. Now that I travel everywhere, it has become the precious day to find some friends and relatives with whom I find this family spirit. » In Paris, his ideal Sunday “to recharge the batteries” will then tend towards the Bois de Boulogne. ” Because I love forests and small boats! If the weather is nice, I rent a boat, often alone…” She can thus spend an entire afternoon on her boat, with her dogs and a book. “I read plays by Tom Stoppard, always easy and funny, she details. I listen to the birds, I watch the people in the distance, I feel the breeze. I do nothing and I do it well! »
soothing garden
In case of rain, in Paris as in Philadelphia, nothing will force her to go out. “I reserve my theater and cinema outings for weekdays. In a pinch, I go to the museum. There are some very beautiful ones in Philadelphia, where my favorite is the Rodin Museum, which for a long time I thought was the only one in the world. » She discovered that of Paris and its soothing garden. “We shot my last clip there with Marie-Agnès Gillot and Germain Louvet, two magnificent star dancers. Rodin touches me because in all his work there is love, the body, eternal spring, but also tensions, suffering. »
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I am a computer that was fished out of the water, but without recovering the hard disk!
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Of the Sundays of childhood, she says nothing. She just invokes Catholic masses in Latin! “I was bored there, I understood nothing. If God exists, it’s in emotion, music, why not sex, not in these fixed rituals. » Melody Gardot lacks memories, she says, because of the accident and coma that occurred when she was 19. “I am a computer that was fished out of the water, but without recovering the hard disk! » She is much better today, it shows.“Pains no longer ruin my life as before. A few years ago, I did my first jog, it was an incredible conquest. I still have limits, but I’m learning to be more positive and to moan less… That still doesn’t make me such a typical Frenchwoman! »
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