Meet Chanez: Singer behind Hit Pop Album “Attachiante” Releases Video Clip for “Solide”
Sometimes it takes the loss of everything we know in order to discover just how strong and solid we are– a sentiment that echoes poignantly throughout Parisian singer songwriter Chanez’s new video clip for “Solide.”
Released February 18 on Youtube, as well as French National TV channels, such as Canal +’s CStar, the video for “Solide” transports viewers into a realm where the tangible and the ethereal collide with captivating intensity. Set amidst the eclectic ambiance of Sunset Blvd and the glamor of the Beverly Hills’ Mr. Brainwash Art Museum, the visuals weave a narrative that blurs the lines between solidity and fluidity, reality and illusion.
Directed by award-winning French filmmaker Rebecca Berrih (“Two Scoops of Love”) and cinematographer Senda Bonnet (“The Weight of Perfection”), Chanez gracefully traverses the city in the video with her every movement seeming to challenge the stability of the environment. With a delicate touch, she trails her fingers across the walls, revealing a surreal truth: what appears solid is, in fact, fluid and mutable, as if the very fabric of existence dances to her silent command.
In a moment of introspection, Chanez gazes into a mirror, expecting to find the reassuring reflection of her own solidity. Yet, as she peers deeper, she realizes her reflection, like the world around her, is a mere illusion, a mirage of stability in an ever-shifting landscape of perception. And the most important takeaway? That no matter how unstable the world around us is, we can still find strength and solidity inside.
“The song is about resilience. It’s strange to say, but I believe that pain made me grow and the pain made me stronger,” explains Chanez. “Like all of my songs, the inspiration for ‘Solide’ came from my life and experiences.”
Like the majority of her songs, “Solide” was written single handedly by Chanez who, over the years, has proven herself to be a brilliant lyricist. Serving as something of an epoch for the artist or at least as a major marker of transformation through grief, the inspiration for “Solide” came from the extreme hardship Chanez experienced after the loss of both of her parents– and the process she went through on her way to finding her strength and solidity once again.
The catchy and dance inducing pop song, which was released on all platforms on February 16, was recorded at Villa Bizot Recording Studio next to the Champs Elysées by Xavier Delaunay aka Redeyes, who’s worked with some of France’s most notable acts, including Victoires de la Musique and NRJ Award winner Maitre Gims, and Lumière and César Award winner Louane. The music for the song was produced by former Sony Music producer and composer Stephane Detrez (Kaiser Orchestra, Keziah Jone), who has worked with Chanez on countless projects over the years.
“I first met Chanez in Paris about 10 years ago. I was involved in a workshop for Universal as a composer and she was there as a lyricist. When Chanez arrives somewhere you can’t escape from noticing her, she’s a storm. It happened naturally, we started to collaborate on new songs pretty fast,” recalls Detrez.
“For ‘Solide’ she came with the lyrics and a very specific idea of the style and sound she wanted… Since I know her pretty well I came up with a proposition that is representing both her as the child she still is, but also, in opposition, her strength, the fighter inside her.”
Having worked together several times over the years, Detrez is able to understand quite quickly the direction Chanez is going with a song, and how to create instrumentals that can support her lyrics and further the vibe she envisions.
“We did it fast, like a challenge,” says Detrez. “I composed and produced in Norway, and a few days after I was in Paris in studio recording with Redeyes who did a great job on the mix, Chanez delivered in a few hours and the result is exactly what I had in mind, between French modern pop and 80’s references.”
Last year Cahnez released the song “Initial,” which the artist says was the first time she allowed herself to talk about love on one of her tracks. Released as part of an exclusive for the 2023 Cannes Film Festival where she gave a rivetting performance, the song was only streamable for 10 days during the festival.
“For me this song was very much about my past, and the parts that I’ve left behind,” explains Chanez. “But at the same time this song is a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg’s song Initials BB and the whole structure and rhyme of the lyrics are a tribute to him…. He was my idol since childhood.”
Beginning her career well over a decade ago, Chanez has transformed a thousand times over between getting her start as a songwriter with Universal Music Publishing in 2009 to her unforgettable 2017 pop album “Attachiante,” which showed her youthful and free spirited side, to the present, where she is clearly the strongest and most solid version of herself yet– as both an artist and a woman.
“Chanez is still this unique personality, this true nature that makes her music so peculiar,” says Detrez. “But her writing has transformed to become very efficient, both smart and touching, funny and sad at the same time. Every sentence is a punchline. Her writing follows her evolution as a woman. It became solide.”
