Eddy de Pretto

Eddy de Pretto (born 2 May 1993 in Créteil in the Val-de-Marne)[1] is a French singer-songwriter and actor.

Eddy de Pretto
Eddy de Pretto performing at Le Botanique in Brussels in 2018
Background information
Born	(1993-05-02) 2 May 1993[1] Créteil, France
Genres	Chanson française, rap[2]
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2016–present
Labels	Initial Artist Services Universal Music France
Website	www.eddydepretto.com

Early life

Eddy de Pretto was born on 2 May 1993 and grew up in Créteil[1][2] in the Val-de-Marne.[3] His father is a truck driver and football fan; his mother a laboratory technician and an art lover.[4] He sings about his native city in Beaulieue.[5] In an interview, he described his hometown:

...a certain amount of anger, a desire to better myself. There's a bit of a sort of straightjacket in the banlieues, like it or not: we're told we're on the margin, that we'll amount to nothing, that we'll come to a bad end. Me, my head was full of dreams and a little voice told me I'd get there. The desire to overcome [it all] helped me succeed...

[6]

At the age of twelve, he started lessons in theatre, singing, vocal technique and piano:[7] "I took the TV remote for a microphone and operated a halogen lamp for lighting. So my mother suggested taking theatre lessons since I didn't excel at sport."[6] He continued his education at the Institut supérieur des arts de la scène (ECM-ISAS, “Advanced Institute of Dramatic Arts”) in Paris.[2]

Acting

Eddy de Pretto's first acting experiences were in TV advertisements, such as the role of a young Julius Caesar for CanalSat in September 2010,[8][9] before entering into the theatrical and film worlds: the short films Königsberg by Philipp Mayrhofer in 2012 and Vivre sa vie by Paul D. Meyer in 2013 as well as an appearance in the feature film Paulette by Jérôme Enrico in the role of “the young hippy buyer”, also in 2013.

Music career

Between the ages of eighteen and nineteen he began to write songs. In his first public performance he sang R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" at his local youth centre (Maison des jeunes et de la culture): "I was totally weak, ... so stressed out because there was a lot of rap and I didn’t fit into that genre at all," he said in an interview.[10]

He participated in the Printemps de Bourges music festival, where he won the Inouïs ("unheard of, amazing") prize,[11] and the Bars en Trans festival, and is a graduate of inRocKs Lab 2016.[2] In October 2017, he also took part in the Festival Off Off Off (Nuits de Champagne festival) in Troyes.[12]

Kid and Cure

He released his first EP, entitled Kid, on 6 October 2017. In the live performances of the EP he played sound clips from his iPhone connected with a cable. The only live musician at his concerts was a drummer.[2]

In early January 2018, on the stage of the television program Taratata, he sang "Comme un boomerang" in duet with Julien Doré, a song written by Serge Gainsbourg and previously performed by Dani and Étienne Daho in 2001.[13]

In mid-January 2018, he launched "Random", the first song from his debut album Cure, describing his heartaches.[14]

Along with Gaël Faye and Fishbach, he was nominated for "Best Newcomer Stage Act" (Groupe ou artiste révélation scène) at the 33rd Victoires de la Musique in 2018.[15][16] Gaël Faye won the award.

In mid-February 2018, he introduced his song "Ego" with "a stripped down, mechanical instrumental", which the singer explained thus: "I set down the possibility of becoming unhinged because of the speed at which the project is going. By dint of hearing praise, the 'excess of self' implodes, and that's the risk I’m exposing here. The simple fear of degenerating into a fanaticism of the self through social media, endearments, and all other flattering signals that create this monster of ego."[17]

On 2 March 2018, he released his first album Cure, on CD, vinyl and in digital format.[18] At the same time, the clip for "Normal" was unveiled, which took on stereotypes of sexual identity, fear of the other and homophobia:[19] "An anger about people who were attacking me because they didn't like the person I embodied," he explained in the magazine Têtu.[20] A week after its release, the recording was ranked the number one best-selling album ahead of Vous et moi by Julien Doré, with 13,500 copies,[21] "driving out" Grand Corps Malade from Fnac's Top French Albums listing.[22]

Personal life

As alluded to in some of his songs, Eddy de Pretto does not hide his homosexuality: "I'm not militant. I don't want to be a standard-bearer. I just want to give an account of my life, my reality," he added in an interview.[10] He defines himself as a “non-genre” artist.[23] In the TV program Taratata, broadcast on 15 December 2017, he explained that he was trying to examine masculinity and the hypermasculinity that made up part of his education. When Nagui asked him if he talked about homosexuality in his songs, he responded that that was in no way his goal.[24] In this regard, speaking to Les Inrockuptibles the singer declared: "I try to speak about my personal history and to normalise it as much as possible. And not to highlight it saying I'm the first queer to link rap and French chanson".[2]

Musical influences

Discography

Album

Year	Album	Peak positions
		FRA [25]	BEL (Wa) [26]	SWI [27]
2018	Cure	1	4	6

EP

Year	Title
2017	Kid

Singles

Year	Song	Peak positions		Album
		FRA [25]	BEL (Wa) [26]
2017	"Fête de trop"	21		Kid EP
	"Kid"	67	Tip
2018	"Random"	98		Cure
	"Normal"	151	50

Other charting songs

Year	Song	Peak positions		Album
		FRA [25]	BEL (Wa) [26]
2018	"Beaulieue"	195		Cure
	"Quartier des lunes"	188
	"Grave"	150	Tip

Covers

• 2017: “Je suis pas fou” by Jul[28]
• 2017: “Du bout des lèvres” by Barbara[29]
• 2018: “Comme un boomerang” by Serge Gainsbourg (duet with Julien Doré)[30]

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Director	Role
2013	Paulette	Jérôme Enrico	le jeune bab acheteur (“the young hippy buyer”)
2014	Rien pour Pehuajo	Nelly Fantoni	la femme en vert (vidéo) (“the woman in green”)

Short films

Year	Title	Director	Role
2012	Königsberg	Philipp Mayrhofer	Antoine
2013	Vivre sa vie	Paul D. Meyer	Alex

Awards and nominations

Year	Event	Award	Result	Ref
2017	Printemps de Bourges	Prix du Printemps de Bourges – iNOUïS	Won	[11]
2018	Victoires de la Musique	Groupe ou artiste révélation scène (“Best Newcomer Stage Act”)	Nominated	[15][16]

References

1. Renault, Gilles (7 February 2018). "Eddy de Pretto. Que la fête commence". Libération. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
2. Aïnouz, Abigaïl (5 October 2017). "Entre rap et chanson française, Eddy de Pretto est bien parti pour cliver la fin d'année". Les Inrockuptibles. Retrieved 19 January 2018.

   J'essaie de parler de mon histoire personnelle et de la normaliser le plus possible. Et pas la mettre en avant pour dire que je suis le premier pédé qui lie le rap et la chanson française.

3. Potdevin, Pascaline (30 December 2017). "Eddy de Pretto, sois bon". Grazia. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
4. Darbois, Maud (26 November 2017). "Eddy de Pretto : " C'est le travail d'une vie pour un homme d'accepter la féminité et la masculinité en lui "". Les Inrockuptibles. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
5. Prolongeau, Clawdia (27 October 2017). "Créteil, berceau du rappeur Eddy de Pretto". Le Parisien. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
6. Dancourt, Anne-Charlotte (13 March 2018). "Eddy de Pretto: " Je ne rentrais pas dans le moule physiquement "". La Parisienne. Retrieved 9 April 2018.

   ...une certaine rage, une envie de me dépasser. Il y a un peu ce truc de carcan en banlieue, qu'on le veuille ou non : on nous dit qu'on est en marge, qu'on va arriver à rien, qu'on va mal finir. Moi j'avais des rêves plein la tête et une petite voix me disait que j'allais y arriver. L'envie de m'en sortir m'a aidé à y parvenir...

   Je prenais la télécommande pour faire un micro et je tournais l’halogène pour faire la lumière. Du coup ma mère m’a proposé de prendre des cours de théâtre vu que je n’excellais pas au sport.

7. Thévenot, Juliette (25 September 2017). "Eddy de Pretto, intriguant rappeur de la génération Dolan". L'Obs. Retrieved 11 April 2018..
8. Aïnouz, Abigaïl (25 April 2016). "Découverte du lab #151 : Eddy de Pretto". Les Inrockuptibles. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
9. "Publicitié Canalsat - Canalsat à la demande - Comédie/Film historique". YouTube. 6 September 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2018..
10. Raymond, Mélodie (6 December 2017). "Interview : Eddy de Pretto, Beau Parleur". Shoes Up. Retrieved 11 April 2018.

    J’étais tout frêle, […] tellement stressé parce qu’il y avait beaucoup de rap et je n’étais pas du tout dans ces codes là.

11. "Les prix – Les Inouïs". Les Inouïs du Printemps de Bourges. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
12. "Nuits de Champagne : la programmation". Nuits de Champagne. 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
13. "Julien Doré chante Comme un boomerang avec Eddy de Pretto dans Taratata !". RFM. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
14. "Eddy de Pretto raconte ses peines de cœur dans Random, son nouveau titre". BFM TV. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
15. "Les nominations des Victoires de la musique 2018". France Inter. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
16. Morin, Fabien (9 January 2018). "Louane, Orelsan, Depardieu... Découvrez toutes les nominations des Victoires de la Musique 2018". BFM TV. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
17. "En écoute : Eddy de Pretto questionne les mécanismes du succès dans Ego". Konbini. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.

    Je pose l'éventualité de devenir dingue à cause de la vitesse à laquelle va le projet. À force d'entendre des éloges, le « trop de soi » implose, et c'est le risque que j'expose ici. La peur simple de tomber dans le fanatisme de soi-même par les réseaux sociaux, les mots d'amour, et tout autre signe qui flatte et qui crée ce monstre d'ego.

18. "Notre Eddy, notre idole". Rocknfool. 1 March 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
19. "Clip " Normal " : Eddy de Pretto monte sur le ring pour tordre le cou à l'homophobie". Charts in France. 2 March 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
20. Naselli, Adrien (9 October 2017). "Eddy de Pretto, le " Kid " gay du rap français (interview)". Têtu. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
21. Ruelle, Yohann (9 March 2018). ""Cure" : Eddy de Pretto entre numéro un des ventes avec son premier album". Charts in France. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
22. "Top albums France Fnac : Eddy de Pretto déloge Grand Corps Malade". La Dépêche du Midi. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
23. "Qui est Eddy de Pretto, le chanteur qui fait du " non-genre " un style à part entière ?". Huffington Post. 22 October 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
24. "Taratata #". mytaratata.com. 15 December 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
25. LesCharts.com: Eddy de Pretto discography
26. Ultratop.be/fr/: Eddy de Pretto discography
27. Hitparade.ch: Eddy de Pretto discography
28. de Abreu, Maxime (19 October 2017). "Eddy de Pretto signe une reprise poignante de... Jul". Les Inrockuptibles. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
29. Van Egmond, Clémence (19 December 2017). "Quand Eddy de Pretto reprend Barbara". Les Inrockuptibles. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
30. "Julien Doré chante Comme un boomerang avec Eddy de Pretto dans Taratata !". RFM. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Eddy de Pretto on IMDb