L.E.J | |
|---|---|
 The members of L.E.J. in 2017 at theGlobes de Cristal Awards ceremony. From left to right: Elisa Paris, Juliette Saumagne, Lucie Lebrun | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | France |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Members | Lucie Lebrun Elisa Paris Juliette Saumagne |
L.E.J, short forLucie,Élisa andJuliette, sometimesElijay, is a French band composed of three women fromSaint-Denis, a city inParis' suburbs. They became famous by condensing numerous top songs from the summer of 2015 into amashup performance.[1][2][3] Their song mashupSummer 2015 had millions of plays onYouTube as of August 2015 and was thus a global hit in less than a month.[4] Their music is based on classical and world music, described byMTV reviewer Joseph Lamour as "eclectic".[5] According toSeventeen magazine, the three vocalists have been best friends since childhood, and have been performing together since 2013.[6] Reviewer Hannah Orenstein described their sound as "pared-down but strong."[6] Juliette plays the cello and sings backups while Elisa and Lucie are the main singers.[7]
All three members were born in 1993: Lucie on 21 November, Elisa on 26 August, and Juliette on 3 September. They are childhood friends fromSaint Denis, and have known each other since they were toddlers.[8] Their passion has always been music: Juliette studied cello at the Conservatoire de Saint-Denis,[8] and Lucie and Elisa studied vocal technique at theMaîtrise de Radio France, a prestigious French singing school, acquiring solid classical training. Lucie Lebrun also plays the piano and the saxophone, and Elisa Paris plays the piano and the harp.
In October 2013, they competed in a contest organized by the French bandTryo, covering one of their songs with vocal harmonies. It was the first time they had all sung together as a band. They won the contest and got to perform for a large audience; at that point, according to one source, the group did not yet have a name.[8] They decided to go on with the band and kept posting videos on their YouTube channel, covering various artists and posting their first summer mashup in 2014.[9][10] To a large extent, the group connected with listeners throughsocial networks.[8]
They signed a contract withLive Nation Entertainment, and started opening for artists in France, such asGrand Corps Malade.[11] On 22 June 2015, they played as the opening act forPharrell Williams in Monaco.[12][13]
On 1 August 2015, they posted a mashup of 11 worldwide hits of 2015,Summer 2015. It was an immediate success, getting hundreds of thousands of views within two days. On 3 August,Time magazine shared their mashup[14] which launched a craze around the video and brought them millions of views on YouTube in less than a month. French and international media took an immediate interest in the three young women, who were a bit overwhelmed by this unanticipated turn of events. Indeed, they had never intended their video to have such an impact and had not foreseen such a success.[15] Elisa said in an interview that the women would not have worn their pajamas when recordingSummer 2015 if they had known that the video would go viral.[8]
In December 2015, L.E.J released their first album, entitledEn attendant l'album, which contains 11 tracks, all cover songs butLa Dalle, their first original composition.[16] This collection includes a cover ofHanging Tree, the song from theHunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. L.E.J also performedHanging Tree at the 9 November 2015 Paris Premiere ofHunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.[17]
During 2016, L.E.J went on concert tours, both in France and abroad. The tour of France began on 27 May, when they played at Paris'sOlympia Hall.[18] During that time, they also went toCanada (they played inMontréal on 14 March) and to theUnited States (they performed at theSouth By Southwest Festival and inNew York City).[19][20][21] In the summer, they toured French festivals, including playing in front of tens of thousands of people atMain Square Festival,[22] and in the fanzone of Saint-Denis for the final of theUEFA Euro 2016. They went back on tour in the fall of 2016, kicking it off with 3 sold-out concerts at theOlympia Hall on 21, 22 October, and 23rd, and ending the tour with a last concert inRennes on 13 December.[23] They also performed at the closing ceremony of theCannes Film Festival on 22 May 2016, with French musicianIbrahim Maalouf.[24] In total, L.E.J played around a 100 concerts in the year 2016.
On 4 August 2016, they postedSummer 2016 on YouTube, which is a mashup of 2016's hits, the same way they had done in 2015. It contained 23 songs and got more than 5 million views.[25]
In September 2016, their second original composition,Le Verbe, was released on YouTube. It features Dave Crowe fromHeymoonshaker, and the video was shot in the form of an advertising spot forAudi.[26]
In December 2016, they released an EP entitledChristmas Hors d'oeuvre that contained three tracks.Game Of Bells is a medley ofCarol of the Bells and the soundtrack for the TV showGame of Thrones; the video for the song is a giant Christmas-themedMannequin Challenge. It got one million views in about a week, and made it into the New York Times' Christmas playlist.[27][28] The EP also containsLittle Drummer Boy, which is a medley of the Christmas carolLittle Drummer Boy andRihanna'sMan Down, and a cover ofThe Sound Of Silence, bySimon and Garfunkel.
On 10 February 2017, the band won the award forStage Revelation at the 32ndVictoires de la Musique ceremony, a French award ceremony that recognizes achievements in the music industry. It is the French equivalent of theGrammy Awards.[29]
They toured French festivals in the summer of 2017, presenting a newly arranged show.
Their first original album was originally announced for 2017, but due mainly to their tour, the band postponed it to early 2018. It will be composed of songs the three women will write, mostly in French, and they expressed feeling tremendous pressure not to disappoint anybody. Paris said that recording this album would be the band's greatest challenge.[8] In an interview they gave to Purecharts, the women of L.E.J said they were proud of their work so far. They teased the new album, explaining that some songs will be a lot more produced than previous tracks, with a greater exploitation of Juliette's cello.[30]
They announced their upcoming original album for March/April 2018.[31] In January, they toured Australia for three shows in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney as part of the French acts of the 2018 So Frenchy So Chic in the Park Festival.[32] They were well received by both audiences and press reviews.[33]
The first single "La Nuit" was released on 6 April 2018.
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Certification | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [34] | BEL (Wa) [35] | SWI [36] | |||
| 2015 | En attendant l'album... | 4 | 26 | 39 | 2× Platinum (French certified) |
| 2018 | Poupées russes | 5 | 16 | 21 | |
| 2020 | Pas peur | 11 | 25 | 54 | |
| 2022 | Vol. II | 72 | 124 | — | |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Christmas Hors d'Oeuvre |
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [34] | |||
| 2015 | "Summer 2015" | 1 | |
| "Summer 2014" | 46 | ||
| "Seine-Saint-Denis Style" | 91 | ||
| "Hip Hop Mash Up" | 39 | ||
| "Hanging Tree" | 99 | ||
| 2016 | "Summer 2016" | 5 | |
| "Game of Bells" | 184 [37] | ||
| 2018 | La Nuit | Poupées Russes |
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [34] | |||
| 2015 | "Get Lucky" | 196 | En attendant l'album |
| "La dalle" | 163 |
...(in French)... (from Google translate)...the three female students of 21 years ... The Tryo group launches a competition for amateurs . " Juliette said: ' it is done ' and posted a video ' at the tears ", tells Elisa . And it works because the three friends win the contest and sing in a festival with Tryo . " It was our first big stage, we even had no name yet ," recalled the girl, " people asked us if we did anything, so we decided to go ."...
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