Eddy de Pretto | |
|---|---|
 de Pretto performing atLe Botanique in Brussels in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1993-05-02)2 May 1993 (age 31)[1] Créteil, France |
| Genres | [2] |
| Occupations |
|
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 2016–present |
| Labels |
|
| Website | www |
Eddy Antoine Jean de Pretto[3] (born 2 May 1993 inCréteil in theVal-de-Marne)[4] is a French singer-songwriter, actor and rapper.
Eddy de Pretto was born on 2 May 1993 and grew up inCréteil[4][2] in theVal-de-Marne.[5] His father is a truck driver and football fan, his mother a laboratory technician and art lover.[6] He sings about his native city inBeaulieue.[7] 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 thebanlieues, 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...[8]
At the age of twelve, de Pretto started lessons in theatre, singing, vocal technique and piano:[9] "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."[8] He continued his education at theInstitut supérieur des arts de la scène (ECM-ISAS, "Advanced Institute of Dramatic Arts") inParis.[2]
de Pretto's first acting experiences were in TV advertisements, such as the role of a youngJulius Caesar forCanalSat in September 2010,[10][11] before entering into the theatrical and film worlds: the short filmsKönigsberg by Philipp Mayrhofer in 2012 andVivre sa vie by Paul D. Meyer in 2013, as well as an appearance in the feature filmPaulette byJérôme Enrico in the role of "the young hippy buyer", also in 2013.
Between the ages of eighteen and nineteen de Pretto began to write songs. In his first public performance he sangR. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" at his local youth centre: "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.[12]
de Pretto participated in thePrintemps de Bourges music festival, where he won theInouïs ("unheard of, amazing") prize,[13] and theBars en Trans festival, and is a graduate ofinRocKs Lab 2016.[2] In October 2017, he also took part in theFestival Off Off Off (Nuits de Champagne festival) inTroyes.[14]
He released his firstEPKid on 6 October 2017. In the live performances of the EP he played sound clips from hisiPhone 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 programmeTaratata, he sang "Comme un boomerang" in duet withJulien Doré, a song written by Serge Gainsbourg and previously performed byDani andÉtienne Daho in 2001.[15]
In mid-January 2018, he launched "Random", the first song from his debut albumCure [fr], describing his heartaches.[16]
Along withGaël Faye andFishbach, he was nominated for "Best Newcomer Stage Act" at the 33rdVictoires de la Musique in 2018.[17][18] Gaël Faye won the award.
In mid-February 2018, he introduced his song "Ego" with "a stripped down, mechanical instrumental", which the singer explained: "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."[19]
On 2 March 2018, he released his first albumCure [fr], on CD, vinyl and in digital format.[20] At the same time, the clip for "Normal" was unveiled, which took on stereotypes of sexual identity, fear ofthe other and homophobia:[21] "An anger about people who were attacking me because they didn't like the person I embodied", he explained in the magazineTêtu.[22] A week after its release, the recording was ranked the number one best-selling album ahead ofVous et moi byJulien Doré, with 13,500 copies,[23] "driving out"Grand Corps Malade fromFnac's Top French Albums listing.[24]
On 25 March 2021, he released the albumÀ tous les bâtards, featuring his two previously released singles,Bateaux-Mouches andDésolé Caroline, alongside a COLORS SHOW performance of the song "Parfaitement", which was released onYouTube ahead of the album's release. The 16-track album featured an artwork given to de Pretto by a fan, the design of which shows the sketch of the artist's head superimposed onto a yellow background, a trend continued from his previous album's cover where he superimposed bodybuilderArnold Schwarzenegger's arm onto an image of himself.[citation needed]
As alluded to in some of his songs, 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.[12] He defines himself as a "non-genre" artist.[25] In the TV programmeTaratata, broadcast on 15 December 2017, he explained that he was trying to examine masculinity and thehypermasculinity that made up part of his education. WhenNagui asked him if he talked about homosexuality in his songs, he responded that that was in no way his goal.[26] Speaking toLes Inrockuptibles, the singer said: "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]
| Year | Album | Peak positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [27] | BEL (Wa) [28] | SWI [29] | ||
| 2018 | Cure | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 2021 | À tous les bâtards | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 2023 | Crash cœur | — | 9 | 49 |
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2017 | Kid |
| Year | Song | Peak positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [27] | BEL (Wa) [28] | |||
| 2017 | "Fête de trop" | 21 | Tip | Kid EP |
| "Kid" | 67 | Tip | ||
| 2018 | "Random" | 98 | Cure | |
| "Normal" | 151 | 50 | ||
| 2021 | "Bateaux-mouches" | 87 | — | Â tous les bâtards |
| 2023 | "Love'n'Tendresse" | — | 10 | Crash cœur |
| 2024 | "Urgences 911" | — | 40 | Non-album single |
| Year | Song | Peak positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA [27] | BEL (Wa) [28] | |||
| 2018 | "Beaulieue" | 195 | Cure | |
| "Quartier des lunes" | 188 | |||
| "Grave" | 150 | Tip | ||
| 2021 | "Freaks" | 158 | À tous les bâtards | |
| "Désolé Caroline" | 198 | |||
| "Parfaitement" | – | |||
| "Pause" (withYseult) | 128 | |||
| 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") |
| Year | Title | Director | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Königsberg | Philipp Mayrhofer | Antoine |
| 2013 | Vivre sa vie | Paul D. Meyer | Alex |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Drag Race France | Himself | Guest judge (Season 2); Episode: "Le Snatch Game" |
| Year | Event | Award | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Printemps de Bourges | Prix du Printemps de Bourges – iNOUïS | Won | [13] |
| 2018 | Victoires de la Musique | Groupe ou artiste révélation scène ("Best Newcomer Stage Act") | Nominated | [17][18] |
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.
...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.
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.
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.
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
