Refreshingly Funky Nobility: A Coachella Interview with L’Impératrice

[UNPUBLISHED:] You’ve mentioned before that you all come from various musical backgrounds. Do you feel like your traditional music education has encouraged you to dive into the realm of nontraditional, funky music?

[L'IMPÉRATRICE:] Not really, our classical music background actually taught us how to work smarter, with a strict methodology. The music we do with L’Impératrice is filled with our music experiences as classical, jazz, hard rock, electro…it’s just a natural continuance.

[UNPUBLISHED:] How did you all find each other? And when did you know that you were compatible as a little musical family?

[L'IMPÉRATRICE:] Charles started L’impératrice alone in 2012 and wanted some musicians to join the project. Then Hagni, Tom, and David joined progressively. Flore and Achille joined the project later, in 2015 and 2016. When the 6 members got together, we immediately knew that we were all going in the same direction and that we would use our different backgrounds and influences to create L’Impératrice’s music.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Are there any French/Parisian touches that you add to your music to make it more memorable?

[L'IMPÉRATRICE:] Yes obviously, we’ve been bathed with the French touch since we were teenagers. Daft Punk, Cassius, Phoenix, just to name a few.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Even though music is considered a universal language, how has knowing multiple languages encouraged your success/fan base to grow?

[L'IMPÉRATRICE:] Actually, we think that our fans like the fact that we are French and that most of our lyrics are in French. Of course, the fact that we speak English probably helped us grow in other countries, and helped us be understood by more people, but this is not what’s most important! As you said in the question, music prevails: for example, none of us fluently speak Spanish, and yet our biggest fanbase is probably in Mexico!

[UNPUBLISHED:] We fell in love with you all when we heard your album, Tako Tsubo, in 2021. What did the music production process for it look like?

[L'IMPÉRATRICE:] The music production process looked like a classic record. We recorded the songs on our computers and then when we were ready, we went to the studio Ferber in Paris to record the songs properly. The mixing of the album was done after that, during the pandemic.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Flore - In a previous interview you have stated that “Submarine” is a “personal, super-deep song on the album...about a break-up.” As a musician, have you noticed that a lot of sad songs are now disguised as pop songs/more upbeat hits?

[FLORE:] I wouldn’t say disguised because a dance song can actually be a sad one as long as the lyrics are. It’s not about hiding the sadness, it’s about expressing it differently so that it can touch everybody. Everybody feels sadness but nobody expresses it the same way or transcends it into the same thing. We love to mix emotions within the songs so that you can embrace them no matter which state you’re in.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Standing in the crowd, watching your set at Coachella, we were overjoyed to see the entire tent full of people singing, dancing to your music, and cheering for you all. How did it feel to perform at such a massive event? What were your favorite parts of your performance/the festival?

[L'IMPÉRATRICE:] Yes, it was incredible for us to play there. The crowd was insane and very receptive to our music. The best moment for us was seeing these thousands of people gathering and new ones coming and staying at the show.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Did you feel like the crowd’s energy was different Weekend 1 from Weekend 2?

[L'IMPÉRATRICE:] After the first weekend, we didn’t expect to have the same amount of people come to our show during the second weekend. But it was pretty much the same, maybe even a bit more people on the second weekend.

[UNPUBLISHED:] Are you working on any new projects that fans can expect to see/hear soon?

[L'IMPÉRATRICE:] For now we are focused on the tour, but of course, we never stop getting ideas for the future!

[UNPUBLISHED:] We would like to ask each of you two final questions. If you could go back in time and change a song (ex. add more harmonies, add a chord progression, etc.), what song would you change?

[ACHILLE:] Absolutely nothing, the songs are what they are with their mistakes. I don’t like having regrets!

[TOM:] I wouldn’t change anything because the way we composed our songs in the past corresponds to the way we were feeling at that time, and if we change that, then there is no authenticity in our music anymore!

[DAVID:] When you are a musician you always want to change some things. Perfectionism is really important in music but if you start to look in the past you want to change everything. It’s better to concentrate on the future and keep the freshness of the moment!

[HAGNI:] I would change the bass line on the first song called “L’imperatrice.”

[FLORE:] I would change the lyrics of “AGITATIONS TROPICALES.”

[CHARLES:] I would also change the bass line on the first song called “L’imperatrice.”

[UNPUBLISHED:] What are some of your favorite songs you’ve been listening to recently?

[ACHILLE:] Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

[DAVID:] Ennio Moriconne - The Sicilian Clan

[TOM:] Queens of the Stone Age - Mosquito Song

[HAGNI:] SiR - Satisfaction

[FLORE:] Joe & Bing - Daybreak

[CHARLES:] Cory Wong - Crisis