If you want to understand why everyone in franco Quebec is talking about Lou-Adriane Cassidy right now, you need to see the video of her performance Sunday night at the ADISQ Gala, the Quebec equivalent of the Grammy Awards. If this doesn’t move you, then live music is just not your thing.
At the music awards ceremony, Cassidy won four more Félix trophies, for best show, songwriter of the year (shared with her romantic and musical partner Alexandre Martel), song of the year (Dis-moi dis-moi dis-moi) and last but not least the super prestigious female artist of the year. Cassidy and her collaborators had already won eight awards at ceremonies earlier in the week. It was one of the biggest trophy hauls ever in the history of the ADISQ Gala, second only to singer Klô Pelgag and her team who took home 13 in 2021.
The ADISQ performance was a double bill, starting with her great friend Ariane Roy, also an amazing artist, followed by Cassidy singing Dis-moi dis-moi dis-moi, the lead-off track and signature song from her third and most recent album, Journal d’un loup-garou. It’s a great song that gives a sense of the rich musical palette on the record — it’s a rich layered pop production that goes from stark drama to pop with big harmonies to disco anthem in a heartbeat.
But it’s the emotion behind the song that hits you the hardest. Like a couple of songs on the album, it’s about the pain she’s still working through trying to come to grips with the fact her father abandoned their family when she was 16.
At the beginning she’s in her dad’s arms “et puis plus rien” (and then nothing). By the end, to a bouncing beat, she’s repeating the question: “Aurais-tu peur de moi?” (Are you afraid of me?).
But at the ADISQ ceremony Sunday, it was just electrifying. The poise, the charisma, the magnetism just oozing out of her as she swaggers right toward the camera, most definitely ready for her close-up at age 28.
She’s a very good singer, an excellent songwriter, but it’s her on-stage presence that truly sets her apart.
“She started out as a back-up singer for Hubert Lenoir and it was already apparent how great she was on stage,” said Eric Parazelli, editor in chief of Paroles et Musique, the magazine published by SOCAN, the organization that represents songwriters. “Normally back-up singers stay in the background, but she was giving such a performance. Already she understood that you give a total show, it’s not just about interpreting your songs. And this year she came with a very personal album, with songs inspired by her father’s abandonment of her family, and it really touched people. It’s just so direct but also very poetic. And musically it’s very accomplished.”
Prior to Journal d’un loup-garou, Cassidy released two well-received albums, C’est la fin du monde à tous les jours in 2019 and Lou-Adriane Cassidy dit: bonsoir in 2021. But it was her latest album that propelled her to the forefront of the music scene ici. Critics and fans were gushing, and with good reason. The album also made the short list for the pan-Canadian Polaris Prize.
Journal d’un loup-garou (Diary of a Werewolf) is an impressive piece of work, packing an emotional punch and showing Cassidy’s remarkable musical chops. She has cited Tori Amos and Kate Bush as major influences, and you can hear those femme icons here, but there’s also a bit of Charlotte Gainsbourg and even nods to the kind of British prog-rock that is so much a part of franco Quebec’s musical culture.
The buzz around Cassidy was also upped by her presence in the indie super group Le Roy, la Rose, et le lou(p), a trio consisting of Ariane Roy, Thierry Larose and Cassidy. They toured extensively across the province and recorded a live album that came out last year.
Cassidy made headlines this fall when she publicly said she’d vote yes if there was another referendum, which caused quite a commotion after a long period when most of the major pop stars in Quebec had been avoiding taking a stand on that issue. Back in the ’70s, it was much more common to see musicians here openly espousing nationalist views.
She said she became even more nationalist when she visited Toronto in mid-September to attend the Polaris Prize ceremony, saying she felt like a tourist.
But she said her generation believes in a different kind of independence, telling a La Presse reporter: “It’s a new project looking to the future, not based on wrongs from the past. … It’s just about pride and self-affirmation.”
She went on to say that young people don’t identify with a closed negative nationalism.
“That’s why inclusiveness is so important and it can be something that works with the idea of independence,” said Cassidy.
Her open embracing of the sovereignty movement is only the latest sign that there’s a new wave of support for the option among younger Quebecers, something a number of polls have indicated.
In short, Cassidy is very much a new kind of Quebec pop star.
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