In this former SNCF technical building, the rapper Shay looks very small in the middle of the 450 square meters of L’Aiguillage, a rehearsal studio, under a 7.50 meter high ceiling. The 32-year-old young woman, in black leggings and no makeup, is used to being perched on high stiletto heels, but for the past week, she has been hard at work rehearsing the sequences for her two concerts on 21 and November 22 at the Zénith de Paris (which is sold out): “I have never seen such a hardworking artist, comments Jacques Kaspi, the boss of L’Aiguillage. She is the first to arrive in the morning, the last party. » The Belgian rapper doesn’t really have a choice, she has set herself a major challenge: to offer her audience a different show at each concert.
Usually, artists and their teams put together a single show, which they repeat during the months that their tours will last. The challenge is all the more important for Shay, who started at 19 under the Booba label, as before her first date at the Olympia in Paris, on March 29, 2024, she had never really made a scene . She sang playback in nightclubs which paid her handsomely for thirty minutes of her repertoire, a hard rap where she willingly displays her temperament. “pretty bitch” – named after his first album, released in 2016.
To refine her provocative choreographies and memorize her placements on stage, she can count on Guillaume Doubet, 38 years old. “I am a bit of a guardian of his vision, which I translate into different departments: music, image in clips, but also in communication with the media, lighting and scenography, he explains. I am more artistic director of his show than set designer. It’s a bit new in France. »
This graduate of the 3iS film school cut his teeth in the United States, on the Interscope Records label, which is home to the gangsta rap of Dr. Dre as much as the funky Black Eyed Peas or the pop singer Lady Gaga. He was in charge of the artistic direction of singer Natalia Kills. When he left school, at the age of 20, he was called by R’n’B producer Ryan Leslie to follow him to Harlem for his recording sessions with the stars of the time, including singer Cassie. and his pygmalion, P. Diddy (now incarcerated, accused of sex trafficking).
An ascent in three acts
You have 42.17% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
