Zaho de Sagazan: the meteoric rise of a disciplined artist

The first time Zaho de Sagazan gave an interview to Journalin May 2023, she was a promising artist armed with a debut album, The symphony of lightningpraised by critics. A year and a half later, the life of this now 24-year-old French electro-pop star has changed forever. For the better.

• Also read: Zaho de Sagazan: the French musical sensation who dreams of Montreal

Last February, she won four Victoire awards, including those for best album and best original song (for the title track of the record).

In May, she made an impression with her inspired cover of Modern Love, by David Bowie, during the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival, then, in August, she sang Piaf, Under the Paris skyduring the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games.

His rise, it is fair to say, has been meteoric. “I feel like we’ve been doing this thing for five years, but actually we haven’t. A year and a half ago, when we got called, there were four of us in a van touring France. Now, there are 20 of us touring Europe,” confides the young woman in a Zoom interview.

No to the party

If she admits to having had fears at the scale of the success, Zaho de Sagazan noted that it is “much less terrifying” than what she feared. “You have to take the time to realize that what is happening to you is magnificent and that it is what you have dreamed of all your life,” she says.

What are the pitfalls she was able to avoid?

“There are plenty of them, first of all the party one. Our team doesn’t party at all and I think that helps a lot. I have never taken drugs and I am delighted about that, and we must realize the importance of sleeping well.”

New songs

Zaho de Sagazan is disciplined and… far from satisfied. Last week it launched a luxury version of The symphony of lightning to which seven new songs have been added, including the excerpt O through et Old Frienda duet with Tom Odell.

Couldn’t these songs have been the source material for a new album?

“Everyone tells me that. You add three songs and you have an album, but for me, there wasn’t a world where those songs were another album. It is the continuity of The symphony of lightning obviously. The flightit is the continuation of The symphony of lightning (the song). Have sex et The last of the journeys are songs that I sang throughout my tour. They are in the same universe.

When she comes to think about another album, then, she announces, “I will need to take a real break and experiment for months with my friends”.

Vacations in Quebec

During our conversation in March 2023, Zaho de Sagazan confided that she was very eager to discover Quebec and that Montreal, even if she had never set foot there at that time, was her “city of heart”.

Since then, she has come a few times to give concerts, notably at the Francos, and participated in the show Live from the universeend of September.

If she liked it? “Completely. I only had one week of vacation this year, and I spent it in Montreal and in a small chalet with my team. It was great and all the shows there were fantastic. It was crazy.”

• The Symphony of Lightning (The Last Journey) is now available.
• In concert in 2025 at the Imperial Bell in Quebec, April 5, at the Théâtre Granada in Sherbrooke, April 6, and at the MTelus in Montreal, April 10 and 11. The concert at the Imperial and that of the MTelus, on the 11th, are sold out.