At the Nuits Carrées in Antibes, we met Meryl, the Martinican rapper who wrote the explosive hit “Coca-cola Mentos”

The Victoire de la Musique, “scene revelation” category passed under his nose a few months ago. At Les Flammes, the “urban” counterpart of Les Victoires, she also left empty-handed despite three nominations. Two blows to take, but not likely to really destabilize Meryl.

The one who was nicknamed the “hired tuber”, at the time when she worked in the shadows as an author or researcher of killer melodies for SCH, Soprano, Niska or even Shay, is not the type to fall at the first obstacle. At 28, the Martinican assumes her broad ambitions, recently translated into her first album, “Caviar I”. A few hours before going on stage at Nuits Carrées in Antibes, she spoke to us about this project, but also about the label she founded, Maison Caviar, about her Creoleness and her significant meeting with Jocelyne Béroard, eternal voice of Kassav’ group.

Even when we feel like we’ve done a good job, do we have doubts when an album comes out?

We never doubt. (she smiles) I say that because we are professional, because we work with competent people. The hardest thing is to make something that really resembles you. There, in terms of aesthetics and sound, I am happy. I want to tell myself that I made the best album of the decade! Even if the next one will probably be better. We had to make a lot of choices, because I record all the time. I give my all, as much as I can.

You started about ten years ago. Is the passion intact?

Sometimes, it can happen that we lose a little pleasure, because we have also lost our naivety, by dint of understanding in which system we operate. This must be what we call experience. But I quickly manage to reenergize myself. Especially when I work with other very passionate artists.

”Caviar I” ends with ”Siwo”, a song you share with Jocelyne Béroard from the group Kassav’. What do you remember from this meeting?

Pride… She validated what I do, it’s huge. She made this piece with a lot of love and availability. I dream of still being on stage at the same age as her [Jocelyne Béroard a 69 ans, ndlr]. And especially with the same energy. She told me she didn’t drink, that she rested… I smoke. But I do a bit of sport, I try to manage.

You’ve been labeled a rapper, but you go in a lot of other directions on this album: R&B, dancehall, pop…

I wanted to break the codes, and I think it’s starting to take off. The more we move forward, the more people will get used to different sounds. Now, a title like ”Dembow Martinica” is breaking everything, I like to see that. [le dembow est à l’origine un rythme dominicain].

You regularly alternate between Creole and French. Is it instinctive?

Yes, I am often asked this question. There are regions or countries where they speak Creole even more instinctively than we do. In Haiti, it is an official language, for example. But it is true that it comes easily. And whether we like it or not, it is the most widely spoken dialect in the Francophonie.

If you hadn’t founded your own label, do you think another structure would have let you slip so much into your songs?

Of course, having your own label offers freedom. I wouldn’t have accepted being smoothed over. I didn’t necessarily want to launch a label so early, but life made it happen. I told myself that I had to respect my vision of things, after having had two bad experiences.

So far, what are your best live memories?

My Zénith in Paris was very strong. The Francos in Montreal and the Vieilles Charrues too… And when I play in Martinique, it’s something else again, another pressure. In front of me, there’s my mother, my aunts, my uncles…