Axel Marbeuf (Star Academy) releases “For the first time”: “The goal of this single is to be listened to to share joy, happiness, dance”

How is the tour going? It’s starting to be the end…

It is going very well. We all realize that we are tired because the format is very intense. And beyond the seven of us: the dancers, the musicians, the whole technique is starting to get tired. We see that our dark circles are deepening, I have the impression of having wrinkles appearing on my dark circles sometimes, that means that they have been there for a long time (laughs). No, but we are experiencing something exceptional. I take great pleasure in going on stage every evening and telling myself that I have this chance to meet the audience who supported us throughout the show, who sometimes voted massively. It’s a real pleasure. And obviously, there’s a bit of nostalgia to say that it’s almost over, and at the same time it leaves room for our solo careers. This may be the end of the Class of 2023 on tour, but it’s not the end of the Class itself, because it will be here for life. And that’s magical.

You are going to end the tour with your last date in Belgium, are you excited? The Belgian public is renowned for its atmosphere…

The Belgian public is something! I was not excpecting that at all. It worked really well in Belgium, and when you’re in the room, you can feel it, it’s euphoria. So obviously, there is the national jewel with Héléna, who is there, and who represented Belgium so well. Beyond that, people have a lot of love for the 7 of us, but also for the 13 of us. It’s not uncommon for us to receive gifts for all 13, and that’s nice.

Djebril posted a message on Instagram where he expressed a certain discomfort during this Star Ac’ adventure. He says: “I am relieved to end this cycle of exposure and its share of discrimination, exclusion and unequal treatment. […] I am closing a chapter in which, week after week, I could grow in the kindness of my comrades, counterbalanced by an ambient climate which forced me to realize that “I was not in my place”. A context in which I felt neither respected as a person nor as an artist.” Do you support this approach?

Quite. If he did it, it was because it was important for him to talk about it, to express his feelings about what he had experienced and how he had experienced it. I had the chance to stay throughout the adventure with him at the castle, with Candice too. We were able to see certain things that were not happening the same for them as for the others at the castle. And so there you have it, if he had any discomfort to express, it is very important that he does so and that he does not keep it to himself, because it will already help him to move forward, feel better, and open a new cycle as he said on his networks. And that can allow the next ones who will arrive, in the next season, to be better armed with certain things that can happen. We are not in control of the show and what happens, we discover it day by day. Sometimes it was complicated for him, for Candice, for me. And it was important for him to talk about that, so he did. But that doesn’t take away from how lucky we were to be able to participate in this show, which is incredible. It’s just on certain points that there are things to review, like everywhere. Sometimes it’s good to be able to question yourself so you can improve a project, a show, and make everyone feel good, and if that’s the case, I think the show will work even better .

His new single “For the first time”

Axel’s new single was released today, this Friday June 14, 2024. He signs this single with Dani Tacteur and Alice et Moi. “For the first time” is a danceable song, perfect to accompany your summer. You can listen to it by clicking below:

Tell us about the process of creating this single…

I wrote and composed it with Dani Tacteur and Alice et Moi. They are not unknown to the Belgian public because two of the three people worked on Héléna’s first single “Aimée pour de vérité”. I wanted to write, and I was offered to work with them. We met and we had a very good feeling. I explained to them the idea I had for this single that had been in my head for a while. I had some ideas for notes, text, and a direction in which I wanted to go. We all sat down together, we wrote little by little, found a chorus, a melody that we liked, so we played around with lots of chords, etc. The single is like that, in the studio, as I always dreamed of doing.

It’s a danceable title, is that what you wanted?

Yes, it’s definitely the tempo. This single wants to be summer. I hope people listen to it loud in the car when they go on vacation, enjoy it in the evenings, etc. The goal of this single is to be listened to to share joy, happiness, dance. And bring a little summer, because it’s much needed. And if I can bring it into song, that’s already good.

What story did you want to convey through this song?

Unlike other songs that I have written, or that I could write, it is not a vain, puny love story, where we can’t get there. It’s quite the opposite. We want to fall in love, we know what we like and what we don’t like, but it remains a little vague. And we don’t yet know if we met the person or not. It’s this desire to fall in love, meet true love and say to yourself: it could be anywhere. This is why “I dream the outlines” (Editor’s note: lyrics of the song) and I say to myself: who is he, she, how does it take shape? It’s a single that advocates love in a summer atmosphere. I think that’s all we need in today’s climate.

Does this single sound like you?

Yes, these are really my influences, I am strong in Anglo-Saxon music, very Harry Style, Olivia Rodrigo, Sam Smith, Lady Gaga, etc. And at the same time, I wanted to write in French so I have other artists who also inspire me, particularly on the emerging scene. We take inspiration from it, we create other things, and that’s how my single was born.

The following…

Is the sequel an EP or an album?

It will depend on the stories I have to tell, if I have enough material to make an entire album. Or if I want to focus on the music that I’ve had more time to work on, that I consider finished to make an EP. There is no need to rush, but at the same time I wanted to already bring a single other than “Sung” to the public so that they can see where I want to go, and why not, capture a new audience.