In high school, Billie du Page had difficulty making friends and was not in the “cool gang.” It inspired him Fake Friendsthe most listened to song at the moment on the radio in Quebec.
For three weeks, the successes of Charlotte Cardin, 2Frères and Roxane Bruneau have been no match for this French pop earworm which sits at the top of the Mediabase radio top 100, the instrument for measuring the popularity of a song on the Quebec airwaves.
Now, it’s very cool to love this young singer-songwriter who has only just turned 20 years old.
“When I found out I was number 1, I cried with joy. I thought about all that work, those nights I was in the studio. It doesn’t seem like much, but releasing a song like that is a lot of work,” confides Billie du Page, during a meeting with The Journalin Quebec.
Billie du Page was in Quebec last week to open for Aliocha at the Imperial Bell.
Photo Cédric Bélanger
Baptism of the stage
Fake Friends was launched last April. This is the first extract from an eponymous EP of six tracks, released on October 25, from which were launched Caught in time et So close so far.
A few weeks earlier, she had experienced her baptism of the stage, and not just anywhere. In Liège, Belgium, and in Paris, at the Folies Bergères, opening act for Cœur de pirate.
If she liked the experience? “As soon as I stepped on stage, I knew I was going to love it. There is something about the audience that is magical. It doesn’t happen in your living room. When I saw people singing, or even mumbling, the words of Fake FriendsI was like wow, that’s why I’m doing this,” says the woman who then opened for Aliocha twice in Quebec.
“I’m asking my manager to give me more shows», she adds, laughing.
A proud mother
Billie du Page, who dreams of collaborating with Lana Del Rey, Angèle or Loud, can count on the support of her mother, the actress Julie du Page, who follows her wherever she goes.
“During concerts, she is backstage and sometimes I see her dancing out of the corner of my eye,” says the young artist.
“I’m so proud. It’s beautiful to see your child spread his wings, touch his dreams and have a passion like that,” his mother says.
“My role,” she explains, “is to ensure that she keeps a cool head. Everything is happening so quickly, it’s a bit dizzying, but I must say that she works a lot between her university [elle étudie en communications à Concordia] and music.”
His record company
Additionally, she knows what she wants and has business acumen. She founded her own record label.
“I come from a family of entrepreneurs and the business side interests me a lot,” says the woman who cherishes the freedom it gives her.
“It allows me to have more control over my musical career, my artistic choices, the people I want to work with, the artists I want to sing with and the places where I want to sing.”
