Justice: “We are not seen as an old group that has been doing the same thing for twenty years”

On January 5, The Weeknd posted on X a French flag accompanied by a cross emoji, followed by a series of stories composed of a mixture of photos of the duo with the American star taken during the party given at the Cannes Film Festival 2023 in honor of the series The Idol, where Justice held the decks, photos of the duo in concert, a mysterious pupil with a tattooed cross, trademark heroes of the French Touch. A post which raised questions, with many wondering if Abel Tesfaye was not teasing an upcoming collaboration with the French duo. A media hubbub added to the excitement caused when Justice reactivated his Instagram on 1^is January, just to wish us a happy new year by announcing, with a loop of abused techno, the release of his fourth album, without specifying the date, title or guests, to maintain a well-kept and distilled secret.

Rumor had it that in New York, a few weeks earlier, Frank Ocean had emerged thoughtfully from one of the listening sessions reserved for music VIPs, nodding his head, still in shock at what he had just heard. Having been working on the project for four years, Justice had indeed hit hard with Hyperdramamixing with the same momentum metal and strings, euphoria and melancholy, electric shocks and sensuality. The duo finally opened the doors of their pop universe wide in a fascinating retrofuturist and psychedelic opera, inviting international stars for the first time in their career. From Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) and his voice to die for, to Miguel, huge star of Rican R&B, via Thundercat, genius of modern free-jazz.

Five-star featurings which allowed Justice to open up its universe wide, to surf on glam-rock as on electro, on hardcore as on funk, while mischievously mixing two distant genres: gabber and disco. On the one hand, this hardcore, epileptic and electric techno, which was the heyday of the 1990s and the immense Thunderdome marathons in the Netherlands. On the other, disco, the organic and sexy soundtrack of the seventies, in the form of an epiphany on the dancefloor. “It all started with Tame Impala and the song ‘One Night/All Night’, influenced by old gabber compilations. We slowed down the riff, rearranged everything and replayed it with acoustic instruments for the middle and end funk part. The idea of ​​making disco and hardcore techno coexist served as a matrix, explains Xavier. It’s a common thread, but when people listen to the record in their living room or at a festival, they make fun of our internal kitchen, the main thing is that they find it fun or amusing. We were trying to move away from the formatted song side. We wanted an approach closer to collage, a new way of producing, where the same sequence, arranged and orchestrated differently, runs throughout the piece. That’s what we like about American rap, this way of bringing together three songs on a 2.5 minute single, of keeping the listener but also us in suspense!”

On April 12, live from Coachella, Justice announced the start of a long tour organized in the four corners of the globe and planned until the end of 2025. The duo is now accustomed to this Californian festival – the most hyped on Earth. – where, twenty years ago, he played his first legendary live performance. “Coachella has always been a way to test our concerts because our lives are more designed for festival stages. The dates of the festival, at the end of April, fell right on time with the release of the album, explains Xavier. We were supposed to play there last year, but we pushed everything back a year to be ready. It’s a festival that we like, where we’ve been coming for a long time, it’s like family!”