“People come for me, I didn’t think it was possible”: Carbonne, rapper with solar melancholy

In the whirlwind of a career which has experienced phenomenal acceleration since the summer, the Hérault artist Carbonne, 27 years old, with a rappy, melancholic and harmonious pop style, realizes his dreams one by one.

Put into orbit by his Hispanic hit Imagine, the one who grew up on the edge of the Etang de Thau can now tick the “tour” box, he who sets off on the roads to Toulouse, Lyon, Bordeaux, but also Brussels, London, Amsterdam and Barcelona by the end of November.

“My very first tour is crazy”

“My very first tour was really crazy. It was a dream that I never thought I would come true… Thank you very much”he wrote on Instagram at the end of summer, announcing the first dates. There, he has just added a second concert at the Rockstore in Montpellier, mid-December, already almost sold out.

“The Rockstore is the legendary venue that I watched when I was little with stars in my eyes… I went to see concerts there, I have lots of memories and I opened for shows there… The Rockstore filling twice, it's incredible”he delivers from the van that takes him to Biarritz, with his team, for the inaugural concert of the tour, given Friday evening.

“We saw him start from nothing and here he is at the top” ; “work pays bro”already greeted his loved ones on social networks, after his major performance at the Stadium in Toulouse, opening for Bigflo & Oli, where the crowd sang Imagine, a hit which then had more than 35 million plays.

More than 160 million plays for the title “Imagine”

It was at the beginning of June: the title, a summer hit launched on TikTok in April, has since delighted the ears of 160 million people! Thanks to this catchy and addictive refrain, everything changed overnight (read below).

In July, Pierrot Carbonne told Midi Libre that he still had no perspective on the success born from this song. And today?

“I realize the impact, it especially allowed me to find my audience. It’s my first tour, people are coming for me… This buzz has shed light on the project, it’s almost sold out everywhere , it's incredible, going on tour across France, I didn't think it would be possible… I still can't believe it…”he continues from his hotel in the Basque Country, a few hours before his first show.

Above all, he claims artistic coherence: Imagine is not an isolated UFO, but one of the pearls of his repertoire, made of the same melancholic mother-of-pearl, the fruit of a long creative process.

“How can we explain the Carbonne phenomenon? He's someone who works a lot, for a long time, he didn't start with Imagine. He's also worked with the same team for years, he has a “Mediterranean” sound, melodies catchy and there is also the social media effect”deciphers a specialist in the promotion of new artists.

To better understand Pierrot Carbonne, we must look at his childhood, spent on the banks of the Etang de Thau, in Mèze, where he was immersed in a sound environment.

His mother, a teacher, plays the piano as well as the accordion or the batucada, – “she was the one who put me on drums at 4 years old” – where his father, a painter, sculptor, visual artist, sings, strums the guitar and encourages him to create. There is also his uncle Julien, Captain Juju, drummer for the Mc's du Midi project, who introduced him to percussion.

“The piano, I learned like that, by putting my hands, the same for the guitar”

“The piano, there was one at home, I learned like that, by putting my hands down, the same for the guitar”slips the artist. And then there is the writing, which is so important. In college, he wrote notebook after notebook, listening to rap over and over again.

“I started writing at 12, 13 years old, I listened a lot to Diam's, Soprano, Tunisiano, I wanted to try it, I liked it. It became a passion, I wrote my little texts, my first freestyles were very committed, today I tell my daily life in music”he remembers.

With his baccalaureate in hand, the Mézois leaves for a year in Australia and returns convinced that music will guide his destiny.

“I had to think about the meaning of my life: either I came back and went to school in sound, but it was expensive, or go to college, and make music at the same time.”

He enrolled in an economics and social degree at the Faculty of Letters in Montpellier and, with the money from his student scholarship, bought his first microphone, sound card and computer. The self-taught man quickly decided to surround himself with his friends from Hot Sauce, a recording studio in the heart of Montpellier, who never left him.

Together, we go further. His career took a first turn when he was invited by Skyrock for an improvisation in Planète rap, by the essential Fred Musa, the springboard of French hip-hop.
“It was in 2019, I had pressure, it was the first time on this legendary radio station. The artists I listened to had all been there”he reports.

A style rocked by Diam's and BigFlo & Oli

“I remember very well: he already had a certain level, he had amazed us. There was Djadja & Dinaz, a lot of smoke, a lot of people! He had been very professional, we felt that he already knew where he was going and he knew how to rap. His style is influenced by Diam's and Bigflo & Oli.”confirms Fred Musa.
The pieces follow one another until a second appearance on Skyrock, in 2023, with Hatik, where his style impresses.

Then he took up residences in the countryside, with his musicians, to compose. Imagine was born there and its nomination, as a French-speaking revelation, at the NRJ Awards in Cannes, at the beginning of November, was another daydream for the singer.

“When I was little, I watched Diam’s on this stage. I never imagined that it would be me one day”he said again.

Questions surrounding post-adolescence, his family, romantic relationships and his states of mind, shape the rhymes of his hymns. “In my melodies, even the most sunny, there is melancholy. I like to sing sadness with a smile and mix the organic and the digital”summarizes the artist.

His hybrid and organic rap is full of instruments, guitar, caron and palmas, citing his Spanish roots, those of the South and the Thau basin, his compasses.

Listening to it, we say to ourselves that Toulouse has Bigflo & Oli, Marseille JuL and Montpellier now has Carbonne on the map of southern musicality.

“The real work begins, he's going to have to prove that it wasn't just a summer hit”

“The hardest years will arrive for him, the real work begins. He will have to prove that it was not just a summer hit. But we will be able to say that in 2024, there will have been Gim's and him ; Carbonne provided the soundtrack for summer 2024, it’s huge, it’s a source of pride.”analyse Fred Musa.

“But, it's smart, he goes on stage and tests new songs: it's a generation that goes and learns very quickly. I've known some who disappeared after a summer hit, who didn't work… But he doesn't abandon writing, he works, rap needs it, he writes the history of these future years of rap.”