When I caught up with Yseult, she was in the middle of a very busy week. “It’s very intense,” she said in the backseat of an Uber in New York. (The day before, she had performed her hit song “Suicide” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”) “But I’m very grateful and very lucky and very happy.” As it turns out, she was actually on her way. FaceTiming her team on the way to the airport, she pointed her iPhone at them, smiled and waved. Soon, she’ll travel to Rio de Janeiro, where she’ll headline Karol G’s Rock in Rio festival and perform her hit song “Alibi” with Pabllo Vittar and Sevdaliza. “They are some of the strongest women I’ve ever met,” she says with a laugh. “And it’s taking the world by storm!”
I say “it’s been a very busy week,” but it’s actually been a very busy year for Yseult. The French musician’s distinctive blend of French varietal (a traditional chanson style made famous through the music of Edith Piaf) with contemporary pop production and poignant lyrics that explore mental health and body image has seen her fan base grow beyond the general public over the past few years. (Her status as a fashion darling helps: She’s walked the runways for Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga, and delivered one of the hottest looks of the year at the Cannes Film Festival in a modern take on Christian Dior’s “New Look.”)
However, it’s been a long road to get to this point. She first rose to prominence in France a decade ago when she was the runner-up on Nouvelle Star (the French equivalent of American Idol) before signing with a major record label and releasing her self-titled debut album in 2015. After disappointing sales, she quietly founded her own record label (jokingly calling it “I Have No Fucking Idea”) and released a series of EPs that showcased her extraordinary talent as an artist, from piano-inflected ballads to techno-infused club rock songs. Now, on her second album, Mental, Ysult has condensed the whole journey into one record: a journey into her eclectic sonic universe from the whispery bedroom pop of opener “Petite” to the fluffy reggaeton of “Gasolina”, an exciting journey into her eclectic sonic universe from the raunchy “Bitch You Could Never” to the super pop of “Bitch.”
Looking back on the last decade of her career, Yseult feels that all these failures were what allowed her to make a record as bold as Mental – and she couldn’t have done it any other way. “I had to find my own way to be proud of my vision and projects and the best thing for me was to be completely independent,” she says firmly. “When I say complete, it means complete control over my own art, my own life, my own property, my own freedom, and I know that’s a privilege because every artist can control everything, but I can’t get paid for it, so that’s what I did, I put it back into my project – so I had to keep it safe.
Yseult describes Mental as “raw, urgent, and emotional,” and it’s hard to think of better words to describe it — even though she has a strong track record of confessional songwriting, she’s never laid bare her heart to listeners with such clarity before. (Well, maybe except for her 2020 music video for “Bad Boy,” in which she was hanging from the ceiling in a tiny set of BDSM ropes.) On the lead single “Suicide,” her vocals are absolutely stunningly raspy with fervor. (“God knows I tried my best to be a good person/This is how it ends,” she croons, before the closing song offers a glimmer of hope: “Can somebody help me?”))
“I understand why some artists don’t want to show the world their true selves, because you need the strength to take on the negativity of the world,” she said. “But for me, showing your vulnerability in music is the opposite of weakness. It’s very difficult to show the world who you really are without hiding it. And with Mental, it was important to express what I was going through. “It can be hard to hear the lyrics, and it can be hard to sing and face those fears, but I love moving artistically on stage, my body, my hair reflecting my beauty, and that’s important to me.
Another element of the project that helped Yseult enter new territory was her decision to sing primarily in English for the first time, which opened up a whole new world of genres: “Rock, alternative, punk, techno, experimental,” she says breathlessly. “Sound-wise, I wanted to try something more ambitious — something very intense and adventurous — and I wanted to do something with a stadium sound.” In fact, what’s notable about the album’s sound is that it’s electronic, especially heavily present on “Stupid(e)” and “Cute,” which are full of punk rock energy. “My background is in more sensitive, vulnerable French classical music, but I think that in terms of my character, in terms of my personality, I’m a fucking punk,” Iseult says. “I don’t care about the rules. I don’t fit into the system. So that’s what I want to show now with this new project. I think, I’ll put my fears aside and I want to be Yes.” , That’s it, but I want to be the black version.
On the subject of adapting to the English-speaking world, at one point during the interview she stopped and asked how her English was. When I assured her it was great, she turned to the team in the car and said, “English is English, you guys!” For her, singing in French was not only about exploring new sounds but also about fulfilling her ambitions: though she’s grateful for her success in France, she’s now ready to take on the world. It’s this sensibility that has drawn her to the fashion world over the years, and collaborations with brands like Dior and Balenciaga have given her an international platform.
How has the experience of working with some of the biggest fashion houses in the world shaped her personal style? Here, as in other parts of her life and art, Iseult remains her own North Star. “I think I like very mixed things,” she said of the kind of clothes she likes to wear. “I don’t like the word ‘complex’ or ‘complex’ because I don’t think I’m complicated. I’m just very versatile, so you can see me in a beautiful Dior Couture look at Cannes; you can see me in a Balenciaga custom full leather look at the show, or you can see me at the Acne Studios show, and I think the connection between all of that is that I’m independent and I’m in a L’Oreal ad campaign. It can be done, and they already know it, and it feels good.”
Before Yseult could fully enjoy the excitement of releasing Mental, she had some important tasks to complete, including uploading the finished tracks to Spotify and Apple Music, which she was allowed to do while waiting for her flight. “That’s my job as a project manager, so I can’t forget to do it,” she said with a laugh. Do you feel tired after doing so many things? “I’m an artist, a manager, a project manager, an A&R, a creative director, a producer, a publisher,” she said. “But I’m not tired at all. I have energy. And anger — good anger, in a positive way.”
So, for now, her focus is solely on bringing Mental into the world and celebrating its launch in Rio with her friends and colleagues. “At this stage of the project, I feel like I’m about to give birth to a baby. Like, I just want to give birth to this baby. Now look at my belly!” Yosart laughs, tilting the phone downwards. ‘Get out of here, baby!’ How does she plan to celebrate while in Brazil? Some caipirinhas? “I don’t drink, I don’t take drugs, I don’t smoke,” she smiles. “But being in Rio de Janeiro and being surrounded by Carol, Sefdaliga, Pablo – rocking the crowd on stage – that would be a huge thing. That’s my idea of a party.”
