left
coat + shoes. Givenchy
jumper. EGONLAB
trousers. AMI Paris
right
bomber + shoes. AMI Paris
top + trousers. Bluemarble
Eddy de Pretto is having something of a marathon day. The singer-songwriter arrives at the photography studio straight from a guest appearance on a radio show and will later be appearing on prime time national television. The packed schedule doesn’t seem to phase him, after all this isn’t his first rodeo: CRASH CŒUR, released on the 17th November, is his third album and he’s accustomed to the intense promotional schedule that goes with it.
After a quick catch-up with his team and going through the styling options for the shoot, he sits down to talk about his new work. With CRASH CŒUR, de Pretto didn’t pick up where he left off: “I had come up against a wall after two albums that really dealt with how we look at, judge and analyse society,” he says. The impetus for the third came from a sense of being at odds with a world that feels the need to constantly comment, post and repost on social media in order to find meaning. “I wanted to create an album that would offer an interlude, a breath of fresh air,” he adds. Turning inward was the most obvious route to take.
“I decided to connect with my inner self, with the feelings I have for others and my own emotions, too,” he explains between two mouthfuls of an on-the-go lunch. In fact, de Pretto decided to take on one of the most common themes in art and music: love. “I asked myself, ‘What does love mean to me? How can I express that love?’ I wanted to tell it in a way that wasn’t soppy or cheesy.”
full look. VALENTINO
shoes. VALENTINO GARAVANI Rockstud M-Way Loafers
In 2017, de Pretto stepped into the limelight with Kid: his first EP addressed the problem of toxic masculinity. Since then, he has gone on to challenge and explore preconceived societal notions, including talking about his experiences as a gay man and growing up in the Parisian suburbs. Although it is more inward-looking, CRASH CŒUR features the same signature approach: de Pretto meticulously dissects the topic at hand, turning it upside down and inside out in a soul-bearing manner. “It’s a version of love that is a bit twisted, sometimes toxic, with constant ups and downs, with extreme loneliness, with doors that close and car crashes,” he says. Once again, he proves his knack for deconstructing personal experiences and reconstructing them as relatable, universal truths… but without ever falling into romantic cliches.
If this is not an album of classic love songs, what exactly does Eddy de Pretto’s version of love look like? Text talk, emojis and Frenglish seamlessly blend with verses worthy of Rimbaud and Verlaine, the two French poets he references in the title of the album’s opening single, R+V. A prologue of sorts, the song nods to key artists who have shaped both his life and career as a gay music artist including Elton John, Jean Genet and Andy Warhol.
shirt. Carne Bollente
tank top + shoes. AMI Paris
trousers. Loewe
hat. Kenzo
right
jacket. EGONLAB
coat. Loewe
tank top. Ami Paris
trousers. Dries Van Noten
shoes. Givenchy
jewellery. Talent’s Own
From there, CRASH CŒUR bounces between bittersweet, painfully gut-wrenching moments to choruses studded with humour. PAPA $ucre, a very literal translation of “sugar daddy”, is written from the point of a young man addressing his sugar daddy, for example. Here and elsewhere, de Pretto’s lyrics offer the listener various viewpoints and are purposefully left open to interpretation. This intentional blurring is perhaps one of his biggest strengths as a writer.
And yet, despite being good at wielding words, it is not something that de Pretto enjoys. “Writing has always been a slightly painful process because I scratch at the surface of things that I don’t necessarily want to uncover,” he says. So, why write? It is a means to an end, one that allows him to be on stage: for de Pretto performance is the pinnacle of being a music artist. “I really love singing and being on stage the most. I’m passionate about finding ways to make words vibrate, allowing others to experience them and sharing them with an audience,” he comments.
coat. EGONLAB
With that in mind, his main focus is now his 2024 tour. “I want to push the boundaries of what a show is,” he says and adds, without giving too much away, that visuals and video are going to play a central role. For him, image and music have always gone hand in hand: he has crafted a distinctive aesthetic that spans everything from music videos to his own personal style. Having suffered a lot in the past because of his looks – “I did not correspond to society’s definition of beauty standards” – he now spins that so-called difference to his advantage. At the start of his career, he opted for normcore aesthetic; now he’s unapologetically self-confident: “I want to show a bit more skin. I want to show a bit more sensuality,” he says.
“I was a child who hid in the shadows because I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin, because I didn’t belong to the ‘popular’ group at school. I really dwelt on things and kept it all to myself: as a result, it is now really important to me that I have a platform and that I have the chance to speak out.” De Pretto has never had issues with laying himself bare in his music and CRASH CŒUR is yet another case in point. In 2021, he was a victim of homophobic cyberbullying, the target of over 3000 hate messages after he performed in a Catholic church in Paris. It resulted in a court case; 11 perpetrators were given suspended prison sentences. This incredibly violent experience inevitably shaped the new album. As he says, “It is a quest to find out how to get back up after a crash, how to get back on your feet, no matter what life throws at you.” CRASH CŒUR is as much a tale of modern love as it is a demonstration of resilience and finding power in vulnerability. In LOVE’n’TENDRESSE, de Pretto sings: “In the end, what we need is a little love and tenderness.” It is a simple but fitting sentiment for the complicated times we live in.
CRASH CŒUR is out now
Eddy de Pretto is on tour in 2024.
interview. Ginger Rose Clark
This Schön! editorial was produced by
photography. Mehdi Sef
fashion. Patrick Clark
talent. Eddy de Pretto
grooming. Alex Lagardère
photography assistant. Bettina Newendam
fashion assistant. Marlène Le Gall
production. Divergence Studio
Special thanks Florent Muset
