Mélissa Bédard wants to see people love each other like that
Saint-Émile singer Mélissa Bédard has released her fifth album, Love yourself like that, on January 27th. For this new opus, the artist went to draw deep within herself to lay her most intimate project in her career.
The first song, of the same title as the album, illustrates very the more personal side developed by the artist from Quebec. It was the first time she recorded a song that she wrote herself.
The genesis of Aime-toi comme ça is surprising, but not surprising in the eyes of Mélissa Bédard. “I was on Highway 20 when I had the idea for the song. I stopped on the side of the road and started writing all the lyrics! It flowed naturally.”
It was the hateful comments and the desire to set an example of self-acceptance for his 13-year-old daughter that prompted him to take up writing for the first time. “It is not the greatest deployment in relation to the words used, but the important thing is the strong message that they transmit, argues the neophyte author. In the midst of appearances, I want people to remember that no one is perfect and that you have to love yourself as you are.”
Mélissa Bédard does not hide the fact that she feels even more proud when listening to the fruit of her reflections set to music by her friends Simon Dancause and Étienne Bureau. She also co-wrote another song on the album, Forever…Farewell, in collaboration with pianist and musical director, Roby Talbot.
This play tackles another sensitive subject: medical assistance in dying. The artist from Quebec has experienced the departure of a loved one who has asked for death in recent years. In a last message addressed to Mélissa Bédard, he wrote “forever… goodbye”.
With this song, she therefore wishes to break down taboos. “Death is inevitable. We will all go through it one day. I think it can only be good to talk about it.”
Tribute
Among the 11 tracks on her new album, Mélissa Bédard has decided to slip three posthumous tributes to Quebec artists who have lost their lives in recent years. We can hear, among others, Marie-Jo by Karim Ouellet and You will never know, by BB, in honor of Patrick Bourgeois.
The singer, however, wanted to reserve a special place for a monument of Quebec music with Un certain smile by Michel Louvain. “I had the opportunity to meet him three times in my life, including once when I performed this song for him at the Enfants de la télé. He died about a year later.”
The artist from Saint-Émile admits to having discovered the work of Michel Louvain more seriously after his death. “I found music there that brings out strong positive emotions. I understood why he had so many fans who loved him so much,” she confides.
In Quebec to stay there
In the Quebec artistic landscape, Mélissa Bédard is an irreducible Gauloise who refuses to join Montreal and its surroundings. “I deeply love Quebec. I grew up here and I live in the same neighborhood, surrounded by the same friends as during my childhood. It's important for me to stay there so as not to uproot my children.”
Even if the hours of driving to return from an electrifying evening are sometimes a hard return to reality, she appreciates this distance between his professional life and his personal life. “When I'm at home, I'm a mom and it makes me feel good that there is a break between the two worlds, concludes the singer. It allows me to keep my balance and stay down to earth.”
Mélissa Bédard's new album, Aime-toi comme ça is available in stores or online since the 27th January.
