With Bonsoir Paris, Bilal Hassani raises his signature greeting to the title of a new club-ready pop album, his preferred playground. Interview.
Bilal Hassani has certainly fulfilled his mission this summer: to make us dance. First with “Beaucoup”, a tangy and cheeky track that was heard in Drag Race France, then with the catchy “Capitale”, an ego trip with no frills from a star of Parisian nightlife. Aptly titled “PopStar”, his latest single, a collaboration with Kalika, proves just as tasty. All of them appear on Bonsoir Paris, his fourth album, whose title references the signature hook of his YouTube videos, where he first made his mark. With this record, the 26-year-old artist pays homage, like Arlo Parks, to the club as a refuge.
You’ve always done pop, but this time you’ve surpassed yourself: it’s your most pop album!
Bilal Hassani : When I arrived in 2019 with my debut album, Kingdom, I was trying to meet what the Francophone music industry demanded, with sounds that were very varied. Then I began to part ways with Contre soirée, but in a still timid way. Théorème, more cerebral, was the first time I dared a shift toward dance thanks to Yelle. With Bonsoir Paris, my initial mission was the pursuit of groove. I wanted to honor French pop albums that had marked me, such as Caméléon by Shy’m, or Monkey Me by Mylène Farmer.
Bonsoir Paris offers unabashed, almost flamboyant pop…
I’m coming off a project, L’Affreuse, very political, with lyrics I wanted people to hear. That’s why I did it in piano-vocal. This time I did the opposite. Pop is a great playground for saying simple things with sounds that are more complex than they appear. It’s a pity that it’s a genre looked down upon.
The album’s name, is it to recall the lightness of the early days?
It was a dopamine hit to say “Bonsoir Paris” at the start of my YouTube videos. So I had always told myself that if an album were to be named like that, it had to be a project that spread maximal joy. This record is a call to dance and to euphoria.
Have you always been into partying?
When I was 18, I went to my first “Bitch Party” at the Gibus in Paris. It was the first time I saw so many people like me, my eyes filled with stars, and I stayed until closing time. The club is, for me, a playground for expression, especially when I dance! When I created the album, the fundamental rule was to dance and make others dance on every track. The rhythm had to come first above everything else.
Speaking of the Bitch Party, I heard you’re a regular!
That’s home! My dream would be to be more involved in organizing this party one day. Thanks to the Bitch Party, the club has become a refuge for me. But there are other landmark nights as well: Jeudi OK, those held at La Flèche d’or [now closed, ed.].… Queer venues are dropping like flies; we must preserve these events!
On “Plus fort”, you also talk about the darker side of partying.
For young queer people entering this milieu, partying can become a lion’s den because there are many excesses and drugs… The danger is real and we must be vigilant. I’m thinking especially of chemsex, since the first consumption sometimes happens in that context. That said, I don’t want to stigmatize those who touch the chems. When I can, I try to talk about it because it’s a topic that’s quite sensitive for me.
Can you throw a bigger party than Bercy, where you performed to close Léna Situations’ August vlogs?
That’s one of the biggest parties I’ve ever played! I found Léna’s show incredible because it’s not easy to translate internet culture to the stage. For many, thanks to her August vlogs, we became characters, like in Friends.
What did you think about the Gisèle Journo controversy, which Léna publicly disavowed but without a word of explanation after tweets from deputy Rima Hassan calling for a boycott?
I like the idea of keeping things private when they have such a strong impact. These are people who exist and who are not usually as exposed, so I prefer to protect that as much as possible.
Back to partying… what do you do when the club is closed?
I work out a lot, hang out with my friends, take care of my dog… A fairly ordinary life, really! We do extraordinary things during the summer in the vlogs, but the rest of the year, we linger in fleece pajamas on the couch and watch films. I love that.
