After singles and a remarkable EP, the Brussels artist released his first album, And if I break with youWhere she transformed her suffering and silences into melodies-confidences.
A stamp that recalls that of Angele and a melancholy close to a Billie Eilish: Iliona had everything to please us and her first album in fact won us. We met this rising star of Belgian song.
Songs that last over time
We have known you for several years, which step represents this album? Is it a bit like spending a level in a video game?
“It’s a bit of it, yes (laughs). In my eyes, my previous songs were a bit of drafts. For the album, I put higher demands: the songs must really be my favorite among all that I compose. To keep 10, I think I made 250. Not entire songs, of course, but little pieces every day. Again.
How did you take sorting?
Musically, I have to find it interesting. And may the text be as sincere as possible. I prohibited myself from lying or embellishing anything. I realized that the songs that had aged the best are the ones where I said most the truth about my vulnerability, where I did not hide anything and where musically, I had really pleased myself.
What is the symbolism of the cover, which is almost nightmarish?
It was a drawing that I had made. I knew it would become the cover of the album. I made this composition with the hand of a monster, back to me, which combs me. So there is still a relatively tender action, but with a monster hand. Everyone gives me different interpretations; I find it great. Even me, I see various symbolisms there: as much the toxic relationships that I have been able to get rid of, as a dark part of me.
Rupture as a red thread
The breakup is the red thread of the album. Did you need to exorcise pain?
The starting point of the album was a breakup coupled to a professional break that arrived a little at the same time. I had a lot of little ruptures in me too, between me and me, everything fell on me at the same time. It is a bit as if we had torn off a huge dressing. But I think the album focuses more on the post-rugout. It corresponds to a moment of loneliness, reconstruction, questioning.
Music is the place where I manage to unload this share of me that I do not express in my private life.
In life, you are rather funny, which we do not feel when listening to the album…
I am indeed quite light. When I meet people, they are surprised because I am really normal, joyful (laughs). Music is the place where I manage to unload this part of me that I do not necessarily express in my private life, because I am quite timid and modest. There are periods when I feel more solid, others where I feel more vulnerable, I go from one to the other all the time. But in both cases, I manage to be creative and feed my music. ”
See her in concert
Iliona will notably be on November 15 and 17 at Ancier Belgium, in Brussels.
Interview: Sigrid Descamps
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