Translated by Bethszabee Garner

In her first solo album, Et alors? (sooner or later, september 2022), the former lead singer of the group Thérapie Taxi sings of her sleepless nights, her early-mornings as she stares at the man sleeping beside her, and reveals her nightmares of monsters swooping down on her. It made us want to enter the dreams of Adé, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter with a bright future ahead of her. And we weren't bored!

Yves Derai: Do you have any recurring dreams?

Adé: First of all, it's very rare for me to remember them. I wish it happened more often, because it would be a source of inspiration. I just have this little thing when I'm about to fall asleep that suddenly wakes me up, I fall down a red-carpeted staircase.

Yves Derai: Like at the Cannes Film Festival?

Adé: No, like in Parisian buildings!

Yves Derai: And your worst nightmare?

Adé: A car accident on the edge of a cliff. I wake up just before falling into the water. Sometimes, too, I'm in a hurry, I don't have time for anything. I have to go on stage and I haven't had time to get dressed, I have to take off layers of clothes, I can't do it, it's hell...

Yves Derai: Don't you ever have good dreams?

Adé: Yes, because sometimes I wake up laughing. I don't know why, but it's the best feeling in the world!

Yves Derai: Do you have premonitory dreams?

Adé: No. But I believe in them. A friend of mine does. But she won't tell me what they are.

Yves Derai: Let's talk about your daydreams. What are your absolute dreams, for yourself and for the world?

Adé: My personal dream is to have time to learn, read, listen to music, paint and make films. I'm frustrated by not knowing enough, as I say in my song (Tout savoir). And for humanity, for people to understand each other better. I feel that the world's problems lie in misunderstandings. One day, my cat met another cat. They looked at each other suspiciously for three days, even though they wanted to play together. It's the same for men, I think.

Yves Derai: What's your dream home?

Adé: I have several... An isolated house facing the ocean, in Brittany or the Landes, with bay windows and lots of light. Like in Basic Instinct. Or a palace in Rome, in a neighborhood I loved near the Vatican, Prati. Or even a ranch in the American West.

Yves Derai: Your dream vacation?

Adé: Brazil. I love the music and the language, which I'm trying to learn. I'm attracted to the country but I'm afraid of the heat and the noise. I have to go there to find out, with people who know and can guide me. I'm not the type to go on excursions.

Yves Derai: Your dream object?

Adé: I'm not a materialist... I like to rummage around and fall in love. My dream object is the next thing I go hunting for that makes me want to have it at any price. And it doesn't have to be expensive. The important thing for me is that it's exclusive. I don't want to see someone else wearing my ring or my jacket.

Yves Derai: Your dream encounter?

Adé: The artists I adore, I don't want to meet because I'm afraid of being disappointed. But then again, I'd love to have dinner with Mick Jagger, that would be fun. Maybe… But my real lack in life is that I've never met my best friend. Someone I can call up for nothing and sit around chatting aimlessly. I have friends, but I don't have a sidekick. That's the meeting I'm dreaming of.

Yves Derai: Is the life of an artist what you dreamed of?

Adé: I didn't grow up imagining it. It just happened and it ticks a lot of boxes: I'd have a very hard time going to the office, I'm the master of my own time, I'm independent, there's a lot of danger involved... I couldn't have found anything better.

Yves Derai: Do you prefer dreams or reality?

Adé: I do everything I can to make my dreams come true. And I have to admit that my current reality is a bit dreamy.

Yves Derai: What are your dreams for your first solo album?

Adé: To tour successfully. That's what I'm all about. You give, you take. I want to go out sweating and satisfied. That's what I'm interested in, having lived up to people's expectations.

Yves Derai: Are your dreams present in your songs?

Adé: Yes, a little. I start from a reality, then I expand, I romanticize, and so I dream. In retrospect, when I think about my songs, I don't even know what gave me the impulse. It doesn't really matter.

Yves Derai: Is the song Insomnie - with its lovely lyrics - a real-life experience?

Adé: During our confinement, we were forced into a state of solitude. I had anxiety, I didn't have a record label and I couldn't sleep at night. So I wrote and tested.

Yves Derai: You talk about your nightmares, about monsters and doves swooping down on you...

Adé: Yes. I don't remember why... I've forgotten. But in horror, there are sometimes beautiful things.

Yves Derai: In Berceuse, you say that you can't dream of “anything other than seeing you”...

Adé: It's that moment when you look at the person sleeping next to you. It's very moving and, at the same time, you want to talk to them. You're torn between two desires.

Yves Derai: And in Tout savoir, you'd like to see in the dark... 

Adé: In that song, I say that I take risks so as not to have any regrets. I'm trying to understand why I write songs and why they make me feel good.

Yves Derai: With Thérapie Taxi, you sang trashy songs. That was the group's trademark. On your solo album, there are none.

Adé: There were two of us writing. Raphaël [Zaoui] was more into trash. I was having fun with it, playing a character. But we knew we weren't going to be singing those lyrics when we were 50. I wanted something else, but I don't reject that part of myself. I'm unfiltered sometimes. It'll come out one day in another form.

Article written by Yves Derai to be found in issue n°1 of OniriQ Magazine.