35 years of friendship. If Zazie and Pascal Obispo are now among the favorite singers of the French and their impact in the music industry is undeniable, this was not always the case. The two singers and songwriters already knew each other before achieving the success they are known for today. While Zazie releases a new single, “Peu importe,” released on Friday, May 22, and Pascal Obispo unveils on the same date a new album entitled “Héritage Vol. 2,” our colleagues from “Le Parisien Dimanche” interviewed the two stars for a joint interview, the first they have given since 2018, when they were coaches on “The Voice.”
What is the thoughtful gesture that Zazie made for Pascal Obispo during their first meeting? The “best enemies” shared in the pages of our colleagues about their first meeting, which “dates back to 1991.” “A professional meeting in the form of an observation round between two young, unknown but ambitious singer-songwriters, two strong personalities in competition,” details the article from the newspaper. Zazie explains that she was looking for songs for her first album, “Je, tu, ils,” which earned her the Female Revelation of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique in 1992. Pascal Obispo played her “about sixty” of his compositions, among which she only chose one, “1, 2, 3 soleil,” “to please him.”
“At first, we teased each other a lot,” Zazie recalls to “Le Parisien.” “But the passion for music never really left us. And neither did the complicity. At times, we saw each other less, but he regularly sends me photos.” The two music enthusiast friends share their best recommendations: if Zazie introduced Pascal Obispo to Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd, the latter introduced her to “the new French song” and his “new wave bands [that he was] the only one to know.” Inseparable, the budding stars also met at Peter Gabriel’s studio in the UK, where Zazie recorded her first album.
Zazie and Pascal Obispo: their revelations about the backstage of their collaboration. “When Pascal came to join me at Real World, he was amazed,” remembers the interpreter of “Zen,” listing the many memories the two built in these mythical places. “You should have seen his face when Peter Gabriel asked us if we wanted pasta or when Seal sang us the melody of ‘1, 2, 3 soleil!’ But the icing on the cake was when Sting entered the studio…” This appearance of The Police member had the greatest impact on Jenifer’s ex: “I cried when I left,” he confirms to our colleagues. An emotional experience that led to a fruitful collaboration between the two artists: in 1998, they notably teamed up to compose Johnny Hallyday’s hit song “Allumer le feu.”
A title proposal made by “Le Taulier” to young Pascal Obispo while they were in New York: “He tells me he would like to have a song to open his future Stade de France. I called the best author I know!” he confides. “Pascal contacts me saying, ‘Johnny needs a song for the Stade de France. He is the first Frenchman to sing there. He wants something like: tonight we set you on fire.’ I find it too lame, it reminds me of football. But we need something of a gladiator. I ask him, ‘When do you need it by?’ He answers, ‘Yesterday!’ And he hangs up. So it’s the first time I write lyrics before having the music,” continues the father of Lola.
Before providing more details on the unusual recording of this legendary song: “Johnny wanted to impress us, he emptied a bottle of very expensive wine and sang so loudly that we had to change three microphones.” An in-studio experience that Pascal Obispo is not about to forget: “It was very impressive. On the bridge, ‘Il suffira d’une étincelle,’ the pitch was high, he had red eyes. The air conditioning was on full blast, we were all in winter coats. This song changed our lives.” Pascal Obispo and Zazie, or the “best enemies”: probably the least appropriately named duo in the history of duos.
