Key Points
- From business studies, odd jobs, to a pivotal encounter.
- Camille Yembe does not come from an artistic family.
- She recounts in the Expertes podcast presented by Christelle Chiroux how she climbed the ranks to become a singer.
“I put on a plastic skin, to avoid breaking everything once again, I put on a plastic skin, to be able to throw it to the ground a thousand times… by the end of 2024, Camille Yembe released her first single: “Plastique”. In this first song, she tells her quest for identity through a dual character. This mask serves to ‘conceal my emotions, disguise, hide the essential to extract us from reality.’ Her voice, simultaneously fragile and powerful, embodies an assumed vulnerability and great determination. ‘Plastique is about me, telling the story of dressing up to look like something better and more beautiful. I wore a mask in my social interactions: I didn’t feel smart enough and I cultivated inferiority complexes that took root during my childhood.”
Watch this video podcast at the top of this article or stream it on TF1+. You can also enjoy this podcast on our YouTube page and listen to it on usual platforms (Apple Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Music…)
Quote
“Music seemed inaccessible to me”
Camille Yembe
The Belgian-Congolese singer-songwriter grew up in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a well-known disadvantaged neighborhood in Brussels. Nothing predisposed her to make music. She unconsciously erected barriers: “I had the impression that music was really reserved for an intellectual and literary elite. I didn’t start writing until I was 18. At that time, if I had wanted to do a feature with an artist, I would have banged my head against a wall. Music seemed inaccessible to me and I didn’t think about it.” In the end, she sent a song recorded with her ukulele from her bathroom to the rapper Gandhi: “I didn’t know him, but I liked what he was doing. By a curious coincidence, he was looking for female voices for his album. He offered me to participate.”
She collaborated on two tracks of Gandhi’s album “Texte Symbole”, released in 2016, then wrote lyrics for several musicians, including the rapper Tiakola. She then left her odd jobs to fully devote herself to music: “They were jobs I hated, but I was afraid of returning to a form of precariousness. I did cleaning, waitress in bars, receptionist… I’m happy to have done plenty of jobs, they taught me the value of every euro and resilience.” She wants to give herself a chance to succeed: “I was haunted by the thought of, once old, thinking about all the things I could have done.”
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Influences
Camille Yembe follows a musical path between rock, pop, rap, and soul. She reveals herself through her songs: “I wrote the song Ne le dis à personne after a studio session. I reveal deep things about myself without knowing why. I tell the story of my battered, vibrant, and real life. The closer you get to the truth, the more you see the cracks, what’s wrong, and what becomes ugly.” She calls her debut album “Jeune et laide”: “I want to reach everyone, remain eclectic and grandiose. Sometimes, my lyrics are harsh, but the music makes you want to dance.”
In an interview, Stromae mentioned Camille Yembe and talked about her music that he heard on the radio: “These artists seem untouchable and distant. Somewhere, I needed confirmation. His support propelled me and nourished something in my legitimacy.” Ten years later, rapper Gandhi remains her manager. Camille Yembe finds a certain comfort in it: “He tells me that I have the truth about my music. He lets me be free in my creations. Music brings together people who feel connected to what you’re telling. It’s by mingling with my audience that I came up with the title of my album.”
