A sort of A few years ago, a popular bar quiz question involved naming 10 famous Belgians.this Considering that the fictitious Tintin and Herculpolo are the best many people can think of, the answers often reveal more about the ignorance of British culture than the ability of Belgium to cultivate international celebrities.
Since its inception, games have become easier Angela, A sharp feminist Belgian pop singer and songwriter, became famous after posting a short cover film and playing the piano on Instagram in 2016. She is young and talented, and she is not afraid to make fun of herself, pulling her face and sticking a pencil to her nose. Her debut album “Brol” in 2018 sold 1 million copies; by 2019, she is the face of Chanel. “I always wanted to pursue a career in music, but I wanted to be more of a piano accompaniment,” she said, curled up in an armchair in a five-star boutique hotel near the Paris Opera. “I really didn’t expect it to be like this.”
If 26-year-old Angèle is famous in the UK, it is because of her duet with Dua Lipa in the British singer’s 2020 song Fever (“There is something very natural between us,” Angèle said), but in France and In Belgium, she is a household name performing on a crowded stage. She just released her second album Nonante-Cinq (95 years old, the year after she was born), 12 introspective disco pop songs with seemingly innocent, childish singing.It follows A Netflix documentary about her life“Success is everywhere, almost from day to day,” she said. “It was very fast and intense. I was very surprised by all of this. I’m still there.”
This intensity intensified in 2017 when she agreed to talk to Playboy. Despite being asked not to do this, the magazine used a photo of Angel posing naked and holding two peppers in front of her chest. Feeling humiliated and betrayed, she said she cried for a week.
“They didn’t even write the music I was making, they just wrote the fact that I was sexy,” she said. In the ensuing consequences, “I also become a woman who wants to attract people’s attention by making her image sexy, as if this is not a good thing, and sexiness and sex shouldn’t be a problem.” Playboy breaks Her trust, she said, “is a bitter lesson.”
Her answer is Balance Ton Quoi (balance your things), A song played in French #Me too phrase Balance your pork (Squeal on Your Pig) and immediately turned her into a feminist puppet.
“As a girl and a young woman, I suffer a lot of gender discrimination like most women. Harassment exists on the street and in interpersonal relationships, and there are gender-discriminatory remarks and behaviors in society. [music business],” she said, adding that it was a lack of response from the rapper to see her brother Romeo Elvis, The shirtless performance broke the double standard of sexism. “When he did this, no one commented on it, but if there is a nude picture of me in Playboy, then this kind of remarks is derogatory. People don’t say: Wow, is it great, is she cute? They think it makes me feel ashamed.”
She wrote Balance Ton Quoi “Because I know from my own experience what these women are talking about. This song suddenly became a feminist hymn in protest-I found myself a bit of a feminist icon at the age of 23, and I still had There are many things to learn.” Belgium and France, She said, “still lagging behind on the issue of gender discrimination. Violence against women is still considered a taboo topic, and it is difficult to resolve and minimize.”
Accompanying the video of the song is relaxed and fulfilling, Angèle runs a courthouse and an anti-sexism academy. “If we are feminists, we want to show what we have to fight against, we want to fight against patriarchal production, but we also want it to be beautiful, approachable, relaxed and fun, because I prefer to convey this information in a humorous way; I Think this is the most difficult way to convey the message.” Similarly, Brol’s cover shows a young Angèle who lacks front teeth. “I think it’s very important to make fun of yourself. This is the best weapon. In the final analysis, this is a way to stop hurting, because there is a certain amount of power to laugh at yourself before others do.”
Even before “Playboy” broke the rules, Angèle understood the importance of controlling his identity.She was born in Angèle Joséphine Aimée Van Laeken, the second child of famous parents-her mother is an actress Lawrence Bibot Her father is Serge Van Laeken, also known as a singer CardShe said that she had a “good childhood”, but her answer showed some kind of tension. As the “daughter” of famous parents and later “the sister of Romeo Elvis”, it is obvious that they sometimes feel angry.
“It’s not my parents who encouraged me to be a [professional] Singer-in fact, I let them know nothing about what I’m doing because I don’t want them to interfere. I don’t want them to take all the responsibilities,” she said.
“I don’t think they will discourage me, but they will be afraid because it is far beyond what they have done in their careers, and the scale is so huge and once out of control that they will be worried. In addition, they may Want to help, but refusal will be complicated.”
I said that given the fame of her parents, she must be used to being recognized on the street. She quipped: “When we were young, my parents were recognized, but only about once a month. Now, I am recognized every day.”
When a French TV host listed her as bisexual before she told her parents and grandmother, she was frustrated, but now she can shrug. Even in her “open family”, she said her parents were “very surprised” when she brought her girlfriend home.
“My mother is in the theater, surrounded by LGBT people! If I said to my parents: I think I like girls, that would be great, but I didn’t warn them, so it was a blow to them. I think even I always knew it when I was young, but when I was 15 years old in school, it was really not cool to be bisexual. It was even a bit shameful.” Today, she said she was single, but she admitted that if she was not, She might not say. “I have understood that in order to protect myself and my friends, I must be vague about these things.”
When Romeo Elvis was accused of sexually harassing a young woman, she experienced backlash from social media, for which he later apologized. “I found myself in a story that had nothing to do with me,” Angèle said. “People turned around and said:’You are a feminist, and your brother does that?’ Well, what can I say?
“Am I angry with him? That’s another matter between us, but I am angry at how people try to hold me accountable, and they seem to blame a certain woman. For me, this proves again, When we talk about feminism, people get scared and they try to discredit the fight. I don’t know if I have been attacked more than him, but I have been attacked for no reason — and very violently on social media.”
Therefore, becoming famous is a steep and not entirely pleasant learning curve-the French newspaper Libération described Nonante-Cinq as “Listening to a friend who thinks you are their psychologist and has an annoying Used to call you anytime to talk about themselves”-but Angel said she was Feel good (Her skin is very happy) and is not too worried about becoming an international star.
“I am very happy to be able to go to England and walk down the street, but no one knows me,” she said. “I like to be able to hold concerts from time to time and have a large audience, but I am happy that I am not that famous.” Damn British pub quiz: “In Belgium and France, it’s good for me right now.”
