After five albums aimed at adults, Jérôme Charlebois is turning to a new audience: children.
New ? Not exactly, actually. His concerts already reached a very family audience, underlines the singer-songwriter, who we meet in a park in Saint-Lambert, on the South Shore.
However, this is the first time that Jérôme Charlebois has written and composed pieces for children. An idea that came to him while preparing materials for a competition in which he ultimately did not participate, he confides.
In this new adventure, the singer brought his partner, Annie Roy, with whom he has been used to sharing the stage for several years.
“The album sounds like me. Musically, it’s not very far from what I do,” he says about Little Words for Big Children.
On the very festive On va danser, he reconnects with the West Indian influences of his latest album, Fun noir, released in 2019.
The difference between this opus, intended for primary school children, and the previous ones lies above all in the subjects covered, believes the one whom his lover describes as a “big child”.
Sports, with We’re going to play hockey, to music, with Bébé rockeur, to traditions, with Halloween or The sugar shack: the titles are indeed likely to please many children.
If Jérôme Charlebois wrote the vast majority of the lyrics of the songs, Annie Roy, who is also a 5th grade teacher, gave him valuable advice to refine them.
Towards the end of the creative process, she even had the young people in her class listen to a few pieces. I want light, which deals with the environment, is the one they preferred. “I think the subject really sought them out,” underlines Jérôme Charlebois, visibly excited by this new project.
Presented as an album aimed at ages 5 to 11, will Little Words for Big Kids be able to charm both kindergarten and 5th grade students? Jérôme Charlebois believes it. “I think there is always a phrase, a chorus or a piece of music that will reach everyone. »
To his father and producer, Robert Charlebois, who suggested that he make rhythmic songs ideal for dancing, he replied that he should also add ballads.
For what ? Because he remembered a show given by his father in front of many families. The moment that most captivated the young people was not the one expected. “During the walks, the children all went around the piano,” remembers Jérôme Charlebois, who remained marked by this moment.
The album Little Words for Big Children will be performed on stage in the coming months. The premiere of the show by Jérôme Charlebois and Annie Roy will take place on November 19 at La Petite Église, in Saint-Eustache.