It was with great nervousness but also excitement that I conducted my first artistic interview for the magazine! Who better to break the ice than my friend Pierre Lapointe? Fortunately, he spoke generously to me and talked about his trip, his family, but also – because the season demands it – his memories of Christmas in Lac-Saint-Jean.
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First of all, Pierre, you and I had a real connection on the set of En direct de l'univers. I knew I had just found a special soul. Then I discovered that we also shared a love for Christmas. What were your childhood Christmases like?
My parents come from Lac-Saint-Jean. Lapointe and Tremblay: real Bleuets! As soon as school ended on December 21st, we went to the lake and returned to class the day before we returned. We did that until I was 12. There were always big parties with lots of cousins. My fondest memories are the evenings when we played outside, even not very late.
Photo: / SEBASTIEN SAUVAGE
What relationship do you have with your family?
If you think about it, families are people we didn't choose, but at the same time it is the first micro-society in which we evolve. Most of the time we are with people who are not like us, but with whom we have an unshakable bond. The nice thing about family is that even though it sometimes annoys or embarrasses us, we always want to go back there. It is our anchor.
With Winter Songs we really immerse ourselves in your world. Your voice touches our hearts. How do you manage to penetrate our souls like this?
I don't have the depth of a musician and have always felt a bit complex when it came to doing intimate shows. After I managed to overcome my fear of the piano solo, I worked on my interpretation. Whether I change the place of breathing or minimize it, I have reduced my songs as much as possible, and I think that is how I manage to touch people.
Where does this love of music come from?
I always had music in my head! One day I felt the need to let go of these melodies and then I became fixated on the violin. My parents bought me one and I took lessons. It was a Japanese technique of learning with numbers. Because I am dyslexic, I found it difficult to learn to read music. I then took classical piano lessons at the conservatory. My teacher gave me a piece to study at the beginning of the year and on the exam the director of the conservatory gave me a 97% grade. She was fascinated! She gave me another sheet of music and asked me to just read it briefly, but I couldn't read it. She asked my teacher how she managed to teach me… And she replied: “He only does one piece a year, but it's perfect!”
You were a musician, but in your own way!
Exactly. My brain works differently. When I announced that I was giving up music to study theater, my teacher told me, “I've never had a student as musical as you.” No matter what path you take, music will always be you I was accepted at the Saint-Hyacinthe theater school and it was clear to me that I would become an actor. But I was way too creative. As a student, I tried many things that went beyond what was required of me. It was around this time that I wrote my first song. The teachers heard me singing and forced me to leave school. After two sessions they told me: “You can be an actor, but we have heard you singing and believe that you will lose valuable years if you stay here.” Two years later, I signed my first contract with Audiogram and my career took off on.
Patrick Seguin / TVA Publication
Your songs are often sad, but you are very funny when you perform them. How do you explain that?
I have no choice, otherwise my everyday life would be too difficult. Even during times when I wasn't feeling well, like during my heartbreak, it was the time when I had the most fun with my friends. During the performance, I quickly understood that people open up when they laugh. I can take my song and plant it directly in their hearts. Despite the great sadness I felt, I always had a lot of humor. Life with a secret. Since I was a child, I knew I was gay and that secret made me different. This early awareness made me a very melancholic creature. During the holidays it was even worse. It's very challenging to live in a world where you can't say everything. At the same time, I created a beautiful inner world for myself that was very useful for getting through my childhood.
What do you mean?
I didn't do very well in school. I was convinced I had a learning problem. For years I thought I was stupid. Music helped me a lot. When I got my first piano, I played the same notes for hours. I didn't yet know how to play, and yet the piano's resonance gradually healed me. The same applied to the drawing. I draw a lot.
Remember when the real Peter came out?
When I performed my songs at theater school, I realized that it wasn't me who wasn't brilliant. I had just grown up in a context that had nothing to do with my stature. I decided to break down every wall that stood in my way. When I turned 18, it was a pivotal moment. I decided to follow my path. Silently, the way I looked at myself from the inside and the way I looked at myself from the outside became one.
Given the great writing you write, many must be surprised to learn that you are dyslexic…
People mistakenly think that I have an incredible literary culture. However, I must have read two books in my life! On the other hand, I am very auditory. I saw a lot of theater. When I was 12, I used my pocket money to attend dance and opera performances at the NAC in Ottawa. This is where I drew my literary culture and my poetry.
Photo: SEBASTIEN SAUVAGE / TVA
Would you have liked to be a father?
I don't know. It's complicated for two men to have children. Knowing me, I would have loved it if I had children. But I'm not there. I work a lot and I really like that I can move very quickly and without constraints. It doesn't fit well with family life.
The album Winter Songs is on sale. All dates of the artist's Christmas exhibitions can be found at pierrelapointe.com. Nathalie Simard's album Mon Noël is on sale.
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