Cœur de pirate (a.k.a Béatrice Martin) gears up for her Brooklyn debut, talks singing in French and English

by | Oct 16, 2015 | Coming Up, Culture, Events, Music

Much like Dashboard Confessional is the project of Chris Carrabba or Alison Sudol is A Fine Frenzy, Cœur de pirate is the nom de plume of Béatrice Martin. Cœur de pirate – which is French for “pirate’s heart” – has been widely successful throughout Europe and her native Canada since the release of her self-titled album in 2008. In the years since, Cœur de pirate has been nominated for two Juno Awards (a.k.a. Canadian Grammys), beyond winning top honors from the Félix Awards, the Canadian Independent Music Awards, and France’s Victoires de la Musique. She has also done high-profile collaborations alongside Bedouin Soundclash, Lights, Simple Plan and Julien Doré.

Roses, the fifth full-length Cœur de pirate album, is her first proper United States release. Unique from other Cœur de pirate studio releases is that some of the songs on Roses are in French and some of its songs are in English. Already off to a strong start, Roses was the #2 album in Canada in its week of debut, and its first single “Carry On” hit #1 on some radio charts. As the label behind her U.S. debut, Cherrytree, is known for catapulting the careers of Ellie Goulding, La Roux, Robyn and Jessie Ware, commercial expectations are deservingly-high for Roses.

Cœur de pirate makes its Brooklyn debut on October 22nd at The Music Hall Of Williamsburg. I had the opportunity of asking Béatrice some questions about her upcoming journey to Williamsburg and plenty more on behalf of Downtown.

coeur de pirate

Your debut album for United States listeners, Roses, features songs sung in both French and English. I haven’t heard of artists putting out different versions of their language, but not ones with two different languages. How did that idea come about?

Béatrice: It’s part of my heritage. I’m bilingual, I had some English songs I wanted to record and some French ones as well. It’s just to give a glimpse into my world, I guess. And also a personal challenge on my end…I wanted to see if I could pull it off. (laughs)

When it comes to your creative process, how do you decide to a particular song is meant to be sung in English versus French?

B: It’s like thinking or speaking, it’s either in French or in English! I didn’t translate, except for one song maybe, and there was no selection process when it came to language.

Was Child Of Light the first time you had sung under the name Coeur de pirate in English?

B: (laughs) Yes it was! I did other things in English before, but it was for other projects.

In already being very established in Canada and parts of Europe, do you have any goals or expectations towards your career in the United States? 

B: I just want to share my music with anyone who will accept it, and hopefully see if that makes a difference in people’s lives. It’s the only reason why I keep doing what I’m doing.

How would you describe Roses to someone who hasn’t yet heard it?

B: Part Vangelis, part Hans Zimmer, part Jamie XX, part Françoise Hardy?

For your upcoming live show in Williamsburg, who’s in your band?

B: I have a guitarist, Renaud, who’s been with me since the beginning. A bassist called Alex, a drummer called Julien and a keyboardist called Amélie.

Will your show in Brooklyn feature material from all of your albums? Or mostly be focused on Roses?

B: All albums, because I know there are people that are going to come out to hear those songs as well, but mostly from Roses.

Will this be your first time performing in Brooklyn?

B: In Brooklyn, yes! I can’t wait. I will stock up at Mast Brothers beforehand.

Do you have a favorite neighborhood within New York City?

B: The first few times I came to New York I was staying in the West Village, near the Meatpacking District, and it’s been my favorite area just to stroll around and get anything done.

Beyond your recording career as Coeur de pirate, you’ve also doing one-off collaborations including those with Simple Plan and Lights. Do you have any other collaborations in the works now?

B: I collaborated with Allan Kingdom for this record but that’s about it for now!!

When you’re not busy with touring and recording, how do you like to spend your time?

B: Spending time with my kid, watching The Walking Dead, cooking…I love cooking.

Finally, Béatrice, any last words for the kids?

B: Can’t wait to see everyone at the show! It’s on my dad’s birthday too, should be a good one. I always love coming back to New York and this time Brooklyn!


-by Darren Paltrowitz

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