“On the road” with Kadebostany

Photo: Sophie Brasey

(Raffaella Mezzanzanica)

It was April 2021 when I had the chance to interview Guillaume de Kadebostany, the founder, leader and front man of Kadebostany, for the first time (https://bit.ly/3Omc6QH).

Since then, many incredible things have happened to him:

  • Take Me to the Moon, his single published on November 19th 2021, was on the official Grammy ballot for “Best Pop Performance” nomination.
  • Originally released in 2017, Early Morning Dreams has been enjoying a second life. Hyped on TikTok during the lockdown in 2020, the song kept making waves and is currently enjoying a strong success in China and India, with positions in the Top 50 Shazam charts. The single also has been used in videos from chef/culinary artist/personality Salt Bae.
  • On Sunday May 29th Kadebostany gave an epic performance at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in front of a 20’000 crowd in an event to support Ukraine. They premiered the song Another Sunrise, that features one of Kadebostany’s new live singer Fang The Great, and the Ukrainian singers Daryna Salii, Iryna Sizyk, and Vasylyna Tkachuk. Originally recorded between Kyiv and Paris in 2020, Another Sunrise will be released this Summer

Kadebostany draws a modern vision of pop music, best described by its leader as “sophisticated music with mass appeal”. Guillaume, the heart, soul and mind behind Kadebostany, likes to be surrounded by a diverse, multi-ethnic group of people when performing and being on tour. This is what makes Kadebostany’s sound so unique and appreciated.

I interviewed Guillaume a few days ago, while he was driving to the studio to record a new single. In this “on the road” interview, we talked about his latest single, his recent performance at Brandeburg Gate to support Ukraine and his future projects, including a Summer tour with dates to be announced very soon and a big album to be released in 2023.

Q.: Many things have happened to you since April 2021, when I interviewed you for the first time. For example, Early Morning Dreamshas been enjoying a great success on TikTok in 2020. In a world which runs so fast and with a lot of new music coming out every single day, how was finding out that this song is having a second life?

K.:You know. This is something that happens a lot with Kadebostany. You release a song and then, sometimes, six months later something big happens. It has never been like ‘instant success’ for my songs and I have got used to that. I think it’s quite nice because I believe that a good song will always find the right audience. For “Early Morning Dreams” this is unbelievable. There’s no recipe. You just release the song and some people love it. But there’s no strategy with TikTok. This is beautiful because it leaves room for good music to shine.

Q.: You have also reached great success with “Wild in Secret” and Take Me To The Moon”, both released in 2021. Did you write these two songs so that there will be a sort of connection between the two, also considering you feature Valeria Stoica as vocalist on both of them?

K.: There is a natural connection between the two songs because I did them with Valeria Stoica so they have the same vocals. In addition, they were recorded in the same period of time. When you work on the songs in a short period of time, then you are inspired by the same things. For sure there was a link and a similar vibe.

Q.: Let’s talk about your latest single “Two Lovebirds in a Cage”, published on May 13. There’s a flavor in this song which takes us back to the 70s pop. Tell me more about it.

K.: I wrote that song with a female artist from Texas. Her name is Katie Wallace. I wrote the composition and she wrote the topline and the lyrics. We used to collaborate a lot through Internet. I love the way she writes. We did this song like two/three years ago and then it has been sleeping in my hard disk. I was waiting for the right vocalist. Then, while I was playing a major festival in Turkey, Sena Sener was performing before us. After listening to her, I realized she was perfect for this song and I asked her if she wanted to collaborate. She fell in love with the song. We did some tests and that was amazing. But there’s something more. This song was originally conceiving to be a power ballad, without drums, very slow with a piano. I switched the song to the version released last May, the uptempo version. This is the idea behind this song. Soon, I will release the power ballad version of the song. That is a bit different.

Q.: You have just mentioned Sena Sener, the vocalist on “Two Lovebirds in a Cage” and you have told me how you met her. Can you tell more about her?

K.: When I met her I knew she was a big name in Turkey. I also knew she was a singer/songwriter. For these reasons I was a little bit afraid she would say she liked the song but that she would prefer to sing her own songs. But this did not happen. She listened to the song and she said ‘yes’ right away. I was really glad that she accepted. I really thought she was the right vocalist for the song. I was looking for a very peculiar vocalist and she has a very powerful voice. It is really hard to find someone like that. She has this kind of soul and melancholy, but still very powerful vocals. I am very happy that she is part of this adventure with me.

Q.: Do you feature her only on this song or are there other songs where you collaborated with her?

K.: I have collaborated with her only for this song so far, but I’m sure we are going to meet again in the future and write music together.

Q.: The production of this song is incredible. I love the sound of the guitar. Did you also take care of the overall production?

K.: Yes, of course. I took care of the overall production myself just like for any other of my songs. To be more specific on the guitar, I asked a friend of mine who is a very good guitar player to perform on the song. The guitar is like the ‘signature sound’ of Kadebostany. I love this instrument because it allows me to be very rhythmical, but it provides harmony at the same time. In addition, the way I write the guitar part is very different because I am not a guitar player, therefore I don’t care about technical difficulties. However, I need a really good guitar player in the studio to be able to play everything I have in my head.

Q.: Despite from the sound of this single which is very powerful, there’s also a sense of emptiness in the lyrics (“I don’t feel happy here/Sometimes I wish I could just disappear”). What’s the final message of this song? What do you want to communicate through it?

K.: I think it’s very similar to every song I have written. When I approached Katie Wallace I told her I wanted to write about someone who was trying to escape this world for a better one. The song is really about dreams, and also about imaginary things like trying to put stories in your head to extract yourself from the real world. You need to create something different in your head.

Q. On May 29th you gave an epic performance at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in front of a 20’000 crowd in an event to support Ukraine. It was also the occasion for you to premiere your new song “Another Sunrise”. What can you tell about this new single?

K.: “Another Sunrise” is going to be my next single due to be released in July. It’s a very special song. I wrote it with Fang The Great, the vocalist featured on it, around two years ago. I am also on tour with him. There are three Ukranian girls singing the chorus. This is very special. We wrote this song before the conflict. It was a song about hope. Then, the context suddenly changed and this has made the song extremely relevant right now. This is also a song which is a bit different from what I’m used to do, but every time I play this song to my friends (because it’s still unreleased) they go crazy for it. I think it has a kind of magic. When I had this opportunity to perform in Berlin I immediately selected this song. The audience went crazy about it. Some people uploaded the video of the performance on TikTok and, after twelve days, it had 500.000 views. People are asking what is this song and how they can find it on Spotify. This makes me really happy. I really can’t wait for it to be released!

Q.: Is Fab The Great, the vocalist featured on the song, an opera trained singer?

K.: No, he is not opera trained but he has a very special voice. He can switch from pop to hip hop, to more lyrical stuff. I think he has a really unique voice. On top of that, he is a very creative and nice guy. I would be very happy if this song turns out to be a big success because it will show the beauty of Fab The Great’s voice. I think he really deserves that.

Q: I think that performing at Brandeburg Gate must have been an “event inside the event”.

K.: It was unreal. I’m used to play in Berlin. I already played there a lot of times. But, believe me, playing at Brandeburg Gate was like magic. While we were there for the rehearsals, I couldn’t believe what was happening. I was so, so happy. Even the organizers could feel how happy I was and they were very glad. It doesn’t happen every day to have the opportunity to play there.

Q.: You are about to start a Summer tour. How is the feeling of being back to live music after so many months?

K.: I have a lot of new songs and I’m so happy to go on tour with my friends because when we are on tour we are like a little family. Everyone is really different. One of the major characteristics fo Kadebostany is that it’s made of a lot of people, with different backgrounds and who are getting along together very well. I really missed that during the lockdown. This is very unique and there is always a certain atmosphere among us when we are traveling together. We are going to perform the new songs together with the classic songs from Kadebostany in front of a lot of people. That makes everything unbelievable but very appealing to us at the same time.

Q.: Is there a new album in the making?

K.: We are going to release other singles this year but then next year, around March, April or May we are going to publish a very big album. This is something very special and I am super excited about that.

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