Charlotte Cardin finds her voice after La Voix
The Montreal singer-songwriter took time to hone her music after her big break on La Voix. Now, with sold-out shows at the jazz fest and a highly anticipated album on the way, she’s taking stardom in stride
In the end, it’s probably best Charlotte Cardin didn’t win La Voix.
The Montreal singer-songwriter placed in the top four on Quebec’s version of the hit reality show The Voice in 2013, bringing her instant fame and record deal offers, which she refused.
Had she taken the top prize, she would have been forced to sign and put out an album right away. Were that the case, it might be a very different Charlotte Cardin making waves today. Instead, she had time to let things percolate artistically, to find her own voice — and what a voice — and let things build organically.
Of course, the TV spotlight had its upside. Cardin will be playing not one, not two, but three nights — June 30 and July 1 and 2 — at Metropolis, making her, after Bob Dylan, the biggest ticketed draw of the 38th Montreal International Jazz Festival.
Not bad for an artist without a full-length album to her name. Cardin released the trip-hopstyled EP Big Boy last year and has dropped the occasional single, including the jazzy/soulful acoustic ballad Just Like That this week.
The key to her meteoric rise has been that there is substance to back up the hype. Cardin’s hefty coo comes wrapped in a style that recalls Amy Winehouse, while the slick production on nearly every track released so far is steeped in widescreen drama evocative of British downtempo tragedians Portishead. Her music isn’t overly innovative, but it’s coolly current and packs a punch.
“When I started writing songs, I had no idea what my sound was,” said Cardin, 22, in a recent interview with the Montreal Gazette. “I tried a bunch of things — country songs, jazz songs, pop songs, and I was interested in more electro songs. I mixed everything I like together.
“I like writing ballads, but I find, for me, performing is so much more fun to an electro beat or something more modern. I like writing in a more classical genre, then adding modern touches. I just find it groovier.”
The Big Boy EP is a good barometer of Cardin’s impressive potential. The title track, an ode to an immature crush, and the sensually sassy Dirty Dirty could be straight out of Winehouse’s back catalogue; the dreamy Talk Talk has a softer touch; while piano ballads Les échardes and Faufile bring to mind a rougher-edged Coeur de pirate. And yet while it served as a good calling card, the six-song set may already be dated, according to its creator.
“It sums up what I wrote and liked and kept in the three years prior to (its release),” Cardin said. “Some of those songs I wrote a long time ago. I see it as a path to my development as an artist. It’s a good representation of my artistic process, and it’s fun to perform.”
Well into the recording of her highly anticipated full-length album, Cardin is cagey about what it will sound like. She is more forthcoming about what she likes.
“I love Radiohead,” she said. “I think their production is the most amazing in the world, and their songwriting — musically, they’re absolute geniuses. I like so much stuff: I really love jazz music, Nina Simone, or even super poppy stuff. I’ve been listening to Shania Twain lately. I’m not a music snob. I listen to everything I find catchy, from classical music to French song.”
I first saw Cardin play an intimate afternoon set on an Osheaga side stage last year. It was her second set of the weekend, replacing Scottish indie-rock band Frightened Rabbit. She could have easily got lost amid all the Osheaga madness, but she commanded the stage, and the audience’s attention, with ease.
The daughter of an epidemiologist mom and a biotechnology patent agent dad, Cardin began piano lessons in kindergarten, switching to singing lessons in third grade, which she continued for the next decade.
“Music was always more of a hobby,” she said. “It wasn’t a goal for me to be a musician. It sounded like such a cool thing, but it seemed impossible.”
Other avenues were more immediately accessible. Cardin, who stands 5-10, began modelling at age 15 after walking into Agence Folio and getting signed on the spot. But while it brought her attention and financial freedom, “it’s never been a passion,” she said. “It was a sideline. It was never my goal to do that professionally. I always prioritized school.”
Following in her parents’ footsteps, she began CEGEP in sciences, finishing in arts after making it through the whirlwind of La Voix. Today, from a safe distance, she looks back on the show with a reserve recalling the way she views her modelling career.
“It was fun,” she said. “I had no expectations. I sort of ended up there. I learned so much from it. If you expect a lot out of something so uncontrollable, you can only be disappointed. I just went for it and ended up growing a lot, meeting people and having my first professional experience on TV and in music.”
Cardin’s greatest feat may be emerging from La Voix
unscathed. The music she has released so far sounds nothing like the disposable, canned pop content we have come to expect from mainstream reality show contestants. Getting sucked up by the machine was never a concern, the singer said.
“I knew that when I released stuff on my own I would be authentic to who I am, and that it wouldn’t be super pop. That’s why I had to take three years off. I went back to school, finished CEGEP, wrote a bunch of stuff and figured out what style I was.”
Now, with three sold-out shows at her favourite venue as part of her city’s biggest music festival, and a debut album approaching completion, Cardin is enjoying every minute.
“I’m really happy,” she said. “It feels so nice to know that people support me like that. I’m really happy I took the time to release stuff I was proud of. Now people are relating to my stuff. I’m excited for these shows and ready to play my new music for people. I’m super grateful for everything that’s happening.”