CS Premiere • Jean Tonique: New Single 'Feel Better Now' + Q&A
photo credit: Matthieu Couturier
French producer Jean Tonique is jumping into the new year head first as he leads up to the release of his debut album Well Mannered Frivolity, out this February. The 13-track set is loaded with a genre-blending array of funk, house, and hip–hop, including previously released single Something to Talk About plus many more future gems. To sweeten things further, two of the album's tracks, The Party (feat Dabeull) and Feel Better Now, will be coupled with short films. Today we're delighted to give you the first listen to the latter, Feel Better Now, a fantastically refreshing new single from the forthcoming record (with the accompanying short film still on the way). We caught up with the rising producer to hear more about the single, album as a whole and plans for the coming year. Tune in!
Q&A •
Welcome to 2018! We made it. How did you ring in the new year?
Happy new year! We had a great party at a friends family house, south of Paris. I danced a lot, it was very cool!
Give us three words to describe your intentions or goals for this year
Travel, Music, Party
Tell us how the new single, ‘Feel Better Now’, came together. What made you choose it as the first single from the album?
Actually, it's not really the first single from the album. I released "Something to Talk About" back in June. But this one marks the beginning of the album campaign. I think it represents quite well the sound of the album both electronic and organic.
I had this instrumental I really liked, and I was wondering what kind of vocals could fit the best. My friend Jérémie Arcache (code, Revolver) helped me to finish it, we wrote the lyrics and the vocal melodies together, he sung the choirs while I did the talkbox.
Speaking of, let’s talk about the album. The title, ‘Well Mannered Frivolity’, is fantastic. How does that play into the record's overall tone and what you’re aiming to convey with the music?
I heard this expression in a Harry Potter movie before finishing the album, and wrote it down because I really liked how it sounds. But when all the tracks came together, I felt like this title was perfect for the album. This album is about the party from the beginning to the end with its ups and downs, and I think it's a very nice way to name the Party.
It [the album] is a fairly collaborative effort – from the features, to the influences, to the short film supplements. Can you quickly speak to those decisions and the importance of a collaborative creative process?
I've always worked with vocalists for my previous EP's, but this time I wanted also to produce tracks with some friends. When we started to talk about making music together, Etienne de Crécy told me that it was going to happen only if I produced an album!And I called Dabeull because I felt like this album could make sense to him.
The videos were produced in a very collaborative way too, each directed by different duos, but with the same production team and cast.
I think that the collaborative creative process can only bring something more to what you did by yourself. Stimulating each other with different ideas is a really nice feeling.