THÉA
Blond hair, messy face, fucked up like Hannah Montana, here’s Théa! Child of the internet, of the rave and above all a relentless producer. In the Parisian underground as on classy cabaret stages, the energy remains constant. Combining rap, electro and pop punk elemnts, Théa serves us digital molotov cocktails while shamelessly linking Katy Perry to Linkin Park !
On the occasion of the release of her latest EP “Paname Oestros Poubelle” let’s find out together who Théa really is!
| Interview & translation by Nino Futur
Let’s start at the beginning, how the Théa began? What pushed you to release your first songs under this name?
I started posting songs on YouTube very young under the name Théa which is just my first name, at eleven I was already dabbling GarageBand. Things came real after the lockdown, with my first gigs especially the one at le marbré (A squat in Montreuil ED), it was my first concert with Adlib who plays the guitar. I did a few concerts before that all alone at the LAP (Lycée autogégé de Paris ED) where I played my songs on the guitar and machines. Having a guitarist now allows me to work seriously on my voice simplify the songs.
Your latest five-track EP “Paname Oestros Poubelle”, released in November 2023, is a beautiful summary of a lot of music styles, from emo to current rap, including pop punk and club music. What do you listen to ? Do you think you have managed to create your own sound?
I mainly listen to rap. At the moment I’m discovering Katy Perry who I made fun of when I was younger but in fact she rips!
This EP is also a big tribute to everything I listened to when I was young: The Offspring, Sum 41… Music that is meant to be hard but which is more pop than anything else. I find that the EP really fits this scene in terms of melody and energy. We are a generation that has access to everything with the internet, where styles seem less “siloed” to us.
Can you explain why you opted for “Paname Oestros Poubelle” (Paris Oestrogen Trash)?
Initially it was to be called “Poubelle Musique” (Trash Music) for the human waste, alley rat aspect. I wanted a name that catch the eye and evoke the image of little trash hanging around in basements.
Then it’s also my poppyest record and I talk a lot about Paris, I wanted it to sound grandiose and decadent as the city, it was a friend who suggested “Paname Oestros Poubelle” to me because it goes P.O.P.
It’s true that Paris is an entity that comes up in a lot though your lyrics, like a toxic relationship that been set upfor too long, what does this city represent for you?
As a girl who has always lived in the suburbs, I really discovered Paris as a teenager as the party city. We just had nights where we hung out in the city, now with music it’s the same, I have the impression of not belonging to the city but of hanging out there all the time: the clubs, the basements.
So yes it’s like a toxic relationship but it’s where I have most of my best memories and my best parties, even if it’s also all I can reject, despite everything I remain attached to its agitation…
Most of your lyrics are also linked to drunkenness, alteration of reality, addictions and other substances whose names will not be named.
Do you feel free to speak about your relation to that? Is it the same type of relationship as with your Paris?
All of this is linked to this period: the first parties etc… It’s cool, these are moments outside of time, but quite destructive.
No desire to apologize for it, even I still find myself a little ambivalent about it.
I find it both dirty and beautiful, I have a real love/hate relationship with it so it makes sense that it should be part of my lyrics.
Your songs are very rich, lots of digital elements, glitches and special treatments in the mix. How does the composition of a song evolve?
Everything always starts from something very raw, a melody, a chorus… from there things happen very quickly. I write a lot and often so the lyrics come quite quickly. It’s a process that I find hard to share yet, I prefer to surround myself afterwards: the mix, the editing. Once the raw stuff finished we can add layers and layers of digital effects to transform everything, the hardest part of all that is making sure it will sound good on stage.
Playing onstage seems to be something really important to you, how do you adapt your sound to the live energy?
If the song works on a raw demo basis, it will work, you have to find the right balance to adapt it for two people, we have simplified a lot of songs. On stage the audience has to understand your lyrics, your melodies and your big kick! I change my voice a lot too. The hardest thing live is to regain the studio overflowed energy, and to be able to exist despite the fact that we are surrounded by sequensors.
You were telling me about your Sum 41, Offspring phase… Do you feel connected to the current punk/D.I.Y scene? Which scene do you feel closest to currently?
I think to some aspect the project is. I record and mix myself, I still try to do things professionally, to show that you can do things well without necessarily being signed on a label.
I feel connected to a lot of different scenes but I don’t feel like I belong to any one in particular. Whether it’s DIY pop stars, or huge free party organisations, these are projects with different approaches but which speak to lot of people.
Do you consider yourself as a « children of the rave » ?
I went to raves and free parties a few times, I have star-filled-eyes memories, the fear of being at night surrounded by people and immense walls of sound, crazy memories, I discovered this quite late but it was really impactful.
You also did cabaret not so long ago. Could you talk a little about that?
Yeah ! I went through the Cabaret Poussière but also the Cyborg cabaret, and those are scenes that speak to me alot. With talented and relevant people, I really like the fact of being at my place everywhere.
I wanted to talk about this trendy term of “hyperpop”, would you define this movement for yourself?
To music professionals I define myself as a hyperpop artist to make them understand the fucked-up side with samples from everywhere. For me I do more pop punk stuff, but it’s like in rap you have so many labels now that it’s hard to define yourself… something like Petite soeur with a very digital/internet-child approach it would be hyperpop… Afterwards, as soon as the terms are captured by the music industry, it quickly loses its sense, as it happened to punk. It remains a unique and fresh music, the fact that it is non-reproducible without software, the fact of being able to look for influences like pop punk and music from the Y2K and add politics into it I find that relevant!
We often tend to simplify by putting current artists linked to queer or trans identities under the label of Hyperpop…
It’s like Aya Nakamura who makes pop music that becomes “urban pop” because of her color. As it has been associated, and rightly so, with queer identity, because most hyper pop producers are queer, we are directly referred to that. And before that, we just called it alternative. Afterwards, why no,t it’s also a bit of a heritage, of an approach and sound, it doesn’t seem impertinent to me given that it’s people that I watched, listened and from whom I took inspirations.
You have quite a few clips to your credit, on your old releases as well as on this latest one, is this something that you are particularly thinking about? Do you already have a certain visual/aesthetic ideaduring your writing process?
It’s quite rare that I have a precise idea when writing, but when I think about the release of the project it comes to me quickly. It’s fun and it’s also very important because that’s essentially how we consume music now. I have always worked with Alex Chapas since the beginning, without whom my project would not have the same look, and who is enthusiastic enough to offer to create a stadium audience entirely in 3D! He’s a bit like my visual-sided alter ego.
What upcoming projects for you? hype us up !
I hope we can tour a little, we played Paris too much in my oprinion, I know it takes money and motivated people but now the goal is to move everywhere, meet people and make them dance.
I’m working on some new songs, a little sequel to Paname Oestros Poubelle that should be out in the near future.