The art of learning to love yourself… “just like that”

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Eleven years – almost to the day – after being admitted to Star Académie, Mélissa Bédard continues to add strings to her bow: the singer, host and actress now reveals herself as an author with her fifth album, Love yourself like that. Meeting with a woman who says she is determined to live her life “to the full” and in his own words.

At the end of the line, Mélissa Bédard is feverish. It feels. But above all, you can hear her voice rising an octave – we're hardly exaggerating – when the time comes to discuss her new album, Love yourself like that. Le Journal spoke with the singer earlier this week, before it hits stores on Friday. 

“I can't wait ! My God, I can't wait! » she exclaims. 

This sentence, she repeats it many times during the interview. And we understand it. Because Love yourself like that marks its big comeback on record, more than three years after Fleur de verre. And even that one, she attests, is “a bit over the top with the pandemic”. 

That, she advances without the slightest hint of bitterness. It would be very bad to know Mélissa Bédard to think that she feels sorry for her past, or even that she deigns to look behind her. His eyes are straight ahead. She is moving forward.

Now an author

And why not? Because this album is full of promise for her. She describes him as the one who arouses the most pride in her. This statement may be overused as artists use it all over the place, Mélissa Bédard is sincere “for real”, she insists.

After all, this is the first time she has offered songs written by her own hand, an exercise she had always refused herself until now. 

This exercise therefore gave two-piece birth. The first, which gave its title to the album, deals with self-esteem – its workhorse for quite some time now –, encouraging women to accept themselves as they are. 

“This is a message that is extremely important to me. It's one that I want to pass on to my teenage daughter, but also to all the women around me,” she says. 

” I am 6 feet 1 ;thumb, I've always spoken louder than the others. My life, I want to live it fully. I have the right to be happy and to find myself beautiful, even if I don't have the “ideal” measurements! So let's stop dwelling on the judgment of others,” she concludes., focuses on a more difficult topic: medical assistance in dying. The singer has, by her own admission, tried to break down the taboo surrounding this subject. 

“I think there is something beautiful about the possibility of leaving with dignity , in her own words,” she argues.The majority of the other titles on the album allow Mélissa Bédard— to lend her voice to various classics, borrowed from Patricia Kaas as well as Roch Voisine, Les BB, Michel Louvain and Simon and Garfunkel, titles that have marked her personal or professional journey. 

The song Bridge Over Troubled Water – which she performs in duet with Angelo Del Vecchio – will serve as a bridge to the ; the singer plans to go there “by the end of the year” to take the pulse of French music lovers, something she had never wanted to do before. 

“ It had never really attracted me. I am a sedentary person, who likes to be at home, with my family and my children. My role as a mother is so close to my heart, I'm afraid of missing out on beautiful moments with them if I leave for too long. But they are starting to grow, so I think now I can go see how my music can be received there. I’m curious,” she says.

• The Love yourself like that< /strong> is now for sale.