“When everyone says you're a son of a bitch”: Orelsan at the bottom of the hole after his feat with Ninho

By Quentin Piton Journalist Series – Cinema Journalist specializing in series, cinema, but also anime and manga. Spends his time dreaming of Emma Watson, considers Olivier Giroud the GOAT and refuses to speak with those who are against the absolute truth which is: How I Met Your Mother is a better series than Friends. He's there. After months of waiting, it is this Thursday, October 13, 2022 that Amazon Prime Video has just released part 2 of Never show that to anyone, the documentary by Clément Cotentin centered on the career of his brother Orelsan, and more precisely the preparation of his album “Civilization”. And in these unpublished images, we discover that the rapper suffered enormously during the writing, the fault in particular of violent criticism received during his duet with Ninho.

The terrible questioning of Orelsan

In order to digest the incredible success of “The party is over” and best prepare “Civilization”, his new album released in November 2021, Orelsan had chosen to step back and cut off his social networks as much as his appearances. public for more than two years. A necessary distance for the rapper who was looking to recharge his batteries and renew himself creatively speaking, which he had nevertheless exceptionally broken in the spring of 2021 as part of a collaboration with Ninho on the title Millions.

While Orelsan had been living in hiding for months and racking his brains to bring powerful and memorable new songs to life alongside Skread and Ablaye, he was logically forced to leave his cabin to shoot a clip. Problem, following a photo stolen on the set by one of the extras, the rapper quickly found himself at the center of mockery on social networks, the fault of an appearance deemed unflattering. Compared in particular to a grandmother, the interpreter of The smell of gasoline suddenly faced a surge of criticism and hatred that did not leave him indifferent.

An exciting new documentary…

This Thursday, October 13, Amazon Prime Video just released part 2 of the documentary Never Show This To Anyone, centered this time on the backstage of the creation of the album “Civilization”. An exciting dive and once again rich in images and revelations, which reveals an absolutely fascinating behind the scenes. We discover how Orelsan works to create his titles, but above all we find an artist – yet multi-awarded and adored, constantly plagued by doubt, stress and constant questioning.

Where his new opus has once again made everyone agree – Orelsan notably received two Victoires de la Musique in March 2022 (Male performer, Original song), this documentary does not hide the suffering that Orelsan was able to feel when making it. While the rapper often has the clichéd image of a somewhat soft guy who does everything very quickly, these unpublished images present, on the contrary, an artist who constantly puts himself in the wrong, trapped by a perfectionism always in struggle. with an impostor syndrome that doesn't seem to let go.

… which shows Orelsan at its worst after violent criticism

Also, while Orelsan was already behind on his schedule and struggling like never before to create “Civilization”, this mockery from Internet users about his look, but also the negative feedback on his rap alongside Ninho, put him lower than earth. “When the song comes out, it's been two years since I've released something and I have the misfortune to go and see on Twitter, and I see a lot of reactions that say, 'Ah, you can see that 'he's old', 'His voice is old', 'You can tell he's no longer in it', 'Oh the flow he's rigid', 'Orelsan he's finished'”, contextualizes he initially in front of the camera of his brother, Clément Cotentin.

Comments that he had not anticipated and which therefore affected him. “When there's something you think is cool and everyone tells you that you're actually a son of a bitch, because there are really people who put 'that FDP d'Orelsan', well after a while I can pretend that it doesn't affect me, but…, he breathed. Since it's been two years since I I had cut Twitter and everything, the fact that it all happened in the face all of a sudden, it sucks.”

Something to steer him, but also to block him more at a crucial moment, “I don't want to act in reaction to them, so after that I don't do anything. But I'm supposed to write an album and if the 'album sucks…” After all, Gringe's pal reminds him, he had never experienced this before: “Usually it doesn't affect me“. Consequently, the discovery of this unprecedented situation mixed with the context totally destabilized him: “There, as it was the thing where it was to be my return. (…) What drove me crazy, it was that a bad photo made people see my music differently, that it could influence all my work. (…) I tell myself that the return is not won.“

< p>Fortunately, those around him – and in particular his marriage – will finally allow him to free himself from a burden, but this revelation allows us to better understand why Orelsan humorously releases (but not only) a terrible sentence in this documentary: “< em>After [this recording], I quit rapping“.