Both gentle and powerful, Yseult presented a most captivating piano-voice concert on Wednesday evening as part of the Francos de Montréal.

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On the enormous stage of the symphony house, the grand piano, the only instrument in the room – apart from the organ which inhabits the premises – seems very small. Then past 9:15 p.m., Yseult went on stage in a halo of light and a long-sleeved white dress, reminiscent of the toga of a gospel choir. His voice is huge.

Firmly grounded, the singer was captivating from start to finish. His intimate and powerful songs, halfway between trap and French variety – played in an acoustic version for this show – resonated with beauty in the almost full house. This refined way of playing them also gives a lot of impact to his texts, which are sometimes heavy with meaning.

The artist, muse of L'Oréal Paris for a year, offered a concert all in sobriety, but not without tenderness. With her charisma and her desire to break the codes of "beauty" and popular aesthetics, she brilliantly knew how to charm and make the crowd shudder, who repeatedly applauded her loudly, giving her an ovation even before she left. 'she pushes the first notes of her recital.

Revealed during her stint on the French talent show Nouvelle Star – in which she reached the final – Yseult has launched, since the release of her first full album in 2014, several à la carte songs and mini-albums under the label qu she founded, Y.Y.Y, including Noir (2019) and Brut (2020). It is with these EPs that the young singer managed to break away from her electro-pop style, adopted at the start of her career.

It is these pieces that she presented at the Maison Symphonique on Wednesday. Demonstrating her vocal skills – one of the most versatile – with striking ease, the singer played with the melodies and the rhythm of her often revisited songs, including INDÉLÉBILE and SEXE. You could have heard a pin drop during the first verse of the pieces BAD BOY, CORPS and Nothing to prove, sung softly a capella, for which the public once again got up from their seats to applaud.

Between two sentimental ballads, the singer-songwriter, born in France to parents of Cameroonian origin, slips in refreshing moments of humor to which the audience, always very attentive, laughs.

Before making her debut on the boards of the Maison Symphonique de Montréal, singer Naomi made sure to warm up the room. The young woman obtained the mandate after meeting the French singer on the set of Star Académie, last March. She was then one of the dancers of the artist.

Yseult will be at Lac-Drolet, in Estrie on August 20th.