LiLi Roquelin with brand new video for “The Only One”

I first heard about LiLi Roquelin from my friend Ken Arcara, who did some gorgeous shoots of her. I love piano. Actually I’ve always wanted to learn to play it and I had one at my house growing up… but it eventually never happened. My affection with the instrument, however, remained.

photo by Michelle Kawka

LiLi is a piano singer-songwriter based in New York City. Born on the French Riviera, LiLi learned to play music at the age of four, but later felt that the music education in France is too conservative so she decided to move to the US. After she spent some time at the Cleveland/Akron area and fronted a pop-rock and a hard-rock band, the singer moved to New York and established her own mixture of indie pop/trip-hop and classic piano composing. LiLi is a voting member for the Grammy Awards and won multiple awards for her work – including Best Music Video at the Queens Film Festival in November 2008 and Best Music Video at the 2009 Indie Gathering Film Festival. Right before her birthday, LiLi released her brand new single “The Only One” on YouTube. The video is directed by Kyle Lavore and follows a lovely walk of LiLi through Astoria Park. I must say that it’s really well done – here is the proof!

LiLi, you grew up on the French Riviera, why did you decide to move to America?

I was attracted to it since I was 12 years old. Then when I realized I was going to do music I knew I’d come here for it. It was an impulse to make my dream come true.

I found in your bio something really interesting – in Ohio you fronted the hard-rock band Hate Dies Hard. How did that feel and why did you choose a singer-songwriter career afterwards?

My main instrument is the voice and at first I was mostly a vocalist and co-writer. When I moved to the US I was first lead vocalist/writer with a pop-rock band Phizzy Lager and then the band broke up. In life I always see things as a progression. I was looking for something of another level. Hate Dies Hard was already very established regionally and their talent in composition and melodies was really inspiring.

Cleveland is “the home of Rock’n’Roll” and it is in the culture there to hear this kind of music and sound, the heaviness didn’t bother me at all. I learned a lot musically and during the recording.  Then I naturally felt I was ready to be a singer-songwriter. So I picked the piano as my partner and took lessons and went solo. It is also a sort of freedom and independence because this way I don’t have to rely on other musicians to be able to perform.

photo by Michelle Kawka

Would you say that some of that experience inspired you to write rock songs like your new single “The Only One”, the video of which goes on YouTube today?

Yes, absolutely. My latest record “Beautiful Sun” does have ballads, bluesy and ethereal tunes and the rock songs “The Only One” and “Try to Remember” that I wanted to have the alternative guitar sound which I love.

There is a dark even gothy hint in your music, that is most noticeable in songs like “Bliss of my soul” and “Oh Brother” where did that come from? I also can’t help myself asking you if you like Mylene Farmer and have you been inspired by her work?

“Bliss of my soul” is definitely haunting; it talks about the Cliff House in San Francisco on Ocean Bay, I wrote it while I was visiting and the fog totally took me away. “Oh Brother” is a collaboration with talented songwriter Sam Scozzari. When I heard his draft he said it was about “a little girl was told her brother went to war and didn’t come back”, I had tears in my eyes and collaborated with him on the song.

That is the first time someone asks me about Mylene Farmer. She is such a huge star in France and other countries in Europe or Japan. She is better than Madonna to me. She is the Queen of melancholy and minor chords. I listened to her music a lot while growing up so that’s possible.

You always set the standards high with your videos and they often make their way to movie festivals, reveal something about your new video “The Only One”?

The song “The Only One” is Track 5 on latest album “Beautiful Sun” and this is the second music video for this album. I wanted to do something different, so the video represents that. Director Kyle Lavore (he has worked on films like the “Amazing Spider-Man” and “Men in Black III”) had the idea to do a One-Shot. It was challenging because we had to rehearse it and time all of our movements and get it all right from the beginning to the end of the song without stopping. The video was filmed in beautiful Astoria Park.

photo by Danielle Campbell

Is there a remarkable/fun story that happened while shooting?

We had a few frustrating and funny moments (lol)! Because it was a One-Shot, you have to get it right straight through, but of course the first takes weren’t good because we had a couple morning runners that decided to pass right through the set! There was also a leaf falling right on my head…

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What’s the most inspirational place for you in New York City? What about France?

In NYC it’s Battery Park. I like sitting by the water front and staring at the Statue of Liberty. She symbolizes a lot to me, not just because she was a gift from France. I am a US citizen now and very grateful for it. Just outside of the city I like the Long Island Sound area, the Bays are woodsy and quiet, and that’s where we did my previous music video for “Thank You” actually. Talking about France I love the seashore of my hometown – Toulon.

photo by Ken Arcara

If you weren’t a singer, what profession would you choose?

Hard to think about this! I don’t know!… Maybe working in an art gallery. I like to support the arts in general.

Are you working on new songs? 

I always save ideas when they come to me but right now I am still promoting heavily my record “Beautiful Sun”. I’m very proud of it from the songwriting and arrangements to the production to the sound quality. Get it on iTunes, Amazon or CDBaby everybody! 

album cover of LiLi Roquelin's latest album "Beautiful Sin"

Where we can hear you perform next?  

I am going to France in December and am taping an interview at a studio for a trendy video blog before that, I have shows on Nov 23rd and Dec 6th, for a complete list of shows please go to http://www.liliroquelin.com/tour

More about LiLi and her music on www.liliroquelin.com as well as on Facebook, Twitter @liliroquelin, Soundcloud and Instagram.

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