Charlotte Cardin on Juno wins, her new album and facing her own ego
Global News
The 28-year-old's career has been in a state of constant motion ever since she landed a spot in the Top 4 of French Canada's version of The Voice.
A little over a year ago, Charlotte Cardin was standing at the finish line of Juno Awards weekend, her arms full of golden statuettes.
With a leading four wins in some of the Canadian music award show’s top categories, including artist, single and album of the year for her 2021 debut Phoenix, the Montreal singer-songwriter was the show’s breakout star.
All eyes seemed fixed on what she would do next.
But Cardin says she didn’t feel much pressure as she readied her sophomore album 99 Nights, which was released last week.
“I never had time to stop and think, ‘Oh, the stakes are so much higher now,’” Cardin recalled in a recent interview in the Toronto offices of her record label. “It took us four years to write Phoenix and when it came out, I was already working on this album.
The 28-year-old’s career has been in a state of constant motion ever since she landed a spot in the Top 4 of French Canada’s version of The Voice in 2013. It took her a few more years before Quebec embraced her as its new critical pop darling, helped by early standout singles Meaningless and Daddy.
Like every artist whose first album leaves an impression, Cardin faced how to follow it up with something substantial. Luckily, by the time those Juno wins were on her mantle, she was already nearly finished much of 99 Nights.
Named after the rough time span of its creation, the album explores a period when the Paris-based Cardin was coming out of the darkest corners of a long-distance relationship with Quebec actor Aliocha Schneider. She said the challenge put both of them at a crossroads where they were forced to “reconsider a lot of things” about their relationship.
