You might have heard it by now. Within six hours of premiering on Stereogum, Woodkid’s “sad” version of Pharrell’s “Happy” had clocked over 100,000 listens, a heartbreakingly beautiful string-laden rendition that tugs at your heart.
Woodkid, aka Yoann Lemoine, the world-renowned French musician, director and producer behind acclaimed videos for Lana Del Rey’s Blue Jeans and Born To Die, Drake & Rihanna’s Take Care and Katy Perry‘s Teenage Dream doesn’t seem to want to slow down. After the critical success of his debut album, The Golden Age, Woodkid will be bringing his celebrated live performance to Coachella, playing both Fridays of the festival.
Woodkid will also be lending his impressive grasp of audio-visual experiences to the New York City Ballet. An eight-minute pièce d’occasion, conceived and directed by JR (2011 TED prize winner), the ballet will be set to an original score composed by the Grammy-nominated Woodkid.
Says the singer-songwriter-keyboardist-producer of his soaring, often orchestral songs: “I want people to feel like heroes when they hear my music.”
Apart from all this praise, Woodkid remains the musical artist and subtle producer of his incredibly moving stories and images “and the depth of feeling, tenderness, awe and melancholia that they evoke” (The Clash Magazine). He is directing all his videos on his own and turns every live performance into a spectacle rarely seen in the world of pop music. Together with a 30-piece orchestra, he turned the venerable Le Grand Rex theatre in Paris in September 2012 into a place of ecstasy in front of 3,000 adoring fans.
Woodkid also recently appeared at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, discussing his career and showing highlights of his work as part of Sonos and VEVO’s The Director’s Studio, held in conjunction with the touring exhibition, Spectacle: The Music Video. The first comprehensive museum exhibition to explore the art form, it features more than 300 videos, immersive installations, and artifacts organized by the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and curated by Jonathan Wells and Meg Grey Wells of Flux and designed by Logan.
Absolut featured Woodkid in a series about his growth as an artist. The fascinating film gives a peek inside Yoann’s head.
Woodkid Remixes Pharrell's "Happy"
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