L’Imperatrice toured throughout much of 2022 in the U.S. and saw overwhelming support for their music along with a growing fanbase. Whether it was related to the europhoria music fans experienced throughout the year as live events came back to life or the band’s catchy music or both, L’Imperatrice has become synonymous with a must-see band to experience live. The French band released their latest album ‘Tako Tsubo’ early 2021 but were unable to tour the album until this year, starting off with a wildly successful set at Coachella in the spring and saw larger and larger crowds throughout each festival appearance, including Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Portola Festival in San Francisco and Austin City Limits. The band stated, “it’s crazy for us because we’re just like a French band singing mostly in French and people are here, they are cheering and that’s a big gift for us.” The band had recently released a new single, “Everything Eventually Ends” with Rejjie Snow, which captures some heavy emotions set against the happier sound that the band is known for. The track was something that the band recorded back in December of 2021 while they were in Baja California. Lead singer and lyricist, Flore Benguigui shared, “I had this line about never being on the list at a party and so I went from that to the idea of having imaginary friends in a way, because of the idea that somebody can seem lonely an outsider point of view- somebody that seems to have no friends and no social life, he or she can have a very dense and intense inner life with an imaginary world and imaginary friends. What I wanted to say is that it doesn’t make you an anti-social person or a weirdo to have imaginary lives.” The band plans to take some time off before working on new material, in which they are still formulating.
L’Imperatrice spoke with B-Sides host Pete Mar about performing at Austin City Limits 2022, their increasing profile and popularity, the band’s newest single with Rejjie Snow, “Everything Eventually Ends” and more.
