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Formerly known as ZIGAZ, Charlie Gagnon is now adopting a new artistic identity with her Charlie Juste project. Our contributor Arielle Taillon-Desgroseillers took the time to chat with her to find out more about Aquamarine, her brand-new song due for release on April 15.
PAN M 360: You began your career under the name ZIGAZ. What motivated you to adopt the name Charlie Juste? What does this change mean to you?
Charlie Juste: What motivated me to change my name was really my music studies over the last two years, which enabled me to take a step back between my latest EP with ZIGAZ, Némésis, and my next projects. I took a break because it was a lot of work, but also because I needed it. I was asking myself a lot of questions about my artistic identity. ZIGAZ was a choice I made young, impulsively, and I didn’t take the time to sit down and ask myself what I wanted to project. I wanted a name that was close to me, I wanted something that represented me, because that’s precisely what I’ve worked out: I don’t want to play music or make music under the name of a character. My music is so close to my life, to what I think and feel, and I don’t want to fit into a role, which I think ZIGAZ forced me to do in a certain sense. It was just a need to be completely me, authentic and vulnerable to who I really am.
PAN M 360: What inspired you to write Aquamarine?
Charlie Juste: First of all, I challenged myself to find subjects that weren’t about love, but rather about myself, my wounds and my past. Secondly, he’s my little brother. I thought a lot about him when I was writing this song. I was reminded of some of the wounds I’ve experienced and how I’d do anything to prevent them from happening to him. It’s also a conversation with all the people who are very close to me, but also with myself. I wanted to heal the child inside me. So, in the need to be fully myself, I think it was important for this song to start from the ground up, and I think Aquamarine is that.
PAN M 360: Can you tell us about the creation of Aquamarine?
Charlie Juste: Aquamarine was created in the small bedroom of my best childhood friend, Shawn De Leemans. He did all the orchestration for the song. It all came together, I had some ideas, I wanted to incorporate a bit more spoken word and poetry into my songs, and the development came to us so organically. Honestly, we had the demo in one evening, but after that the development took almost two years because we had a pretty precise idea in mind and we really wanted to get there. Also, considering that we’re independent, we don’t necessarily have the same resources as other artists, so it took us longer, but we succeeded and we’re really happy to have produced Aquamarine as we’d imagined it.
PAN M 360: Do you have a routine or ritual when you write?
Charlie Juste: The only routine/ritual I have when I’m writing is that I need to be in a safe space with people I love, that’s all. It’s in those moments that I feel the freedom to try and test what I want.
PAN M 360: Does the release of Aquamarine announce a wider project, such as an album or EP?
Charlie Juste: Yes, it heralds a larger project, an EP called Velours et acide. All the demos are there, it’s just a question of working on it this summer, putting the finishing touches to it. That’s my main task for the summer!
PAN M 360: What are your influences at the moment? Are there any songs or artists that have made a particular impression on you during the creation of Aquamarine?
Charlie Juste: There’s a part of me that likes to say that my music is influenced by the music my mother listened to. When I was little, my mother used to clean the house on Sundays listening to Quebec music CDs, and I think a lot of my music refers to that. Quebec music has grown so much inside me and it’s something I’ve fully reconnected with in recent years. In general, Charlie Juste and Aquamarine are very influenced by Les Colocs, Offenbach, Vulgaire Machins, Fred Fortin, Jean Leloup, Luce Dufault and even Nanette Workman.
PAN M 360: Many French-speaking Quebec artists choose to sing in English to reach a wider audience. Why did you decide to make music in French?
Charlie Juste: I don’t think I could have done it any other way, because the French language is my mother tongue, it’s so loaded for me. It’s full of inspiration, memories and references, and that’s what I want my music to reflect, even at the expense of losing an English-speaking audience.
PAN M 360: How are you navigating the Quebec music scene? Do you feel like you’ve found your place, or do you still have to build it?
Charlie Juste: I definitely feel like I still have to build my place in the Quebec scene, but Charlie Juste is a beginning, it’s a new proposition that is really anchored and thought out. I think my music will have a place in the Quebec music scene. It seems like I’m at a place in my life where everything is more aligned, everything is clearer in my head, it’s just a matter of taking the time and making that place for myself.
PAN M 360: What are your plans for 2025?
Charlie Juste: Finish my EP, create more music, and continue to listen to my inner voice. Trust myself. It’s often my intuition that leads me to create things that truly reflect me.
