“My mother had me at 18, my grandfather was not aware”

“I think this photo of my mother was taken by my stepfather in 1984 or 1985. It was in the house where I grew up, in Poitou, and it is still there. I was 5 years old when I arrived in this house. My mother had me when I was 18 and she entrusted me to my grandparents, in Béziers. When I was born, my grandmother knew about it, but my grandfather didn’t. She was knitting sweaters, cardigans, saying that the neighbor had had a child. When he found out and there was talk of me coming to live with them, he didn’t agree.

But one day I looked at a picture of him and kissed it. From that time on, he cherished me very much. My grandfather, Algerian, was a soldier. He met my Vietnamese grandmother during the Indochina war. He was a very authoritarian, father of seven children. But with me it never was. I was like an eighth child, and also the first grandchild in the family. I went back and forth between their home and my mother’s in Poitiers.

“My mother is like my best friend, my sister, we are always there for each other. »

This photo marks the return to the home we built together with my mother. After leaving me with my grandparents, she met my stepfather. Both were pharmacy students. We settled in a village, in Lusignan, near Poitiers. My father-in-law took a photo of my mother by surprise, she is in evening dress and holds a bottle of perfume in her hand, in the living room which is called “the large glass”, because there is a large veranda.

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This moment really constitutes the beginning of a settled family life, without incessant comings and goings and the heartbreaks that go with it. In our house, many friends passed by, I was bathed in a fairly festive atmosphere and I was free to move about in this village of 2,000 inhabitants. I was walking to school, which was next door.

At the time of this photo, we took a lot of walks, my mother taught me my first songs, made me listen Carmen, Serge Gainsbourg. It was she who instilled in me this love for music. She was taking acting lessons. At home there was a piano. This is how I started composingwithout learning music.

I admire my mother, who assumed having such a young child. But she knew where she was going and she loved me very much. She did everything for me. Today, if I am what I am, it is thanks to her. We grew up together and shared a great bond. My mother really fought so that I could exercise my passions. She’s like my best friend, my sister, we’re always there for each other. She is my ideal feminine. »

Troy (Five7). In concert on August 27 at Rock en Seine.

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Stephanie Binet