In the Top Secrets series, songwriters who’ve reached the top of the charts share the behind-the-scenes stories of their biggest hits. Each was honoured with a SOCAN No. 1 plaque to mark the achievement.
Starting over is never easy—and when your previous band was the wildly popular Cowboys Fringants, it can feel downright daunting. But for J F Pauzé, the band’s main songwriter, this solo debut is already making major waves.
His first single, Ballon-sonde, shot to No. 1 on the Mediabase Francophone Top 100 Radio Chart on July 7, just two weeks after its release, a meteoric rise that hints at a promising new musical chapter.
We caught up with him in his hometown of L’Assomption, at Bistro L’Ange Cornu, to mark the achievement and present him with his SOCAN No. 1 plaque. It was the ideal moment to chat about the origins of Ballon-sonde, a song written in the wake of Donald Trump’s election and meant as a message to his friend and fellow Cowboys vocalist, the late Karl Tremblay, with whom he surely would have shared animated discussions on the state of the world today.
In this Top Secrets episode, J F Pauzé reveals that he’s finally found his “true” voice—and shares that Ballon-sonde almost didn’t make the cut as the lead single from his upcoming album, Les amours de seconde main, set for release on October 3, 2025.
Click to watch the video. English version to come