He’s one of the new faces of Québec R&B. He follows in the footsteps of his musician father, a Lebanese pianist who took his son with him to all the concerts he played, ever since he was born. She offers a more traditional piano-voice approach to “la chanson.” Despite not growing up surrounded by musicians, she followed the traditional path of singing competitions from a young age.
At first glance, you’d think Blynk and Katrine Sansregret have very little in common. But everything becomes crystal clear the moment they sit down facing each other in SOCAN’s offices, a few days before their showcase during the Francofolies de Montréal.
“I’m a Laval guy,” Blynk says, right off the bat, when asked to indtroduce himself. “My dad is a musician in the Middle Eastern music scene. He’s a pianist who toured with all kinds of artists from Lebanon. I’ve always been surrounded by music. My aunt and my sister are singers too. It’s like I had no choice – music was in my blood. I was practically built for it! My first-ever performance? I was three. I sang an Arabic song at a restaurant with my dad. I remember it like it was yesterday. They paid me in bubblegum! The bar was set high… ever since, I demand at least five bubblegums per show.”
“I’m from the South Shore, from Saint-Hubert,” Katrine Sansregret chimes in.
“That’s it! We officially have beef now! It’s Laval or NOTHING!” thunders Blynk with a laugh, echoing a now-iconic rallying cry of Montréal’s suburbs.
“Joking aside, though, my career path is the exact opposite of yours,” says Sansregret, who reached the finals of the most recent season of Star Académie, the Québec-based TV singing competition. “People always said I inherited the family’s artistic talent – like everyone else lost theirs the day I was born! I was always singing and dancing as a kid. My parents noticed something was going on, so they signed me up for lessons and little competitions. I learned piano at the same time I learned to sing. I will say, though, my parents listened to a lot of music. I used to listen to Plume [Latraverse] with my dad when I was little. I loved it – mostly because it gave me an excuse to swear! Later I discovered Marie-Pierre Arthur, Ariane Moffatt… they were my real first influences.”
Blynk’s evolution also had to go through a certain phase of detachment from his musical heritage. After years of following his dad around to countless dinner shows, he discovered the incredible richness and creativity of R&B, notably through the first albums of The Weeknd and Drake. “Bear in mind, I spent every weekend eating and falling asleep on restaurant chairs while I waited for his show to be over. That’s a classic Lebanese experience!” he says, laughing. “So yeah, my parents’ music – mostly Lebanese folk – didn’t really speak to me at first, but I’ve learned to appreciate it by blending touches of Middle Eastern music into my R&B sound.”
Catapulted onto the stage from a young age, Blynk and Katrine Sansregret never had to question what their future would look like. Music always was the only possible path. “It’s pure instinct. I never had the kind of ‘Aha!’ moment when I knew that’s what I wanted to do. It’s just always been something that’s part of me,” explains the 24-year-old R&B singer.
“I totally relate,” Katrine goes on. “To me, music has never been a job or work. I started young and I’ve been doing it day in and day out ever since. It’s my life.”
In both cases, there have been very few moments of doubt. “I had some doubts when I discovered how the industry operates and I understood making music is much more complicated than simply… making music,” Blynk explains, immediately provoking visible nods of agreement from Sansregret. “Art comes to me naturally; there’s zero doubt about that. But when you see all the business around it, you can start having doubts. I would never have made it without my incredible team. There’s just too much to do, otherwise.”
“Being an artist also means being your own small business,” agrees Katrine. “And it’s crucial to have a divide between the artist and the entrepreneur, because they de-stabilize each other.”
The 21-year-old singer also doubted her talent as a songwriter. It was only when she sang two of her own songs during the semi-final (“Minable”) and final (“Par où partir”) rounds of Star Académie that she grew more confident in her creative talent. “When the show’s production team believed in me, and then the audience believed in me, everything changed. It allowed me to believe in what I do. The most amazing moment was when I sang one of my songs to Pierre Lapointe (a music mentor during this season of the show), and he said to me, ‘OK, well, you’re now officially part of Québec’s songwriting community!’ It was mind-blowing to get such recognition.”
But despite the confidence they project, both artists admit that they’re quite sensitive to what other people say. “At first, I got a lot of flack for my lack of consistency,” Blynk confides. “People didn’t show up at my concerts, and would tell me stuff like, ‘I’m sure you’re not a good performer!’ I’m incredibly pig-headed, and I took that as a challenge. I wanted to prove them wrong.”
“I’ve always believed in what I do, but I was told over and over it wouldn’t work,” adds Katrine. “People would tell me stuff like “you don’t have enough character” or “you speak too softly!” As a matter of fact, I feel like it takes forever in this industry for women to not be seen as little girls. That’s the starting point of my song “Minable,” this idea that I’m not ready to do anything just to please people. I wanted to prove people wrong, and that I can succeed without changing who I am.”
Sansregret will make her Francos de Montréal debut with a stripped-down piano-and-voice set, showcasing her original songs. “I don’t play the piano on stage,” she says. “I have super-emotional songs about very intimate subjects, like the death of my grandmother, or the end of my last relationship. My performance is extremely vocal-centric and intense, so I want to focus my energy on my voice and my emotions.”
“Wow, can’t wait to see that!” says Blynk. For his part, he’ll hit the stage accompanied by a DJ. “I want my show to be a conversation with the audience, I want to connect with them and make them sing. My themes are a little dark, but I still want people to have fun.”
“Crazy how our universes are so completely different!” Katrine says for a second time.
Their musical worlds may be steeped in opposite influences, but they’re both driven artists, with similar goals and creative intent.