L.E.J.

This trio of Frenchwomen, with millions of views on the Internet, became world-famous for their covers and mashups of summer hits in 2015, even making Time magazine wonder who these irresistible young musicians were. The band will be coming to Greece for the first time, to bring a positively up-tempo mood to the Summer Nostos Festival. Lucie, Elisa, and Juliette, all born in 1993, are childhood friends and share the same passion for music. They studied at the Conservatory of Saint-Denis, the city they grew up in on the outskirts of Paris, and at the Maison de Radio France. Their music, which has been characterized as eclectic by MTV, is a powerful blend of both classical and modern music. Their diverse studies allow them to draw on both these disparate genres.

With over 78 million views on YouTube for their Summer 2015 video and a sweeping presence on social media, they decided to forge ahead with their own music. Their first album, En attendant l'album, is a sweet euphemism in which we discover the verve and the mashup instinct that made them widely known, as well as their first composition, La Dalle. Next came their 2016 tour, which won them the Newcomer on Stage prize at the Victoires de la Musique 2017 awards. In 2018, they released their album Poupées russes. For the first time, all the lyrics of their songs were written in French and the dominant sound was Juliette’s cello. The album was essentially an answer to all those who accused them of just making successful covers and mashups.

The Summer 2015 mashup that catapulted them to the top brings together in less than three minutes excerpts from twelve of the greatest hits of the summer of 2015, performed with the freshness, talent, and tender spontaneity of the three artists. It includes Freedom by Pharrell Williams, Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars, Cheerleader by OMI, Bitch Better Have My Money by Rihanna, and Hey Mama by David Guetta and Nicki Minaj. Two female voices and a cello, and suddenly everyone was talking about them. “It was a total surprise! Had we known, we wouldn’t have worn our pajamas,” they say jokingly about the music video they made in a very short time on a beach in the clothes they were wearing at that moment. Yet even though they became a distinct chapter in contemporary pop culture, their music takes every opportunity to remind us that they have a solid classical musical education and have thoroughly studied folk music.