Coachella 2024: French group L'Impératrice discuss festival journey, Maggie Rogers collab

It's been quite an exciting journey for the French pop/disco band L'Impératrice since the six-member group made its Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival debut in 2022.

Back then, the group wasn't sure how, or if, it would be welcomed by the desert festival crowd. Slotted to play during the afternoon at one of the smaller venues, keyboardist Charles de Boisseguin said the group was "not expecting anything," and was even worried that they would feel like outsiders, as the group exclusively sings in French.

However, all of that, thankfully, came to be untrue within minutes.

"It was absolutely fire. The show was amazing, especially the first one," de Boisseguin said. "Everyone told us, 'You'll see, the second weekend is better,' but for us, the first show was impressive."

"We were so pleased to see people waiting for us in the tent, and in one or two songs, people were gathering and then people were spreading out of the tent," recalled keyboardist Hagni Gwon.

Flash forward to 2024, L'Impératrice was one of the hottest acts at this year's festival, drawing in an enthusiastic crowd at the much larger Outdoor Theatre. It did come with a bit more pressure, admitted vocalist Flore Benguigui, to make "everyone happy," but it was a "super fun slot" nonetheless.

The stage upgrade is just one of the more obvious ways the group has grown over the past two years. The six members worked on new music for their latest album, "Pulsar," set to release on June 7, collaborated with musicians Maggie Rogers and Erick the Architect and toured around the world.

"We're doing everything step-by-step and it's constant and very hard work, so that's just a very nice reward for what we've been doing for the past few years," Benguigui said of moving to the Outdoor Theatre.

The past two Coachella weekends have showcased a few new songs off of "Pulsar," including "Cosmogonie," "Me Da Igual" and "Danza Marilù," and by the looks of the crowd, the groovy vibes continue to be off-the-charts. It's always interesting to play shows in the United States and compare the audience to the one at home, said de Boisseguin. American fans focus on each member and what they bring to a song, while French fans "are here to sing, mostly because it's in our culture."

But regardless of language, dancing is a vital part of everything L'Impératrice does. Bassist David Gaugué is a main driver of it, said de Boisseguin, setting the foundation and "groove" for the music.

Benguigui, who led the crowd with a few dance moves on Friday, added: "Dancing is something that anybody can understand. Most people can do it. In an audience, when you play a show, most people can do something with their hands or their whole bodies, so it's an easy way to get people in."

On social media, the group has encouraged fans to share videos doing the "Granny dance" to the tune of "Danza Marilù." That is a nod to the animated music video, which features an older woman dancing like no one's watching and not letting her age get in the way of having a good time.

"With 'Danza Marilù,' we wanted to reach all people and tell them you don't have to be ashamed, you can have fun on the dance floor," Benguigui added.

The next few weeks will be exciting for the band with the release of "Pulsar." The album brought about collaborations with Rogers, Erick the Architect and Fabiana Martone on "Danza Marilù."

For that song specifically, guitarist Achille Trocellier shared he was working on music with drummer Tom Daveau, and when they found a groove they liked, it felt very Italian, evoking images of mustaches and driving around the country. Around the same time, Benguigui said Italian singer Martone messaged the group wanting to collaborate with them, which led to the perfect collaboration.

Though he stayed tight-lipped about other parts of the album, de Boisseguin said it was "easy" to work on and everything came together naturally. Rogers visited the group in Paris and wrote the melody and lyrics to "Any Way" within four hours. Similarly, Erick the Architect sent a verse and they were "amazed" by it.

"This time we tried to just listen to ourselves and be confident enough to do it all by ourselves," he said. "It's different from before, but I think it's really authentic and sincere. We really wanted to enjoy ourselves."

Before they return home to France, members said they were looking forward to closing out the festival weekend by seeing No Doubt, Jungle, Raye and several other artists.

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Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health at the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella: French band L'Impératrice talks festival, Maggie Rogers collab