Ever since his victory at Destination Eurovision, Bilal Hassani has been extremely busy. not only has he been preparing for Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv, but he’s also been putting together his debut album. And today, the wait for the LP is finally over, with the release of Kingdom.

The full album comes after the release of three singles – Eurovision entry “Roi“, plus Fais beleck” and “Jaloux” back in March. So far, “Roi” has peaked at number 23 on the French charts. No doubt Bilal will be hoping the LP will achieve similar success.

Kingdom adds 12 new songs to that list for a musical journey through 15 tracks that represent what Bilal is all about.

Lyrically, the album deals with the star’s personal story as well as showcasing a strong and confident identity.

Despite the homophobic and racist attacks he has received over the past months, Bilal shows no signs of giving up. The French singer is dealing with his haters through his songs and making sure they don’t tear him down. Instead he’s rising above like the roi he is.

Much like with his Eurovision 2019 entry, Madame Monsieur, and particularly Émilie Satt, have helped Bilal write a number of the album’s songs. Combining Bilal’s story with Madame Monsieur’s storytelling ability is a match made in heaven.

Bilal Hassani – Kingdom

Bilal’s album Kingdom starts off with an intro track  titled “Welcome to My Kingdom”. It teases us with some of the production elements that dominate much of the record.

Another interesting insight into the record comes from “Poison“. The infectious pop track definitely has influences from Émilie Satt’s previous work with Madame Monsieur. Bilal sings about becoming addicted to one person in particular, but he knows that he should leave the situation because “Baby you’re poison”.

The next song on the album is previous single “Jaloux”. On this song, Bilal sings about all the things that people call him out for. And what does he do? He doesn’t care! There are haters that exist only for the purpose of bringing up something negative. Bilal is well aware of that and doesn’t let them get to him!

Up next is “Qui cala?“. The song discusses how people have always pointed their fingers at Bilal. They tried to tell him what to do since they apparently knew better. But the French star uses this experience to inspire others to remain true to themselves: “And you need to know whatever you be, you need nobody”.

Fais Beleck” is one of the tracks that created a lot of buzz prior to the album release. The song comes with an electrifying rhythm that really gets you dancing.

With “The Flow“, Bilal takes things down a notch and begins with a slower intro. But the song doesn’t stay there, instead starting to build and swell. And it’s all worth the wait once the beat kicks in with the chorus. As with his Eurovision entry, a lot of the songs on the album switch effortlessly between English and French lyrics. But, “The Flow” is notably one of the songs that includes longer parts sung in English.

Boom X3” continues the mid-tempo feel before “Basic” takes things up to another level. On this latter track, Bilal has a simple message for “girls, gays and whoever else is there…don’t be basic, be fantastic”!

On “O.N.C“, Bilal gives the listener another current track with a Spotify-friendly melody.

Dans mon seum” is another very personal song for the French singer. In this song, Bilal processes a meeting with a guy that didn’t go the way he wanted it to.

Famous” is one of the final songs on the album. Here, the star sings about those who seek to be famous and to constantly appear in the spotlight. Naturally, there’s no need to dream about such things when you’ve got an army of fans like Bilal does.

On “Over You“, Bilal gets even with a person he used to be close with, singing: “I kept trying to forget it when you hurt me boo / Baby I was at 100 and you were a two / And now I’m over you”.

The last track is “You Should Have Let Me Love You“. This song sums up some of the topics Bilal touched upon throughout the record. Sonically, it has an enjoyable tropical vibe that comes just in time for the summer season.

Overall, Bilal has done an excellent job of crafting an album that flows nicely and includes a widespread field of lyrical themes. Truly a star is born here!

What do you think about Bilal Hassani’s debut album? Are you enjoying Kingdom? And what are your personal favourites on this project? Sound off in the the comments section below!

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CyxCy
CyxCy
4 years ago

I’m posting the news here, I had already announced it several months ago, but it was confirmed that Elodie Gossuin (and her famous youhouhouhou) would not be the French spokesperson this year. (Simply because Elodie has not worked for France 2 since last summer, she left for 6ter, a private group channel). She will be replaced by Julia Molkhou, a French actress and columnist, younger but very different and much less well known than Elodie.

Tonton Fée
Tonton Fée
4 years ago

BRAVO Bilal !!! Go Bilal ! Go France !

Idan Cohen
Idan Cohen
4 years ago

*yawn* Everyone sounds amazing with auto-tune. And don’t talk to me about “his personality” – personality comes AFTER vocal skills, not before. If we love Eurovision as a serious event, we should not support his act. If we want Eurovision to be “empowerment for LGBT” event than yes. Unfortunately, it seems like most of the Eurovision fandom prefers the latter. Then we complain serious singers don’t wanna come to Eurovision. Adele won’t spend 4 months of her life to appear in an “LGBT empowerment event” when she can go half drunk to her local gay bar and the same in… Read more »

Dawid
Dawid
4 years ago
Reply to  Idan Cohen

It’s more like it’s just promotion from his side. You go to ESC to represent your country, not to make yourself popular, right? Not that I care really, it’s up to what french people think about it.

Grftn
Grftn
4 years ago

It’s honestly pretty good 🙂
The best song remains Fais Beleck, a bop

Perturbo
Perturbo
4 years ago

Israel and Sweden have the same song this year. THE same song! The SAME SONG!!! It has the same melody! It is the SAME song!!!!!!!!

ESC Fan
ESC Fan
4 years ago

Oh my God…I just love his fantastic music…I’m really looking forward to see his performance on the Eurovision stage in Tel Aviv…I’m curious about his new eurovision wig and his staging. I hope he will do his best and I also hope he will placed very high. I love the interviews with him on the wiwibloggs channel. I can’t wait to the Eurovision live shows…just few weeks left…I’m really exited!!!