🇱🇹 Antoine Wend Interview: “The song is actually about my Lithuanian best friend Simona.”

Last night we had the chance to meet up with French born singer Antoine Wend to talk about his journey into the music industry, how he ended up on Lithuania’s X Faktorius, and his still unreleased song for Eurovizija.LT Say No More. Check out the exciting interview below!

Thank you so much for taking some time out of your preparations for Eurovizija.LT to speak with us Antoine! Why don’t we start our time together by having you tell us a bit about you?

Thank you for having me in this interview 🤗 

Well my name is Antoine Wend, I was born and raised in Rouen, in Normandie in France. I have always sang and was always passionate about the voice and how to play with it. I was only a “bathroom singer” annoying my mother every time, until I lived for one year in South Korea and I met friends that supported me and encouraged me for the first time in my life to go further in music and they saw the potential they believed in (Olga and in particular Simona from Lithuania).

I came back to Paris at that time where I was studying architecture and started singing in piano bars and open mics. Best school I ever had so far. Very hard to catch people’s attention and control your voice so it doesn’t fail you. Step by step I continued to sing, learning from videos of my favorite singers singing live on YouTube, saving money to produce my first songs, between the work of an architect during the day (and night sometimes) and the work of a singer (at night and weekend). 

You mentioned that before you were a full-time singer and songwriter, you were working full-time as an Architect. Which gets me wondering, what are some other things that our readers would be surprised to learn about you?

Yes indeed, I graduated in Paris from architecture school and I was very happy to have had this experience. I learned to do things with my hands and to make the things I would picture in my mind coming to reality. I was then working in a famous architecture firm in Paris while writing my first songs. My manager at work and colleagues and friends were my first fans at that time and would come to all my small shows and advise me at work. It was so cute and I will never forget these moments. Because of me we would all sing Céline Dion songs during the work for the happiness of some and the despair of others ah ah! We had so much fun. 

What other things that would be surprising about me? Hummm… right! I’m a geek and I have built computers since my childhood! I used to get fans and radiators or graphics cards for birthdays and Christmas ah ah! I am actually a huge fan of Tomb Raider Lara Croft, and I actually wrote a song about it, not released yet…

I also used to have snakes and lizards back in my childhood bedroom cause I love reptiles. I love traveling all around the world and learning new things, new cultures and trying to be as open to people and the world as possible. 

That’s a lot of good information about you – I feel like I know you better already!  You haven’t mentioned yet that in 2021 you made the decision to compete in Lithuania’s X Faktorius with Lithuanian piano player Mindaugas Pundzius. What ultimately drew you to audition for the show outside of your home country?

Well back in 2014, when I was living in South Korea, I met one of my best friends now, Simona from Lithuania. We went to visit each other, she would come to Paris and Rouen, and I would go visit her in Kaunas and Vilnius. 

In 2021 I went to visit her in Vilnius and we randomly went to an open mic bar. I sang a song “It’s a man’s man’s world” and the sound engineer of the place was amazed by my performance and told me he was working as a vocal coach for X Factor and that I should apply. I did apply and they asked me to create a band cause the solo applications were already done. 

So I contacted Mindaugas Pundzius who I knew through a few connections, and he agreed to come with me for this journey. I always loved challenges and traveling, so that was for me the best cocktail to give it a try for. And I was also very happy because all along I had the support of my best friend who I could finally see way more than ever before. 

What did you learn about yourself as an artist during your participation on X Faktorius and after your subsequent win?

Well I think I learned to tame my voice, cause that’s at the same time my best friend and my worst enemy… I learned to control my flow and avoid being unfocused. Sometimes things would not always work. But on the top of it, I learned that I could touch people with my voice and with who I am without pretending anything about my personality and behavior.

I learned that being an artist is not only singing, but sharing everything that we believe will be worth sharing, for big messages, emotions or pure entertainment. I learned to trust my voice, my body and to love who I am. The intense work had already been taught by the architecture school ah ah!

Now let’s talk about your music – If asked to describe your musical style and sound to someone, what words or references would you use?

I believe I’m a pop artist, sometimes with a bit of pop-rock or pop-electro. I love ballads too. As I said earlier, I’m a maniac of voices, this organic instrument is for me something so interesting and fascinating. 

I find my influences in Sia, Adele, Céline Dion, Harry Styles or Shawn Mendes. As words to describe it, I would say, vocal, pop, authenticity, melancholy, sexy themes and fun. 

You have released a lot of music in both French and English, but you’ve said before that you really enjoy singing and performing in English. Could you elaborate on that a bit more?

To be fair I love singing in both English and French. As a fan of the voice organ, the English language allows a bit more flexibility in the voice to play around and be extravagant as a singer. 

The French language on the other hand you need to be fair to the right pronunciation of each syllable and have a different opening of the voice and muscle placement. I literally love singing in both languages, and French too, especially since I finally have my first French personal songs. 

I noticed that you’ve done two covers of Eurovision 2022 songs – “Voila” by Barbara Pravi with Clara Giambino and Tout L’Univers on X Faktorius so I’d love to pick your brain on this question. If you were tasked with creating a full Eurovision cover album, what are some songs you’d pick for the album and tell us why!

On the top of the two masterpieces, I would add “Ne partez pas sans moi” by Céline Dion as a huge fan of her, “Arcade”, “Sentimentai”, “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” for the fun and my childhood, “Tattoo”, and “Rhythm Inside”. 

Now that would be a fun album – I’d buy it! Let’s switch gears a bit , and talk about Eurovizija.LT. What ultimately motivated you to submit an entry for the Lithuanian national selection this year?

After winning X Factor I realized I was able to be a singer. I then made a whole tour of concerts in Lithuania for more than a year, made the first act of Barbara Pravi in Vilnius, performed my own songs and kept on making new ones. I then realized I was ready to be an artist, with my own words, with my own melodies, with my own songs. 

In 2023 I already wanted to participate in the Lithuanian national Eurovision but didn’t really know how to make it to the application. And in 2024 I decided to give it my all and to apply with a very personal song that I wrote. And well, I got taken for the national contest which is only the very first step before whatever comes after that. 

And let’s talk about your song “Say No More” – can you tell us how this very personal song came together, and what the message of the song is?

I wrote this song a few months after X Factor in a studio in Vilnius. The song didn’t take too long to write because I was very inspired that evening, and with my producer friend Titas Astaf. We made a demo in a few hours. 

The song is actually about my Lithuanian best friend Simona. It is a message for her to remind and communicate that I will always be there for her, to help her, to only listen to her if that’s what she needs. A message that I might not have always been right and aware, but that even through these human states of mind, she can still count on me. It’s a message of opening yourself to communication and letting yourself be vulnerable. I think this is a great message of kindness and openness for all of us. 

A beautiful message indeed, I can’t wait to see it come to life live on stage! And before we let you go, where can our readers find you and your music so they can support your journey?

We can find under the name of “Antoine Wend” in Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, where you can discover all the music videos that I have made so far. 

Thanks so much Antoine and we wish you the best of luck in the Lithuanian National selection! 🙂

Thank you so much for your interest!! 🥰 hope to hear from you again soon 🙌