Camille, the Oscar-winning French singer, spent 15 years making her new album, 'The Sound of Milk', a triple record documenting the stages of raising her two children with composer Clément Ducol. The album comprises 'Naissance' (2015), 'Enfance' (2020), and 'Adolescence' (2025). She could have released each part earlier but felt too exposed. 'I needed to be able to step back and look at the journey,' she says, calling from her home in the French countryside. 'I needed to feel grounded enough to release it in a world that does not respect children and mothers.'
An Album of Sound and Silence
On the surface, much of the album sounds sweet. 'Naissance' features no real instruments, relying on gurgles and found sounds from raising babies. Camille, known for vocal experimentation like beatboxing and raspberries, sees it as a manifesto freeing singing from pop's disembodiment. 'As a woman, music is about a way of living,' she says. 'It's about breathing, being with my kids, singing along with what's going on around me in an open world.' She calls 'Enfance' a 'pocket musical,' full of ditties parents make up when teaching kids about stairs and washing machines. 'All families are pieces of art,' she adds.
The Fight to Release the Album
Only 'Adolescence' fits her idiosyncratic pop catalogue since 2002, which includes drone, cabaret, bodily percussion, and Oscar-winning songs for 'Emilia Pérez'. Camille, now 48, had to convince her label Because Music that the album was viable. 'It took a lot of time to convince my label that this could be a record, because these songs are considered mother's things: 'This should stay in your house. Do proper songs, radio songs, in the studio,'' she says. 'But these are songs. This is my life, and this – mothering – is making the world go around, guys, because this is where we all come from.'
Camille acknowledges that even she initially felt internalised misogyny about the recordings. 'This is my private life, this is not commercial, this is not art; it's too joyful,' she recalls thinking. 'Then I realised: no, this is internalised misogyny, and it's the worst misogyny because you believe you shouldn't be there.' She adds, 'I can make 10 records about motherhood.'
Joy as a Political Act
'Adolescence' is the most politicised part, with songs about ecological collapse and disrespect for future generations. But the whole record defies darkness with joy. Camille criticises French President Emmanuel Macron's call for 'le réarmement démographique' (rearming the population) to counter waning birthrates. 'Mothers deliver then they're asked to be efficient the next day, month or three months after,' she says. 'Today, joy has become a taboo. It's irritating. It's like ecology – oh, this is a luxury.'
Personal History and Artistic Vision
Camille's father was abandoned as a child and adopted; her mother came from a wealthy family where nannies raised children. Camille's mother had a breakdown after returning to work when Camille's brother was three months old. Camille sees breastfeeding as 'slightly mending a transgenerational void on both sides'. The album artwork shows her naked, feeding a baby on a blank tarmac surface, commenting on western realities of raising kids. 'This is not a world for children and mothers,' she reiterates.
Her children, now teenagers, love the record. 'They're really proud,' she says. 'For his end-of-year show, my son invited me to sing the songs with his friends. And he's a teenager – he's going to be 16 – so I think it's very sweet.' She cries a few happy tears. This will be the first tour Camille's family won't join, prompting reflection on creating family with her band and the public.
Reinvention and Moving On
Camille describes parenting teenagers as a 'big kick in the ass', preparing her to become someone else again. 'This is magic, and I'm celebrating the magic of it. I'm thanking my children so I am able to move on and become someone else again – and reinvent myself again and again and again.' 'The Sound of Milk' is released via Because on 18 September. Camille plays Symphonique concerts in France on 24 June, 7 and 17 July, and tours France and Switzerland from 5 November.
