Adélaïde Chabannes de Balsac, known professionally by her stage name Adé, is a French musician and singer of several genres, including folk- pop. In 2013, Balsac formed the pop rock band Therapie Taxi along with Raphael Faget-Zaoui, whom she had met performing a cover of “Jimmy” by Moriaty, when she was seventeen. In 2017, having expanded the band to four members with the addition of Felix Gros and Renaud Bizart, the band released its first single, Salope. From then until the band’s breakup in 2021, Balsac worked on two albums, Hit Sale and Exquisite Corpse, releasing a final EP Breakup 2 Shit in 2020. During this time, Balsac also participated in two tours – on in 2019, ending at Zenith, Paris, and a second which was cancelled due to COVID-19. Balsac cited a lack of creative freedom for her dissolving the band, wanting a “clean slate”.
After leaving Therapie Taxi, Balsac created several songs in collaboration with other artists, including with Benjamin Biolay, for Parc fermé (2021), with Nolwenn Leroy for the album La Cavale (2021) as well as with Louane for the song Pleure (2020).
In April 2022, she released her first single: Tout savoir, followed by her 13-song début album So What? (Et alors?) in September 2022, under the label Tot ou Tard. The album was written during the COVID-19 pandemic, and contrary to the previous music she had produced in Therapie Taxi, is country folk. Balsac travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to record parts of the album, wanting to experience an “american fantasy”, taking a road trip in the country after the album’s completion. In January 2023, Balsac began a domestic tour for the album, performing in cities including Paris, Bordeaux, and Nantes, ending at the Printemps de Bourges. The album received positive feedback, with Balsac being named the “new cowgirl of French pop” by Le Soir.
Tout savoir achieved success, reaching number 5 on the French Singles Chart in October 2022. The song had an accompanying music video, released on YouTube, which was directed by Stephane Barbato and produced in collaboration with Warner Chappell Music, France. As of May 2023, the video had received over seven million views.
In 2022, Balsac was nominated for two categories in the NRJ Music Award – Francophone Breakthrough of the Year and Francophone Video of the Year (the latter being for the music video of Tout savoir).
