Hailing from Brussels, where she was born on July 7, 2000, Belgian singer-songwriter Iliona Roulin studied piano from a very early age and started writing her own songs as a teenager. After uploading some of her songs to her video streaming channel in 2016, she took her first steps as a producer collaborating with Ana Díaz on the singer’s 2019 single “Lost Friends.” Roulin made her official solo debut in 2020 with “J’ai du mal,” a melancholic, piano-driven tune that garnered comparisons to legendary chanteuses Barbara and Françoise Hardy.
That same year, she dropped the trap-tinged single “Rattrape-moi” and delved deep into the French chanson genre for “Moins joli.” Third single“Reste,” also released in 2020, found her going in a more urban-oriented direction, making extensive use of wobbly basslines and autotune. After the release of the EP Tristesse in 2021 and a tour, new singles followed, including “Si tu m’aimes demain”, taken from the following EP Tête Brûlée (2022).
Her album Tête Brûlée shows a sunnier side. By her own admission, Iliona gets bored when listening to an album when the tracks all sound the same. So she lets herself be guided by her instinct, from autotuned ballads (“Reste”) to sixties inspirations (“Si tu m’aimes demain”), always with this same touching sincerity. After her debut with Aristide Music, Iliona created her label Jevousamour, under which appeared “Le Lapin”, “Stp” and “Lâche-moi la main”, the first tracks from the album What If I Break Up with U? (2025).
After two years spent composing in the privacy of her Brussels apartment, Belgian singer Iliona is ending an absence that was beginning to be felt. At just 24 years old, she has released What If I Break Up With U? , a debut album that combines melancholy, deeply personal confessions, and sophisticated pop. A rite of passage that the singer-songwriter and producer successfully achieves. On a record composed of 11 bedroom pop tracks, influenced as much by the musical heritage of Françoise Hardy as by the unique style of her Belgian compatriot Stromae . In her lyrics, the artist, who has sometimes composed for other young talent in the industry evokes the difficulties that accompany the transition to adulthood as well as his disappointed loves.
