Angèle Joséphine Aimée van Laeken, known as Angèle, is a Belgian singer and songwriter. She was one of 2018’s biggest breakout acts in French and Belgian pop music, breaking Stromae’s record for weeks at the top of the Belgian singles charts with her 2018 single “Tout oublier” which features her brother, Roméo Elvis. She is the daughter of singer Marka and actress Laurence Bibot. Her father encouraged her from an early age to learn the piano, which inspired her musical career. Angèle spent a difficult adolescence in a strict Catholic school before attending the Decroly School. The artistic options at this high school helped develop her musical skills. She then enrolled in the Jazz Studio Antwerp for a jazz education before joining her father’s band.
Angèle gave her first performances in streets around Brussels, most notably at the restaurant Le Delecta, in Ixelles, now closed. She was first noticed for her cover of Dick Annegarn, “Bruxelles”, and on Instagram videos where she mixed singing and comedy. In 2017, she was the support act for Ibeyi and the Belgian rapper Damso, whom she also accompanied in his album Lithopédion. Her first single, “La Loi de Murphy”, was released in late 2017 and received millions of views on YouTube. A second single “Je veux tes yeux” was released in early 2018. The two video clips were directed by the Belgian photographer Charlotte Abramow. In May 2018, she performed her first Parisian concert at the Trianon accompanied by MC Solaar on her cover of his song “Victime de la mode”. She performed in several summer festivals in Belgium, France and Switzerland such as Les Ardentes, Dour, Garorock, and Rock Werchter. In 2018, Angèle released her third single, “La Thune”.
In August 2018, she announced the tracklist of her first album Brol on the Initial label. The album was released on 5 October 2018, the same day as her single duet with her brother, Roméo Elvis. This album was successful and resulted in Angèle invitation to perform on various French TV shows. In 2019, Angèle became one of the most sought for artists in France and Belgium and affirmed her feminism with the song “Balance ton quoi” in reference to the French #metoo movement, Balance ton porc. Pierre Niney makes an appearance in the video alongside some of Angèle’s friends to talk about struggles her female friends have encountered with men. Angèle became an ambassador for Chanel afterwards.
In April 2020, Angèle performed for One World: Together At Home, a global broadcast and digital special to support front-line healthcare workers and the WHO during the COVID-19 pandemic, hosted by Lady Gaga. In October 2020, Angèle was pictured alongside London singer Dua Lipa on the set of a music video. A collaboration with the latter was later announced and would feature on the reissue of Lipa’s new album Future Nostalgia. “Fever” was released in October 2020. The music video was released a week later on 6 November 2020 on YouTube. Before the release of the video, Lipa announced on social media that Angèle will be appearing as a special guest on her live stream concert Studio 2054 in November 2020.
In 2021 Angèle made her film debut in Annette, directed by Leos Carax. Her second studio album, Nonante-Cinq was released on 3 December 2021, her 26th birthday. In 2022, Angèle featured in “Sunflower” from Tamino Amir’s sophomore album, Sahar. In 2024, Angèle performed “Nightcall” alongside Kavinsky and Phoenix as part of the Paris Olympics closing ceremony. As a result, Nightcall became the most searched-for song in a single day and in a single minute on the musical search site Shazam.
