CHANGELINE SPEAKS ABOUT HER CAREER AT ROCK EN SEINE 2026

Changeline doesn’t seem particularly interested in fitting into anyone else’s definition of what an artist should be. Moving instinctively between rap, screaming and singing, the Mountain-born artist draws from a deliberately chaotic spectrum of references; from Kendrick Lamar and Rage Against the Machine to Woodkid, Midwest emo and even country; to build a universe that feels as unpredictable as it does personal. At its centre is Changeline herself: part alter ego, part best friend and a vehicle for expressing everything from anger and lust to joy and vulnerability. Following an explosive early set at Rock en Seine, she speaks about turning that universe into a live experience, resisting expectations placed on women in music, finding inspiration outside her own genre, fashion as an extension of her artistic identity, and the importance of finding community in a world that can increasingly feel hostile.

Álvaro Ramos: First of all, I want you to introduce yourself. Who is Changeline, where do you come from, and where do you want to be?

Changeline: My name is Changeline. I come from Mountain, the very top of Mountain. I’m a little and a tall girl, actually. You know what? I’m a tall girl who makes weird music influenced by a bunch of different things, who likes to scream, sing and rap, and who can be really happy and sometimes sad. More than anything, I try to be real and relatable. Right now, I’m in France playing at this beautiful festival. And where do I want to be? That’s an interesting question. I think, eventually, I want to live surrounded by nature, animals and the people I love.

ÁR: What does the name Changeline allow you to express that perhaps you wouldn’t express otherwise? Is she a kind of persona?

C: For a while, Changeline was my way of expressing anger. It definitely started with that emotion. There wasn’t really anything else motivating it when I started. Eventually, though, she became this character that isn’t exactly me, but is still real. She’s more like a best friend who is able to challenge me and help me express my emotions, whether that’s anger, joy, sadness, lust, anything. You name it. She’s kind of like a spirit that gives me the power to just be really fucking cool.

ÁR: How did you feel about the French crowd today, especially opening Rock en Seine so early in the day?

C: It was high energy, right? I think they killed it. I was talking about it with my team earlier because I genuinely wasn’t expecting that reaction. At one point, I asked them to split down the middle and then start running towards each other from so far away. I was like, “Oh my God, they’re going to hurt each other!” Especially considering the time we were performing, we were fucking opening the festival, I was really happy. At first, people were probably like, “Okay, who is this girl?” And then halfway through they were like, “Okay, she’s really cool. Let’s fucking jump. Let’s fucking scream.” I could feel that they were happy to have experienced something emotional, and I hope they genuinely liked it.

ÁR: I was also really interested in the screen you use during the performance. There’s almost an entire digital universe happening behind you. How did you develop that?

C: That was a lot of work with my DJ, B-Boy, because he understands the technical side of it and I had the artistic ideas. The cartoon version of Changeline has always been there. She’s appeared on my covers and throughout the project. I knew I wanted a screen onstage, and B-Boy told me, “You’re so good at doing social media stuff. We should have a giant phone.” I thought that was such a good idea. Then we thought: what if cartoon Changeline was inside it, talking to me and talking to the audience, and generally just being fucking crazy? I’ve always been a huge fan of cartoons, so we started looking for someone who could animate it. A close friend of mine, Jorge Fernández, animated all of those sequences. He’s such a blessing. From there, we built everything around it. I know how to edit and do graphic stuff, so I constructed a lot of the visual material and then gave it to B-Boy. He figured out how to integrate everything into each song. It’s really fun.

ÁR: Freedom is something that appears in your work in many different ways. Do you feel free as an artist, or do you still feel restricted by certain expectations within the industry?

C: I do whatever the fuck I want, so technically, yes, I feel free. But I also feel like there are expectations for female musicians, especially doing the kind of music I do, to behave or present themselves in a certain way. Sometimes I just don’t fit into that. There’s this pressure around what you should or shouldn’t do, particularly when it comes to sexualising yourself. People can expect that from you. And I like doing that sometimes, that’s fine, but it’s not everything I want to do. And if you are into doing that all the time, that’s great. I’m a huge Megan Thee Stallion fan, a huge GloRilla fan, a huge Sexyy Red fan. I love that shit. But we’re all different. Women are different. We’re not all going to do the same thing. Sometimes it feels like there’s an expectation for every woman to fit into the same mould. But it’s definitely changing, and I’m really happy to see that change happening.

ÁR: Who were your biggest influences when you started, and who inspires you now?

C: One of my favourite artists, and people are always surprised by this, is Woodkid. He’s a French artist who makes music that’s extremely different from mine. It’s orchestral pop, very cinematic, and he directs his own music videos. He was a huge inspiration because he showed me what you can do when you build an entire world around music. But I’ve also always been a huge rap fan. I remember listening to Kendrick Lamar early on, but I was also listening to Linkin Park. I never had one single genre that I stayed with. Rage Against the Machine were a huge inspiration for me. XXXTentacion was a huge influence early on too, and Tyler, the Creator as well, although Tyler became more important to me later. I’ve also been inspired by things like Midwest emo. I’m inspired by shit that sounds nothing like what I actually make. It’s crazy. Sometimes I listen to fucking country music, just guitar and a singer-songwriter. I listen to so many different things. Right now, though, my artist friends are probably my biggest inspiration. Becoming an artist and actually having a career made me realise that what inspires me most is the people around me, especially my friends.

ÁR: Fashion has become almost inseparable from music when it comes to building an artist’s universe. How important is it in the Changeline world?

C: Oh my God, it has become much more important now. It was always important to me, but it has developed in a way that I really like. Now I’m trying to build something much more cohesive between what I wear onstage, what I wear on my covers and what I wear in interviews. I want everything to display a fashion sense that feels connected to the music. It’s not completely alternative, but it’s also not just rap. It’s somewhere between all these different things. I love matching colours, I love baggy clothes, but sometimes I can also be much more girly. I also really like wearing emerging brands and trying to highlight people who are doing something different with clothes. Right now, for example, I’m wearing a brand literally called Change, which is really funny. I already had a cool style before, but now it’s getting better and becoming much more integrated into the artistic direction of the project. I would actually love to have my own clothing brand one day.

ÁR: Finally, what advice would you give to the new generation?

C: I actually had this conversation with my little brother. It’s probably going to sound corny and very general, but first of all: be yourself. Don’t give a fuck about everything you see online or everything people are saying. Social media is not the real world. When you’re genuinely yourself, some people are going to hate you, but a lot of people are going to love you and gravitate towards you because they can feel that confidence. Whatever you do, that’s important. And I’m sorry that the world is a bad place right now. Find a community. Don’t do everything by yourself and don’t stay alone. Drink water. Tell your family you love them, if you do. Tell the people you love that you love them. And tell a friend, “I love you.”

Questions by @alraco43