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Eric Cantona Releases Debut Studio Album "Perfect Imperfection"
"The football legend can do little wrong" - The Guardian
"As a footballer, Cantona was a glorious, mercurial talent. Now critics suggest that as a musician, he may be much the same" - The Observer
"Genius footballer shown reborn as a rock star" - The i Newspaper
Éric Cantona today releases his first studio album Perfect Imperfection, via Barclay (Universal Music France) & Fontana. This record is as much a self-portrait as it is a mirror held up to our anxious, pressure-filled times, an era in which urgency demands that we move beyond pure aesthetics.
Across the album, everything rings with conviction: arrangements of fertile restraint, a deep and haunting voice that reflects the soul of the performer, words charged with poetry, anger and tenderness.‘This perfect imperfection is life itself,’ Cantona sums up.
Photo by Jason Hindley
The crack through which light enters. More than an album, a proof of life.
The legendary former athlete has always loved music. For him, it is an extension of his overall work, his absolute need to express himself, just like theatre, cinema, painting, poetry, and photography. Eight of the eleven songs were written and composed by Cantona himself, with the remaining tracks ‘Avoir le choix’ and ‘Perfect Imperfection’ co-written with Johan Dalgaard (Johnny Hallyday), and ‘Droigts’, composed by Gaëtan Roussel. Both collaborators also appeared on his debut EP I’ll Make My Own Heaven (2023).
The first single, ‘On se love’, a tender, intimate ballad that brings Cantona’s unique musical voice to the forefront, was previously released alongside the album announcement.
This debut studio album follows the sold-out success of Cantona’s Cantona Sings Eric tour, including a performance at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, where the actor, singer and former footballer appeared alone on stage, accompanied only by piano and cello, marking a new chapter in his artistic and musical journey.
Bottling the magic of the tour, Cantona released in 2024 Cantona sings Eric - First Tour Ever (Live), a live collection of 17 songs recorded across the tour, including the magnificent ballad ‘The Friends We Lost’, alongside ‘Je veux’ and ‘I’ll Make My Own Heaven’ – all singles from his debut EP – as well as ‘I Love You So Much’, a track written especially for Manchester United fans. Éric’s debut EP and live album have since surpassed one million streams.
Living intensely remains something Éric Cantona has never stopped doing. Firing up crowds, setting passions alight like few others, he was determined to rekindle this feeling by making the stage the ultimate goal of his musical endeavours.