Swiss pop duo tours China

“When we arrive in a new country, we introduce ourselves as bridge builders. We feel our mission is to connect the dots between people, and we think this is the start to a better world. That’s the reason why I do music,” Sophie says. “Traveling is part of our DNA. It is what inspires us to write our songs. In China, I also introduce myself as Mei Yi, or beautiful art, which is my Chinese name that my Chinese teacher gave me in Beijing. We still need to find one for Simon.”

With her family, Sophie traveled to China for the first time when she was 8 or 9 years old and since then she has a passion for China — its culture, its history and its language.

“Sophie showed me the beauty of Chinese culture that I didn’t really know before meeting her. Hearing her speaking in Mandarin made me want to do the same. I didn’t really know it was possible for a French speaking person to speak that difficult language, and I’m still far from mastering it, but I try my best everyday to learn new words and a different vision of the world,” says Simon Jaccard.

The duo has released their debut album, titled Y, referring to the generation Y and also sharing with the meaning of “why”— “all the questions that we ask ourselves and that are connected to our ongoing society and our place in this world”, the duo shared.

“When we decided to play music together, I really wanted to honor Sophie’s unique voice. So I tried to create something unique, special for her, a universe and a sound that couldn’t be found somewhere else. It was very important for us to stay in the pop music culture, mainly because it’s our biggest influence and inspiration, but also because it’s the music that’s the easiest to share with people and to sing with the public. We tried a few different things before finding our path, but my vision was always to be able to play music just the two of us, so it implied several electronics instruments that I could use by my side to always be together on the creation plan and also on stage,” says Jaccard.

When asked about the duo’s name, Sophie says that De Quay is her mother’s maiden name. Her mother became a professional actor when she was almost 50 years old, which is inspiring for the duo.

“It shows that when you have a dream, no matter the time, you can make it become true. In the de Quay family there are a lot of artists (musicians, painters, etc) which is also why I chose it. Even if Simon is not in the name, whoever knows us, sees us on the social medias or live, knows that Simon is always next to me,” she says.