Artist
OrelSan > Z

Aurélien Cotentin (French pronunciation: ) better known by his stage name Orelsan stylized as OrelSan (; born 1 August 1982 in Alençon, Orne), is a French hip hop and rap artist. He has released two albums, his debut Perdu d'avance released on 16 February 2009, and the follow-up Le Chant des sirènes released on 26 September 2011. With colleague and close collaborator Gringe, he also releases since 2014 materials under the name of a duo Casseurs ... Flowters. In August 2006, Orelsan released his first clip on YouTube, called "Ramen", followed by a second one in 2007, called "Saint-Valentine", a sarcastic parody on Valentine that attracted great following prompting him to release more of his work online through YouTube and Myspace. In 2008, the "3e bureau" record label noticed his work and offered him to produce an album in collaboration with the record label "7th Magnitude", Skread and Ablaye's label. In summer 2008, he promoted the release "Changement" directed by "7th Magnitude" and was offered through TF1 vidéo and by Nolife TV channel, becoming Orelsan's first professionally prepared clip. On 16 February 2009, he released his debut album Perdu d'avance, a provocative album produced by Skread, that included 14 tracks, including besides the title track "Perdu d'avance", his debut hits "50 pour cent", "Changement", but also "Soirée ratée", "Différent", "No-life" with music video releases for all. "Entre bien et mal" featured collaboration from Gringe and "La peur de l'échec" from Guns N' Roses guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. End of 2009, Orelsan was nominated for "French revelation" for the Prix Constantin award. Internet voting also named him "Best french artist of the Year" to represent France at the MTV Europe Music Awards. On 26 June 2010, he appeared in Skyrock's Planète Rap joining Jena Lee on the song "Je rêve en enfer" from her album Ma référence with Orelsan adding his punchlines in a version known as "Je rêve en enfer (Reste en enfer)" with rap additions by Orelsan. Also in 2010, Orelsan collaborated with Nessbeal in "Ma grosse" and in project Diversidad joining a great number of rappers from various Euiropean countries. His work appeared in the collective album of Diversidad called Diversidad – The Experience Album. He collaborated with The Toxic Avenger on "N'importe comment" that gave way to three music videos, a single, a maxi single containing remixes, all on the Roy Music label. In September 2010, during an interview with Canal Street, Orelsan announced that he was working on his new album that would come out in 2011. In May 2011, he released "RaelSan", as a first a pre-release and first single from the new album set for September 2011 entitled Le chant des Sirènes. A second track from the album called "Double vie" was made available through YouTube and Skyrock. July to September 2011 saw the release of three more tracks, "Plus rien ne m'étonne" at end of July, "1990" as a tribute to the 1990s with appearances by Oxmo Puccino, Olivier Cachin and members from 1995, released end of August and finally "Suicide social" released on 12 September. The album Le chant des sirènes was released on 26 September 2011, with 16 tracks including in addition to the title track and the pre-releases, songs like "Mauvaise idée", "Finir mal" and designated hit single "La terre est ronde" in addition to "Ils sont cool" that featured Gringe. The album was certified gold peaking at #3 in the French Albums Chart. The song "La terre est ronde" taken from the album became a big hit for him reaching #9 in SNEP French Singles Chart. In 2012, Orelsan won two awards in Victoires de la musique, one in the category "Rap and Urban Album of the Year" for his album Le chant des sirènes and for "Best Group or Artist Revelation" chosen by the public. See more [+]