When it comes to songwriting there appear to be two schools of thought: those who describe it as pure pleasure and those who talk of trial and suffering to find the right words. Which school do you belong to?
Well, I'd say I'm halfway between both really. I find the music side much more fun and it's easier to get down to writing music rather than words. I ask myself a lot more questions when I'm writing lyrics, wondering whether what I'm talking about is sufficiently interesting or not or whether the emotion I'm trying to get across on the page will get through to listeners or not. Writing is a much more complex business than composing. It's like every time I write a line I have to stop and think whether I haven't already used it in another song somewhere. In fact, I've come to realise it's all a question of what angle you look at things from.

Did you go into the studio this time round with the intention of dealing with specific themes?
No, it doesn't work like that at all. From past experience, I know I'm going to spend three weeks doing my head in, coming up with rubbish. There's a certain warm-up period, a sort of mental gymnastics that has to be gone through. But then inspiration comes through the notes I take on a daily basis.

You say you never approach an album with predetermined ideas, but listening to a song like Tout le monde one gets the distinct impression you felt like saying your piece on TV reality shows…
No, no, no… It's not like that at all. I didn't wake up one morning and decide 'OK, I have to take a pot shot at reality TV here!' What I was really trying to do was write a sort of satirical song about this new phenomenon of becoming a star after appearing on TV and revealing your most intimate moments. You know, all you have to do is agree to be locked up in some house, cut off from the world for a while, and lie around all day doing nothing. That's all that a show like Loft Story* amounts to. When you think about it, you really couldn't invent a show with anything less to it than that! All you have to do is lie round the house, have a bit of a natter with fellow inmates, snog someone and get up and take a piss every now and then. It's wonderful! That's all it takes to be a star these days! But when you stop and think about what that actually means, it's completely crazy! A show like Star Academy* is a bit different, I guess, because the participants are actually taking singing and dancing lessons… There's something going on there at least! But these days it's almost like everyone's trying to outdo each other in… (Chédid pauses to reflect for a moment) mediocrity. There's no other way to describe it!

The record industry has used TV reality shows like Star Academy and Pop Star to boost record sales… But at the same time the industry is in serious crisis and a lot of established artists such as Stéphan Eicher and Michel Jonasz have had their contracts terminated. Do you feel under threat from the current crisis?
My overriding feeling is that I'm sad to see 'colleagues' like Eicher and Jonasz dropped like that… If anyone's going to be given their cards and shown the door I'd prefer it to be less talented artists. But, unfortunately, it's often the less talented artists who sell the most records! I'm not too worried about people like Eicher and Jonasz, though. They'll come bounding back at some point, they always do. An artist's life is like a rollercoaster with constant ups and downs – and I should know because I've been there! But when I reached my nadir on one particularly poor-selling album it gave me a good kick up the arse and I was determined to get out there with my next album and show everyone what I was really capable of. This is a high-risk profession. Anyone going into this business has to realise that and hang on to that fact, but that's the beauty of it, too. One day, you can have the biggest flop imaginable ad the next you find yourself with a best-selling album on your hands! In this business you have to approach things with a mix of hope and total lucidity. You have to say to yourself "OK, I'm expecting the worst, but if the best happens, that'll be just fine!"

What music has given you the biggest kick lately?
Well, I have to say I really like Staind. They're this American rock band I discovered on MTV one day. If I had to pick something from the French scene, I'd say the album Keren Ann recorded in English. Keren Ann's got a really superb voice and she's really created her own distinctive musical universe. She reminds me of Françoise Hardy when she was at her best. What's more, Keren Ann's not just a singer, she actually writes her own music and lyrics and there's not many who can lay claim to that these days! There are also particular songs I like by Mathieu Boggaerts and Albin de la Simone. I also really enjoyed Aston Villa's new acoustic album – and it's no coincidence that the Muller brothers (Nicolas and Doc Muller, former guitarist and drummer with Aston Villa) feature on my album.

And what has made you the most angry lately?
Aaargh! It's an old chestnut which has come back at me time and time again. The thing that really gets on my nerves is when I'm described as the "père tranquille" (quiet force) of French chanson. It's an old journalist gimmick that goes back at least twenty years and that younger generations of journalists have picked up and used themselves over the years. It makes me really worked up each time I hear that expression because it's so far from who I really am!

Your son, Matthieu Chédid (better known as pop star M), is planning to stage a show in your homeland, Egypt. But when we spoke to him recently he admitted that paradoxically he's had very little contact with the land of his ancestors…
Yes, that's true, but I think it's normal. I was actually brought to France when I was just six months old. And I was 25 when I went back to Egypt for the first time. I'd heard so much about the place by then, I had so many wonderful fairytale images in my head, that I was a bit worried about going back there and being disappointed. But when I went to Alexandria and Luxor, I was just enchanted by it all. Egyptians are such a warm, generous, welcoming people that you fall instantly under its spell… I really felt at home, in fact. But Mathieu's had a very different relationship to Egyptian culture. When I was a teenager, living at home with my parents, they spoke Arabic around the house all the time. But Mathieu's been immersed in a very French milieu throughout his childhood and adolescence… The real 'Orientals' in our family are my father and mother. They actually lived in Egypt and despite what happens to you later in life those roots are very tenacious. It's no insignificant matter, being of Oriental origin, you know.
As far as Mathieu's idea of doing a concert in Egypt goes, the project was actually initiated two years ago now when there was the official opening of the Alexandria Library. But as things stand at the moment, the concert's been put off to a later date. The idea is that all three of us - my mother (the writer Andrée Chédid), Mathieu and myself – will do a concert together over there. It'll be really exciting for us – especially for my mother because she's so at home over there!

Louis Chédid Un ange passe Atmosphériques 2004

* the French equivalent of "Big Brother"
*the French equivalent of "Fame Academy"