Lewis OfMan
{{Short description|French synth-pop producer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Lewis OfMan
| image = Lewis OfMan 2022.jpg
| caption = Lewis OfMan performing in 2022
| birth_name = Lewis Pierre Simon Delhomme
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1997|12|01}}
| origin = Paris, Île-de-France
France
| genre = Pop, synth-pop, french pop
electronic, dance
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Musician
- record producer
- singer
- songwriter
}}
| instrument = {{hlist|Drums|keyboard|synthizer|guitar}}
| years_active = 2014–present
| label = {{hlist|Profil de Face|Cactus Club}}
| website = {{URL|https://lewisofman.store/}}
}}
Lewis Pierre Simon Delhomme, known professionally as Lewis OfMan, is a French record producer, musician, singer and songwriter from Paris, France. He's currently signed to French independent record label, Profil de Face.https://profildeface.fr/projects/lewis-ofman/
To date, he has released three EP's, Disconsolate (2014), Yo Bene (2017), and Dancy Party (2021), and two studio albums, Sonic Poems (2022) and Cristal Medium Blue released February 9, 2024.https://whatthefrance.org/lewis-ofman-a-new-single-album-and-world-tour/
Over the course of his career, Delhomme has collaborated with the likes of Rejjie Snow, Vendredi sur Mer, Empress Of, Coco & Clair Clair to name a few, but is best known for his collaborative single, Move Me with Canadian singer, "Carly Rae Jepsen", released July 15, 2022.https://pitchfork.com/news/carly-rae-jepsen-teams-with-lewis-ofman-for-new-song-move-me-listen/
Life and career
= Early life =
Lewis Pierre Simon Delhomme{{Cite web |title=Delhomme Lewis Pierre Simon |url=https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/writer/841780723/DELHOMME%20LEWIS%20PIERRE%20SIMON |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=ASCAP}} is from Paris,{{Cite web |last=Christine |date=11 October 2022 |title="Sometimes with some people you just feel that you can express your feelings and open up." A moment with Lewis OfMan |url=https://www.c-heads.com/2022/10/11/sometimes-with-some-people-you-just-feel-that-you-can-express-your-feelings-and-open-up-a-moment-with-lewis-ofman/ |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=C-Heads Magazine |language=en-US}} and has two siblings, Camille and Joseph, who are much older than him.{{Cite web |title=Lewis OfMan Is the Life of the Party |url=https://www.papermag.com/lewis-ofman-interview#rebelltitem4 |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=Paper}} His father, {{ill|Jean-Philippe Delhomme|fr}},{{Cite web |last=Rose |first=Cynthia |date=4 May 2020 |title=Art In Quarantine: Jean-Philippe Delhomme |url=https://www.tcj.com/art-in-quarantine-jean-philippe-delhomme/ |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=The Comics Journal |language=en-US}} is an artist who created a series of advertisements for Barneys New York in the 1990s,{{Cite news |last=Strom |first=Stephanie |date=17 September 1993 |title=THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Barneys touts its new store on Madison Avenue with an eye-catching, artistic campaign. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/17/business/media-business-advertising-barneys-touts-its-new-store-madison-avenue-with-eye.html |access-date=7 January 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} his uncle, Benoît Delhomme, was a cinematographer who worked on films The Scent of Green Papaya (1993) and Cyclo (1995), their grandfather, {{Ill|Georges Delhomme|fr}},{{Cite news |last=Winters |first=Laura |date=5 December 1999 |title=FILM; A Risk-Taking Perfectionist Behind the Camera |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/05/arts/film-a-risk-taking-perfectionist-behind-the-camera.html |access-date=7 January 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} helped create Lancôme and spent 29 years with the firm,{{Cite web |last=Afcinema |date=7 January 2024 |title=Benoît Delhomme, the eye, the hand... and beyond |url=https://www.afcinema.com/Benoit-Delhomme-the-eye-the-hand-and-beyond.html |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=Afcinema |language=fr}} and Lewis' mother, Sophie-Anne,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j23qAAAAMAAJ&q=%22jean-philippe+delhomme%22+%22sophie-anne%22+wife |title=The Cultivated Life: Artistic, Literary, and Decorating Dramas |date=2009 |publisher=Rizzoli |isbn=978-0-8478-3217-0 |language=en}} spent time as the artistic director of Courrier International.{{Cite web |date=2 October 2011 |title=Planet Women |url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/local-lifestyle/planet-women/ |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=Jamaica Observer |language=en-US}}
Growing up, he wanted to be a perfumer, but found it too mathematical,{{Cite web |last=Mamedy |first=Ivica |date=14 June 2021 |title=A conversation with French electronic musician Lewis OfMan |url=https://fuckingyoung.es/a-conversation-with-french-electronic-musician-lewis-ofman/ |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=Fucking Young! |language=en-GB}} and spent much of his childhood on Sophie-Anne's phone, which contained a number of video games, including a rudimentary digital audio workstation. He then spent a period in New York, at which, aged eleven, he learned to play the drums; upon his return to Paris, he became the drummer for a band, the Jools,{{Cite web |date=20 February 2013 |title=10 Essentials: Jean-Philippe Delhomme |url=https://www.gq.com/gallery/jean-philippe-delhomme-10-essentials-interview |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=GQ |language=en-US}} before buying himself a keyboard the following year. He then began composing works on Sophie-Anne's iPad using GarageBand,{{Cite web |last=Daoui |first=Sarah |date=18 February 2022 |title=Lewis OfMan's Sonic Poems is a timeless ode to the emotional voice |url=https://www.documentjournal.com/2022/02/lewis-ofmans-sonic-poems-is-a-timeless-ode-to-the-emotional-voice/ |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=Document Journal |language=en-US}} and his first EP, the Bandcamp-exclusive Disconsolate, was produced using the software.
= Career =
{{quote box|SoundCloud, when you upload a track, it asks for the artist name and I was like, "Woah, what's my artist name?" I remembered my brother was playing this soccer video game where you create your own soccer player and he had our last name, which is Delhomme, on there in Español, which would make it, "Del Hombre." And he was like, "You know, in English, it's cool too. It's OfMan." And I was like, "Lewis OfMan, that's a cool name."|OfMan in October 2022|width=300px|align=left}}
Delhomme adopted the Lewis OfMan moniker around 2014; SoundCloud had asked him what his artist name was, and he remembered that his brother had played a soccer video game in which his surname appeared in Spanish as "Del Hombre", prompting him to mention in passing that its English translation was "Of Man". That year, he released his second EP, Yo Bene,{{Cite web |date=29 April 2017 |title=Why Everyone Is Talking About French Musician Lewis Ofman |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/story/lewis-ofman-musician |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=W Magazine |language=en}} and later that year, he produced Vendredi sur Mer's debut album Marée Basse.{{Cite web |title=Rencontre avec Charline du beau projet Vendredi sur Mer {{!}} Les Inrocks |url=https://www.lesinrocks.com/actu/rencontre-avec-charline-du-beau-projet-vendredi-sur-mer-120979-10-10-2017/ |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=Les Inrockuptibles |language=fr-FR}} In 2021, he released another EP, Dancy Party,{{Cite web |last1=François |last2=Charles |date=12 March 2021 |title=[Interview] Une discussion avec Lewis Ofman |url=https://www.danstafaceb.com/lewis-ofman-aujourdhui-je-vais-bien-plus-dans-le-coeur-du-poulet/ |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=La Face B |language=fr-FR}} and the following year he released Misbehave, a collaboration with Coco & Clair Clair, which Billboard likened to a version of Kesha's "Tik Tok" shot in the Emily in Paris universe; the song appeared on Delhomme's album Sonic Poems, which was released the same day{{Cite magazine |author=Billboard Staff |date=18 February 2022 |title=First Spin: The Week's Best New Dance Tracks From Alesso & Katy Perry, Lewis OfMan & More |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/the-weeks-best-new-dance-tracks-lewis-ofman-bob-moses-snakehips-tchami-1235033484/ |access-date=6 January 2024 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}} and was co-produced with Tim Goldsworthy, and contained eighteen voice notes. He then released the single Nails Matching My Fit featuring Shanae, and in July 2022, he released Move Me, a collaboration with Carly Rae Jepsen, who had discovered Delhomme in September 2020 after a friend sent her a playlist; in an October 2022 interview with Paper, Delhomme stated that he wrote the song while living in Florence after spending a "special night" with someone, and that he wrote the track the day before a session with Jepsen.{{Cite web |last=Pappis |first=Konstantinos |date=15 July 2022 |title=Carly Rae Jepsen and Lewis OfMan Team Up on New Single 'Move Me' |url=https://ourculturemag.com/2022/07/15/carly-rae-jepsen-and-lewis-ofman-team-up-on-new-single-move-me/ |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=Our Culture |language=en-GB}} In February 2023, Delhomme supported Jepsen on several shows on her The So Nice Tour.{{cite web |last1=Hollis |first1=Patrick |date=23 September 2022 |title=Carly Rae Jepsen Birmingham 2023 |url=https://www.birminghamworld.uk/whats-on/carly-rae-jepsen-birmingham-2023-date-possible-setlist-and-how-to-get-tickets-to-the-so-nice-tour-at-o2-institute-3855044 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221107060025/https://www.birminghamworld.uk/whats-on/carly-rae-jepsen-birmingham-2023-date-possible-setlist-and-how-to-get-tickets-to-the-so-nice-tour-at-o2-institute-3855044 |archive-date=7 November 2022 |access-date=7 November 2022 |website=Birmingham World |publisher=JPIMedia}}
In October 2022, he released a remix of Superorganism's On & On, which later appeared on World Wide Pop – Reeeemix!, a remix album based on the band's World Wide Pop.{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=BrooklynVegan |date=7 October 2022 |title=28 New Songs Out Today |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/27-new-songs-out-today-37/ |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=BrooklynVegan |language=en-US}} In June 2023, Delhomme released Highway, a collaboration with Empress Of, alongside a music video shot in Los Angeles and directed by Écoute Chérie, Delhomme's visual collaborator. The song came about after Delhomme met Empress Of in Los Angeles, set up a session with her, and used it to burn off a demo he had started while on holiday in Greece while listening to the psychedelic rock he was listening to as a teenager and 1970s Brazilian music such as Jorge Ben and Quarteto em Cy.
In November 2023, he released the single, Hey Lou, which Delhomme had also written in Greece, and which was a collaboration with Parisian singer Camille Jansen, with whom Delhomme had previously worked on her Louise EP in 2019; the song sampled a choir, as Delhomme was listening to Leonard Cohen's song So Long, Marianne and Death of a Ladies' Man at the time, and was released alongside a music video shot by Pierre Auroux at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.{{Cite web |last=Moir |first=Tammy |date=20 November 2023 |title=The irresistible arpeggiated synth riff that is Lewis Ofman's 'Hey Lou' |url=https://happymag.tv/lewis-ofman-hey-lou/ |access-date=7 January 2024 |website=Happy Mag |language=en-US}}
Artistry
Writing in June 2023, Rachel Brodsky of Stereogum described his music as synth-pop.{{Cite web |date=22 June 2023 |title=Lewis OfMan & Empress Of Share New Song "Highway": Listen |url=https://www.stereogum.com/2227844/lewis-ofman-highway-feat-empress-of/music/ |access-date=6 January 2024 |website=Stereogum |language=en}} In an April 2017 interview with W, he stated that he was "really inspired" by Frank Ocean, Ennio Morricone, Lee Fields, and Jamie xx, further elaborating that:{{blockquote|Frank Ocean is the greatest artist I ever known, his way to create is incredible, all the contrasts and mysteries you can find in his music are very interesting, I really love his album Blonde and ever more the video album Endless, which is for me an incredible performance of talent and standards exit. Ennio Morricone, with his melodies, his choice of chords and sounds which are perfect, guides me a lot. Lee Fields have a special mood in his songs that I love, a really good energy that gladdens what you are doing at the moment you are listening to it. Finally, Jamie XX, because I feel in his music a huge part of spontaneity and sincerity, just groove and sounds experiment, I love that, he is not following a movement or something he really has his sound, and this is the artist goal for me.}}
Under the name Lewis OfMan, he is since December 2023 on tour in France, Belgium, in the United States, Mexico and as well in Canada to promote his latest album Cristal Medium Blue.{{Cite web |last=Lewis OfMan |title=Official website Lewis OfMan, Tour dates 2024 |url=https://lewisofman.komi.io/ |access-date=2024-03-29 |website=lewisofman.komi.io}}
Discography
=Studio albums=
- Sonic Poems (2022)
- Cristal Medium Blue (2024)
=EPs=
- Disconsolate (2014)
- Yo Bene (2017)
- Dancy Party (2021)
=Singles=
== As lead artist ==
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
! scope="col"| Title ! scope="col"| Year ! scope="col"| Album |
| scope="row"| "Flash"
| rowspan="2"| 2018 | Yo Bene |
|---|
| scope="row"| "Plein de bisous" (featuring Milena Leblanc) | {{Non-album single}} |
| scope="row"| "Attitude"
| rowspan="2"| 2020 | rowspan="2"| Dancy Party |
| scope="row"| "Dancy Boy" |
| scope="row"| "Orphéon"
| rowspan="2"| 2021 | {{Non-album single}} |
| scope="row"| "Boom Boom"
| rowspan="3"| Sonic Poems |
| scope="row"| "Too Much Text"
| rowspan="4"| 2022 |
| scope="row"| "Misbehave" (featuring Coco & Clair Clair) |
| scope="row"| "Nails Matching My Fit" (featuring Shanae) | rowspan="2" {{Non-album singles}} |
| scope="row"| "Move Me" (featuring Carly Rae Jepsen) |
| scope="row"| "Highway" (featuring Empress Of) | rowspan="3"| 2023 | rowspan="4"| Cristal Medium Blue |
| scope="row"| "Frisco Blues" |
| scope="row"| "Hey Lou" (featuring Camile Jensen) |
| scope="row"| "Get Fly (I Wanna)" (featuring Gabriela Richardson) | 2024 |
== Remixes ==
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| scope="col"| Title
!scope="col"| Year !scope="col"| Artist(s) |
|---|
| scope="row"| "Summertime Sadness" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |rowspan="1"| 2015 |
| scope="row"| "Un Mec En Or" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |rowspan="4"| 2016 | The Pirouettes |
| scope="row"| "Qui es-tu?" (Lewis OfMan Remix) | Poom |
| scope="row"| "Housse de Racket" (Lewis OfMan Remix) | Le Rayon Vert |
| scope="row"| "Swamp" (Lewis OfMan Remix) | Futuro Pelo |
| scope="row"| "La piscine" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |rowspan="4"|2017 | Hypnolove |
| scope="row"| "Pondikonissi" (Lewis OfMan Remix) | aglaska |
| scope="row"| "Sao Paulo" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |Julia Jean-Baptiste |
| scope="row"| "Romeo" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |
| scope="row"| "In your beat" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |rowspan="4"|2019 |
| scope="row"| "Joy in repetition" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |
| scope="row"| "When trouble sleep yanga wke am" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |Keziah Jones |
| scope="row"| "Goodbye soleil" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |
| scope="row"| "Beautiful" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |rowspan="1"|2020 |Rhye |
| scope="row"| "TXU TXU" (Lewis OfMan Houseparty Remix) |rowspan="2"|2022 |PPJ |
| scope="row"| "On & On" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |
| scope="row"| "Bad Lil Vibe" (Lewis OfMan Remix) |2023 |Coco & Clair Clair |