Woodkid

Early life

Yoann Lemoine was born on 16 March 1983 in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, Rhône-Alpes, France,^[a] to a mother of Polish-Jewish origin,^[11] and a French father who worked as an advertising executive.^[10][12] His grandparents were Eastern European Jews who, having fled the Holocaust, renounced their faith in France.^[13] After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he regularly spent summers with his maternal family in Poland, an experience that later deepened his understanding of his family's history.^[14][5] His mother raised him partly in a Catholic school despite her Jewish background.^[5] He attended Notre-Dame de Mongré in Villefranche-sur-Saône from middle to high school,^[15][16] where former English and art teachers described him as "exceptionally brilliant".^[17] As a teenager, his father bought him a Macintosh computer, on which he taught himself Photoshop and began creating digital images.^[10] Woodkid later studied illustration and animation at the École Émile-Cohl,^[b] where he was part of the Sempé class,^[18] and was later described by the school's deputy director as "a very good student" with "a real aptitude" for the craft.^[15] He graduated with honors in 2004, before moving to the United Kingdom to study silk-screen printing at Swindon College.^[b]

That same year, he relocated to Paris to begin his career, working on video game adaptation of Luc Besson's film Arthur et les Minimoys, converting the film's environments for the game.^[22][10][23] This experience convinced him that he was unsuited to working as an employee under someone else's direction. He subsequently contributed to Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette by creating a series of sketches,^[10][19][24] and was later commissioned by Universal in 2006 to direct a promotional documentary about Richie Havens.^[25][26] After he expressed a desire to learn guitar, Havens gifted him a four-string instrument, which Woodkid later used to compose the earliest songs for his musical project.^[22][26] It was during this period, in 2006, that he adopted the stage name Woodkid.^[27] Although he initially described the moniker in 2013 as the story of a child escaping his family environment to build an adult identity,^[28] he later said it had simply originated as his MySpace pseudonym from his early guitar-learning days,^[29] adding that he had not really realized it would become his stage name and calling it "a lame pseudonym that has stuck with me".^[30] He subsequently signed with the independent record label GUM in 2008.^[31]

2010–2012: Graffiti, Iron and Run Boy Run

In January 2010, Woodkid directed Graffiti, an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign for AIDES.^[22][32] Prior to its official release, an unfinished version of the video leaked online and quickly became an internet sensation,^[33][34] surpassing 100,000 views within 24 hours and being reposted across nearly 3,000 blogs.^[35] The campaign ultimately accumulated over 10 million views on YouTube,^[36][10] earned four Cannes Lions,^[20][37][38] and was later named one of Adweek's "30 Freakiest Ads of 2010".^[39]

Before launching his recording career, Woodkid established an international reputation as a music video director.^[c] Between 2010 and 2012, he directed videos for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream",^[44] Taylor Swift's "Back to December",^[45] Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die" and "Blue Jeans",^[46][47] as well as Drake and Rihanna's "Take Care".^[48] "Blue Jeans" was nominated for Best Music Video at the 20th Camerimage Film Festival,^[49] while "Born to Die" won Best Pop Video – International at the 2012 UK Music Video Awards.^[50] Woodkid later said that his work with major recording artists enabled him to reinvest his earnings into his debut album, including hiring the Orchestre National de France.^[51]

Meanwhile, in March 2011,^[52] Woodkid released his debut EP, Iron, featuring the title track as its lead single.^[53][54] The song was accompanied by a self-directed music video.^[54][53][55] Shortly after its release, "Iron" attracted widespread online attention, with Les Inrockuptibles describing the EP as a striking debut and noting that it revealed Woodkid's songwriting talent from his very first release.^[53] The music video earned a nomination for Best Music Video at the 19th Camerimage Film Festival,^[56] and won the Prix du Meilleur Clip at the 26th Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur.^[57] The song was later featured in the trailer for Assassin's Creed Revelations,^[58] and in Dior Homme's Fall/Winter 2013 menswear collection show.^[10][54]

Woodkid released the self-directed music video for "Run Boy Run" in May 2012,^[59] the title track from his second EP of the same name.^[60] The black-and-white visual showcases highly symbolic themes and a cinematic visual style,^[61] with both Vice and The Line of Best Fit comparing its imagery to Where the Wild Things Are.^[61][62] The music video was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards,^[63] and won the Prix du Meilleur Clip at the 27th Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur.^[64] The track later appeared across advertisements, film, and television over the years,^[65] including Divergent,^[66] The Umbrella Academy,^[67] Dying Light,^[68] and the BBC's closing montage for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final.^[69] In September 2012, Woodkid sold out his first official Paris concert at the Grand Rex several months before the release of his debut album.^[70][71][72] Les Inrockuptibles likened the buzz surrounding Woodkid to the anticipation that preceded Daft Punk's album Homework.^[72]

2013–2018: The Golden Age and collaborations

Woodkid's first studio album, The Golden Age, was released on 18 March 2013,^[73] preceded by the singles "Iron" and "Run Boy Run".^[60] The record received generally positive reviews from music critics.^[74] The Guardian praised its "filmic" quality, describing it as "a grand alchemy" of dramatic orchestral pop, swelling strings, and crashing drums.^[75] Les Inrockuptibles described the album as "a shock", calling it "more than an album" and praising its exceptional class, ambition, and epic scope.^[76] Raidió Teilifís Éireann commended Woodkid's visual imagination and orchestral arrangements, noting that he succeeded in establishing bold imagery in the listener's mind.^[77] NME, however, offered a more reserved assessment, praising the album's polished production while suggesting that much of its lyrical content felt "quite earnest".^[78] By 2020, the album had sold over 800,000 copies worldwide, with more than 600,000 copies attributed to international exports.^[d]

Following the release of The Golden Age, Woodkid served as creative director for Pharrell Williams' interactive 24-hour music video Happy, contributing to its creative concept,^[84][85] and later released a string-driven "Sad" remix of the song.^[86] In February 2014, he won the Révélation Scène award at the 29th Victoires de la Musique,^[87] and was also nominated for Best Music Video for "I Love You".^[88] That same month, he designed the first 3D poster for the 48th Montreux Jazz Festival,^[89] joining a lineage of poster artists that included Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, David Bowie, and Phil Collins.^[90] In April of that year, he made his Coachella debut, where Rolling Stone named his performance one of the festival's "50 Best Things We Saw at Coachella 2014".^[91] Later that month, he composed the original score for Les Bosquets, a ballet conceived and directed by JR for the New York City Ballet.^[92][93] JR later adapted the ballet into a 2015 short film of the same name, incorporating Woodkid's music alongside additional compositions by Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams.^[94][95] On 26 June 2014, Woodkid headlined the outdoor Bell Opening Event at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, attracting an estimated audience of over 100,000.^[96][97]

On 10 July 2014, Woodkid released the self-directed music video for "The Golden Age", presented as an 11-minute narrative short film rather than a traditional music video.^[98][99] The film concluded a trilogy of long-form videos for his debut album, with Woodkid also serving as the visual effects artist for its opening sequence.^[100] For its extended score, he collaborated with composer Max Richter, who lengthened and re-recorded his composition "Embers" to match the song's rhythm and tonality.^[98] Later that month, Ubisoft featured the track in the cinematic trailer for Assassin's Creed Unity,^[101][102] while Woodkid announced a temporary hiatus from his musical project to focus on other creative endeavors, including his debut feature film. He released the piano demo "Do You Love Me After All?" as a farewell to The Golden Age era.^[103][104] The music video was later nominated for Best Music Video at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.^[105] In March 2015, Woodkid collaborated with Lykke Li on the song "Never Let You Down", which was featured on the soundtrack for the film The Divergent Series: Insurgent.^[106]

After announcing his hiatus, Woodkid composed the soundtrack for Jonás Cuarón's thriller film Desierto,^[107] which won the Best Original Music award at the 38th Havana Film Festival,^[108] and earned him a nomination in the same category at the 59th Ariel Awards.^[109][110] He also released "Land of All" as the soundtrack's lead single and the film's end-credits theme, accompanied by a lyric video.^[111][112] Beyond his film work, in late 2015, he directed the ANTIdiaRy promotional teaser campaign for Rihanna's eighth studio album, Anti.^{[21][113][114]} In July 2016, Woodkid composed the score for Ellis, a short film directed by JR and starring Robert De Niro, with Nils Frahm co-writing and performing the soundtrack.^[115][116] Released as a mini-album through Erased Tapes, the record featured piano parts composed by Woodkid before Frahm stripped down the orchestration, with proceeds from album sales benefiting the refugee rescue charity Sea-Watch.^[117][118] That same year, he co-produced Mykki Blanco's debut album Mykki alongside Jeremiah Meece, contributing to several tracks.^[119][120] Woodkid also established an ongoing creative partnership with designer Nicolas Ghesquière beginning in 2017, having composed the soundtracks for around ten Louis Vuitton fashion shows by 2020.^[121] In 2018, he and Louis Garrel recorded a symphonic cover of Yves Simon's "L'Aérogramme de Los Angeles" for the tribute album Génération(s) éperdue(s).^[122] It marked Woodkid's first recorded performance in French.^[123]

2019–2025: S16, Vacheron Constantin and Death Stranding 2

In May 2019, Woodkid issued the EP Woodkid for Nicolas Ghesquière – Louis Vuitton Works On, which featured guest vocals from Jennifer Connelly and Moses Sumney.^[124] That December, he announced his second studio album, marking seven years since his debut record.^[125][126] The project was preceded by the lead single "Goliath" in April 2020,^[127] whose music video was later nominated for Best Music Video at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards,^[128] and for Création Audiovisuelle at the 36th Victoires de la Musique,^[129] before the full record was released on 16 October 2020.^[79] Titled S16 in reference to sulfur's chemical symbol and atomic number on the periodic table,^[130][121] the album was developed through collaborations with Ryan Lott and the Suginami Junior Chorus of Tokyo, while also incorporating Cristal Baschet instruments and recordings of Jean Tinguely's kinetic sculptures.^{[130][131][6]} Its lyrics explore themes of addiction, political awakening, industrialization, and individual and collective responsibility, with "Shift" originating from Woodkid's response to the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.^{[130][6][132]} To promote the release, he launched an alternate reality game built around the fictional mining company Adaptive Minerals.^[130]

In July 2021, Woodkid was commissioned by Paris 2024 to compose the original piece "Prologue", recorded with the Orchestre National de France and the Maîtrise de Radio France for the Paris 2024 handover sequence at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.^{[133][134][135]} Released on 6 August 2021, the piece was performed live by Woodkid at a free concert at the Trocadéro two days later.^[133][136] That same year, he contributed the original song "Guns for Hire" to the soundtrack of the first season of Arcane.^[137][138] In February 2022, he was nominated in the Concert category at the 37th Victoires de la Musique.^[139] He later collaborated with Mylène Farmer on her twelfth studio album, L'Emprise. He was a principal contributor to the album's music and visual design, composing and producing seven of its twelve main tracks,^[140][141] while creating Farmer's digital avatar for its artwork.^[140] He returned to Arcane in 2024 with "To Ashes and Blood" for the series' second season.^[137][142] The track incorporates a fictional language created specifically for the series.^[142]

Parallel to his work in entertainment, Woodkid began a partnership with Vacheron Constantin in 2022.^[143][144] As part of the partnership, he served as a mentor for emerging artists through the "One of Not Many Mentorship Program", an initiative established in 2018 by the watchmaker and Abbey Road Studios.^[143][145] He later composed original works for the brand, including Euclidean Pulses 1 (2023), inspired by Vacheron Constantin's "Less'ential" theme.^[145] In 2025, to mark the company's 270th anniversary, he composed three original melodies for La Quête du Temps, a unique astronomical automaton clock exhibited as the centrepiece of the Mécaniques d'Art exhibition at the Louvre Museum.^{[146][147][148]}

His work in screen and digital media included composing the main title theme for Roland Emmerich's 2024 series Those About to Die,^[149][150] as well as co-composing Hideo Kojima's video game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, with his song "To the Wilder" being featured in the game's trailer.^[151][152] Originally approached to write a single song, his involvement expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic into a three-year collaboration to score the entire project.^[153][154] These compositions were deeply integrated into development, with the music and game content evolving together throughout production.^[155] The 16-track soundtrack album, titled Woodkid for Death Stranding 2, was released on 13 June 2025 and features collaborations with Elle Fanning and Bryce Dessner.^[156] For the game, he composed procedural music whose individual elements could be dynamically recombined based on the player's actions, creating different musical variations during gameplay.^[157][158] Alongside making a cameo appearance in the game,^[159] Woodkid was nominated for Best Score and Music at The Game Awards 2025,^[160] and the 2026 BAFTA Games Awards,^[161][162] while winning a Guild of Music Supervisors Award for Best Music Supervision in a Video Game,^[163] and a Game Audio Network Guild Award for Best Main Theme.^[164]

2026–present: Black Flag Resynced

In June 2026, Woodkid collaborated with Ubisoft on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, recording a reimagined version of "Leave Her Johnny" for the game's soundtrack and reveal trailer.^[165] He said that the Assassin's Creed series had played an important role in his career, recalling that the use of "Iron" in the trailer for Assassin's Creed Revelations had helped define his artistic direction.^[166]

Video games

Film and television

Albums

Singles

Music videos