Axelle Red

Axelle Red

Her last studio album was released eight years ago. Axelle Red took her time, setting the bar extremely high for new songs—often uptempo, with lyrics that can be read on multiple levels. The new, long-awaited album is expected at the end of 2026.

Axelle Red—pop and soul diva, singer-songwriter—has, for more than three decades, built an impressive catalogue of iconic songs such as Sensualité, Parce que c’est toi, Je t’attends, Elle danse seule, Le monde tourne mal, À tâtons, Ma prière, Rester femme and Rouge ardent. With thirteen albums, millions of records sold and tens of millions of streams every year, she has grown—both as a humanist and a feminist—into a unique artist who effortlessly combines emotion and commitment.

In 1993, Axelle released her debut album Sans plus attendre. The pop-soul record was an unprecedented success: with over 500,000 copies sold, it became one of the best-selling albums in Belgian music history. Thanks to the concerts that followed and her second album À tâtons, recorded with some of the most renowned American soul musicians, she achieved a definitive international breakthrough. She became an artist who not only wrote pop history, but also earned the respect of musical icons worldwide. Her timeless songs are now being covered by a new generation of French artists such as Vianney, Clara Luciani, Juliette Armanet and Julien Doré—and recently even by Dua Lipa during her concert at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.

Alongside her musical success, Axelle increasingly developed as an activist. She committed herself to human rights, collaborated with UNICEF, became an ambassador for Handicap International, and spoke out about the position of women worldwide long before the #MeToo movement. This engagement took on a powerful form in her album Sisters & Empathy (2009), entirely devoted to injustice against women, child marriage and female genital mutilation—issues she encountered directly during her humanitarian work. While on Sans plus attendre she still sang, “Le monde tourne mal… Let’s dance,” after Sisters & Empathy she felt the need to do more and to use her music as a voice for change.

This combination of passion, sensitivity and altruism runs like a red thread through her career. “It’s about allowing all of us to seize our opportunities and pursue our happiness, while asking ourselves to what extent others are paying the price for that.”

Her approach to performing also evolved. “In the past it was veni, vidi, vici—look at everything I can do. Now I’m mainly looking for ways to share something with the audience, for real connection.” And that is precisely what makes her concerts so unique. Today, Axelle Red stands stronger than ever on stage. Few artists manage to build such a steadfast career while continuing to reinvent themselves.