Just seven months ago, singer/songwriter Christian French was in Philadelphia playing music for fans from all over. So, with French heading to Philadelphia once more on Sept. 17 to play at The Foundry, it may seem like not much has changed. However, while French was supporting other acts in February, opening for pop artist Quinn XCII at The Fillmore, he is now on his first-ever headlining tour.

For the young pop artist, it’s been very different headlining the tour as opposed to the opening slots that he became accustomed to after opening for Quinn XCII and also Chelsea Cutler in the fall of 2018. “It’s a pretty different energy,” French said. “This is the first time that we’ve gotten to play with a drummer, which has completely changed the energy of the shows. We get to play some slower, acoustic songs that we’ve never played before. We get to play some unreleased songs we’ve never played before, and it’s just a completely different thing.” 

French will be at The Foundry on Sept. 17, back in The Fillmore complex for the first time since he opened there in February. For fans attending his show, he sincerely hopes that they can enjoy the concert and feel as free as they can while listening to his music.

“I want for [fans] to have the most fun that they can possibly have and just feel free,” French said. “They’re just taking a break from the normal stress of everyday life and hopefully they just feel completely free at these shows.” 

French embarked on the “Bright Side of the Moon” tour on September 4 and will be heading west across the rest of the United States after visiting Philadelphia. The tour is named after his recently-released EP, “Bright Side of the Moon”, which featured six songs, including three songs that have each amassed more than one million streams on Spotify apiece.

When it came to writing the EP, French found two songs in particular to the ones he is most proud of, “Bright Side of the Moon” and an electronic-heavy ballad, “heavy snow.”

“I wrote ‘heavy snow’ at a really rough time, and writing that song completely got those emotions off my chest and gave me the energy and the enthusiasm that I didn’t have for a while,” French said. “A lot of people have resonated with that song and have just told me how much it’s helped them, so at the end of the day, if I’m helping people, that’s really all I can ask for.”

With the EP released and the tour now underway, French has a lot on his plate. However, the artist still has plans to work on some new music and potentially release a new album in the future. “I think we’re going to start rolling out songs at the end of this year,” French said. “It could be an EP, if we get the right collection of songs, it could transform into an album. Once we get back [from tour], it’s just all in the studio, and there’s no telling until we get there.”