A photoshoot in Père-Lachaise Cemetery is an efficient way to start a band. Anna Sofia had approached photographer and guitarist Étienne Baret for new pictures; between the graves, they talked about music, death and Baret’s unsuccessful search for a singer. Sofia admitted that she might be able to sing. Rehearsals followed, with drummer Alexandre Ratier completing the Paris trio.
GENNRE’s name is similarly accidental: the French conversational filler genre — roughly equivalent to “like” — given an extra n. That minor distortion suits a group whose two released songs take familiar alternative-rock materials and knock them slightly off-centre. Sofia’s low, measured delivery rarely fights for space; Baret’s guitar supplies the abrasion, while Ratier keeps the songs moving without sanding away their awkward edges.
“Wynona”, released by Soupire Records on 7 March 2024, begins in restraint and gradually reveals its teeth. Sofia wrote its lyrics around the unstable relationship between a woman and her own reflection: confidence one morning, disgust the next. Her voice makes that conflict feel lived-in rather than announced. Around it, the guitar hangs in the air like overheated wiring, bringing grunge weight without resorting to period costume.
The tension is the point.
The accompanying film, GENNRE’s first video, places this self-scrutiny inside rural roads, bare rooms and scenes of dry, peculiar menace. It was directed by Phantom — Célia Pyamootoo and Samuel Kaperski — with Baret, produced by Camille Razat through Tazar Productions, and shot by Tom Escarmelle. In June 2024, it won both Best Song and the overall Best Music Video prize at the Berlin Music Video Awards.
“Highschool Sweethearts Forever” arrived on Soupire Records on 18 April 2024. Its title promises permanence; the song documents the opposite. Sofia frames a first love as something intense enough to shape a person, but too immature to survive. Baret answers with a broader, more physical riff, turning private embarrassment into something that could fill a small club without losing its bruise.
For its video, the group exchanged rural France for the Los Angeles River, Venice Beach, Salton Sea and the Nude Bowl near Joshua Tree. Phantom and Baret directed again, with Razat producing. Burning cars, drained landscapes and teenagers on the run could have become borrowed Americana; instead, the handheld footage catches the exhaustion beneath the fantasy. In 2025, the London Music Video Awards named it Best Song, while “Wynona” won Best Director.
GENNRE have only two released tracks, but scarcity works in their favour. “Wynona” and “Highschool Sweethearts Forever” are available on Spotify and Apple Music, with their films on YouTube. Together they establish a useful contradiction: music built from adolescent volume, made by adults who understand what adolescence costs.
