European School student Alex Ernoult was just 16 when he made it to the battle stage of the hit French show, an experience which he is now building on with the release of “Swedish Reggae”, composed by the 17-year-old with lyrics from his father, Rémi.

“I’m very happy with the result. We did everything we could,” he told Delano at the beginning of January.

Ernoult has loved music since his early childhood in Sweden where his father introduced him to artists like Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg. He began playing guitar aged 6, giving his first public performance just months later. Ernoult’s drive to entertain was not sated by his TV appearance and after the media attention died down, the Swedish-French national began working on his own songs.

Inspiration

The melody for this inaugural single came to the teenager while he was listening to Reggae on a plane. He worked on the song with a friend and music producer, reworked lyrics written by his father to fit the tune and recorded the final version vocals in a professional studio.

The result, which is released across all streaming platforms on 17 January, comes just as Ernoult hits the books ahead of his final year exams at the European school. His schooling had nothing to do with the timing, however.

“I think that winter is a dark time and even if there’s Christmas and new year, people aren’t always in their best moods. Sending people summery vibes, I hope [this song] will bring joy to their daily lives,” Ernoult said.

Alex Ernoult is pictured, centre, with coach Patrick Fiori and two other contestants at the semi finals of The Voice Kids, posted December 2018. Photo: Dood Music/Instagram

Those who watched the young student’s heartfelt and authentic performance on “The Voice Kids” will notice a marked difference in the Ernoult seen in the music video accompanying the song. Now a year older, more self-assured and with shorter hair, he also has a new name, “Dood”, inspired by the main character from the film “The Big Lebowski” and given a little artistic licence in the spelling.

A taste of things to come

Ernoult says he is fine-tuning a handful of songs which he plans to release in an EP during the summer of 2020. After that, he will head to the US to Berklee College of Music, Boston, where he plans to study a bachelor’s in jazz composition.

He said: “I think going to Berklee isn’t just to learn but I think maybe the biggest part is to meet new people as with all musicians, to be influenced by what they do, and play with them, and make as much music as possible as well.”

Find out more about Dood's next gigs and further announcements on Alex's Facebook or Instagram pages.