Yoann Lemoine (born 16 March 1983), known professionally as Woodkid, is a French music video director, graphic designer and singer-songwriter.
His most notable works include his music video direction for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", Taylor Swift's "Back to December", Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die" and Harry Styles's "Sign of the Times".
Lemoine is also a chamber pop musician.
2004
In 2004, Yoann moved to Paris.
After a brief experience at H5, he joined Luc Besson's crew and worked on the project Arthur and the Invisibles for a year.
2006
In 2006, Yoann directed a series of roughs for Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette.
His first musical project is about the transition from childhood to adulthood and his countryside background.
The songs can be described as 'organic' and wooden.
The project is about a kid, who starts organic and later turns himself into marble.
One explanation as to why Lemoine became a musician is that guitarist Richie Havens gave him a ukulele during a video shoot he was directing.
2011
On 28 March 2011, he released his first EP Iron EP.
Woodkid released the Iron EP on 28 March 2011.
For the music video for the single "Iron" (composed by Yoann Lemoine), he collaborated with English model Agyness Deyn.
The song was featured in trailers for Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Revelations and the film Hitchcock as well as the TV series Teen Wolf.
On 6 October 2011, during a live performance in Brussels, he performed a cover of the Katy Perry song "Teenage Dream" (whose official video he directed).
On 15 October 2011, he sang on stage with Lana Del Rey in New York City.
He co-created the video for her song "Born to Die".
2012
He performed at the London Jazz Festival on 15 November 2012.
On 15 December 2012, Lemoine announced he was beginning recording of his debut album, to be named The Golden Age.
Lemoine released the official album cover through a video he created himself on 14 December 2012 and released the album's corresponding track listing one week later on 21 December on his official Facebook page.
"Run Boy Run" was directed by Lemoine himself and was used in several O2 and Science Channel adverts (those voiced by Sean Bean).
2013
On 18 March 2013, he released his first album titled The Golden Age, which is an autobiographical record.
The French couture brand Dior Homme's fall-winter 2013 collection, "A Soldier on My Own", was inspired by Woodkid's "Iron", and is named after a phrase in the lyrics.
The song was used as the soundtrack of the show.
It was released on 18 March 2013 through independent label, Green United Music.
The music video for "Run Boy Run" was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 2013 Grammy Awards.
The song was also used in the trailer for the game Dying Light.
During his Golden Age tour, Woodkid performed at the London Brixton Academy with the BBC Concert Orchestra in November 2013, and was invited by the Montreux Jazz Festival to perform for the second time with the Sinfonietta de Lausanne at the Stravinsky Auditorium.
The Golden Age tour performances were marked by a well-coordinated light show and visual projections that included imagery from his music videos.
The song is also used in the Umbrella Academy, in connection to Number 5, and the episode was also called Run Boy Run.
2014
It was also used in the teaser trailers for the BBC's series Musketeers, in January 2014.
"Run Boy Run" and "I Love You" were featured on the soundtrack of the 2014 film Divergent.
In January 2014, Lemoine / Woodkid was invited to give a performance and talk about the New York minimalist movement with Philip Glass by the Opéra and Museum of Modern Art of Saint-Étienne.
In February 2014, Woodkid received the award for best stage performer at the French equivalent of the Grammy Awards, Les Victoires de la Musique.
In 2014, Woodkid / Lemoine worked as creative director for Pharrell Williams' 24 Hours of Happy music video concept, seen more than 600 million times on YouTube.
He also served as creative director of the video campaign for John Legend's album Love in the Future, produced by Kanye West, including videos for "Who Do We Think We Are", directed by Paul Gore and "Made to Love", directed by Daniel Sannwald.
2020
He released his second album S16 on 16 October 2020, more than seven years later, following some single releases.
Yoann Lemoine was born in Poland to a mother of Polish-Jewish origin, then they moved later on in his life to Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, near Lyon.
He studied illustration and animation at the Émile Cohl school, where he completed his diploma with honors.
He then left for the UK to follow a silk screen printing process course at Swindon College.
