Yoann Lemoine

That same year, he relocated to Paris to begin his career, working on video game adaptation of Luc Besson's film Arthur et les Minimoys, converting the film's environments for the game. This experience convinced him that he was unsuited to working as an employee under someone else's direction. He subsequently contributed to Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette by creating a series of sketches, and was later commissioned by Universal in 2006 to direct a promotional documentary about Richie Havens. It was during this period, in 2006, that he adopted the stage name Woodkid. Although he initially described the moniker in 2013 as the story of a child escaping his family environment to build an adult identity, he later said it had simply originated as his MySpace pseudonym from his early guitar-learning days, adding that he had not really realized it would become his stage name and calling it "a lame pseudonym that has stuck with me". He subsequently signed with the independent record label GUM in 2008. Prior to its official release, an unfinished version of the video leaked online and quickly became an internet sensation, surpassing 100,000 views within 24 hours and being reposted across nearly 3,000 blogs. The campaign ultimately accumulated over 10 million views on YouTube, and was later named one of Adweek'''s "30 Freakiest Ads of 2010".

Before launching his recording career, Woodkid established an international reputation as a music video director. Between 2010 and 2012, he directed videos for Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream", Taylor Swift's "Back to December", Lana Del Rey's "Born to Die" and "Blue Jeans",

Meanwhile, in March 2011, Shortly after its release, "Iron" attracted widespread online attention, with Les Inrockuptibles describing the EP as a striking debut and noting that it revealed Woodkid's songwriting talent from his very first release. The music video earned a nomination for Best Music Video at the 19th Camerimage Film Festival, and in Dior Homme's Fall/Winter 2013 menswear collection show.

Woodkid released the self-directed music video for "Run Boy Run" in May 2012, the title track from his second EP of the same name. The black-and-white visual showcases highly symbolic themes and a cinematic visual style, The music video was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, and won the Prix du Meilleur Clip at the 27th Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur. The Umbrella Academy, Dying Light, and the BBC's closing montage for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final. In September 2012, Woodkid sold out his first official Paris concert at the Grand Rex several months before the release of his debut album.

2013–2018: The Golden Age and collaborations

Woodkid's first studio album, The Golden Age, was released on 18 March 2013, preceded by the singles "Iron" and "Run Boy Run". The Guardian praised its "filmic" quality, describing it as "a grand alchemy" of dramatic orchestral pop, swelling strings, and crashing drums. Les Inrockuptibles described the album as "a shock", calling it "more than an album" and praising its class, ambition, and epic scope. Raidió Teilifís Éireann commended Woodkid's visual imagination and orchestral arrangements, noting that he succeeded in establishing bold imagery in the listener's mind. NME, however, offered a more reserved assessment, praising the album's polished production while suggesting that much of its lyrical content felt "quite earnest". By 2020, the album had sold over 800,000 copies worldwide, with more than 600,000 copies attributed to international exports.

Following the release of The Golden Age, Woodkid served as creative director for Pharrell Williams' interactive 24-hour music video Happy, contributing to its creative concept, and later released a string-driven "Sad" remix of the song. In February 2014, he won the Révélation Scène award at the 29th Victoires de la Musique, and was also nominated for Best Music Video for "I Love You". joining a lineage of poster artists that included Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, David Bowie, and Phil Collins. In April of that year, he made his Coachella debut, where Rolling Stone named his performance one of the festival's "50 Best Things We Saw at Coachella 2014". Later that month, he composed the original score for Les Bosquets, a ballet conceived and directed by JR for the New York City Ballet. JR later adapted the ballet into a 2015 short film of the same name, incorporating Woodkid's music alongside additional compositions by Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams. On 26 June 2014, Woodkid headlined the outdoor Bell Opening Event at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, attracting an estimated audience of over 100,000.

On 10 July 2014, Woodkid released the self-directed music video for "The Golden Age", presented as an 11-minute narrative short film rather than a traditional music video. The film concluded a trilogy of long-form videos for his debut album, with Woodkid also serving as the visual effects artist for its opening sequence. For its extended score, he collaborated with composer Max Richter, who lengthened and re-recorded his composition "Embers" to match the song's rhythm and tonality. while Woodkid announced a temporary hiatus from his musical project to focus on other creative endeavors, including his debut feature film. He released the piano demo "Do You Love Me After All?" as a farewell to The Golden Age era. The music video was later nominated for Best Music Video at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. In March 2015, Woodkid collaborated with Lykke Li on the song "Never Let You Down", which was featured on the soundtrack for the film The Divergent Series: Insurgent.

After announcing his hiatus, Woodkid composed the soundtrack for Jonás Cuarón's thriller film Desierto, which won the Best Original Music award at the 38th Havana Film Festival, He also released "Land of All" as the soundtrack's lead single and the film's end-credits theme, accompanied by a lyric video. Beyond his film work, in late 2015, he directed the ANTIdiaRy promotional teaser campaign for Rihanna's eighth studio album, Anti. In July 2016, Woodkid composed the score for Ellis, a short film directed by JR and starring Robert De Niro, with Nils Frahm co-writing and performing the soundtrack. That same year, he co-produced Mykki Blanco's debut album Mykki alongside Jeremiah Meece, contributing to several tracks. Woodkid also established an ongoing creative partnership with designer Nicolas Ghesquière beginning in 2017, having composed the soundtracks for around ten Louis Vuitton fashion shows by 2020. That December, he announced his second studio album, marking seven years since his debut record. The project was preceded by the lead single "Goliath" in April 2020, whose music video was later nominated for Best Music Video at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, and for Création Audiovisuelle at the 36th Victoires de la Musique, Titled S16 in reference to sulfur's chemical symbol and atomic number on the periodic table, the album was developed through collaborations with Ryan Lott and the Suginami Junior Chorus of Tokyo, while also incorporating Cristal Baschet instruments and recordings of Jean Tinguely's kinetic sculptures. To promote the release, he launched an alternate reality game built around the fictional mining company Adaptive Minerals. Released on 6 August 2021, the piece was performed live by Woodkid at a free concert at the Trocadéro two days later. That same year, he contributed the original song "Guns for Hire" to the soundtrack of the first season of Arcane. In February 2022, he was nominated in the Concert category at the 37th Victoires de la Musique. while creating Farmer's digital avatar for its artwork. The track incorporates a fictional language created specifically for the series. As part of the partnership, he served as a mentor for emerging artists through the "One of Not Many Mentorship Program", an initiative established in 2018 by the watchmaker and Abbey Road Studios. He later composed original works for the brand, including Euclidean Pulses 1 (2023), inspired by Vacheron Constantin's "Less'ential" theme.

His work in screen and digital media included composing the main title theme for Roland Emmerich's 2024 series Those About to Die, as well as co-composing Hideo Kojima's video game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, with his song "To the Wilder" being featured in the game's trailer. These compositions were deeply integrated into development, with the music and game content evolving together throughout production. The 16-track soundtrack album, titled Woodkid for Death Stranding 2, was released on 13 June 2025 and features collaborations with Elle Fanning and Bryce Dessner. For the game, he composed procedural music whose individual elements could be dynamically recombined based on the player's actions, creating different musical variations during gameplay. Alongside making a cameo appearance in the game, Woodkid was nominated for Best Score and Music at The Game Awards 2025, and the 2026 BAFTA Games Awards, while winning a Guild of Music Supervisors Award for Best Music Supervision in a Video Game, and a Game Audio Network Guild Award for Best Main Theme. He said that the Assassin's Creed series had played an important role in his career, recalling that the use of "Iron" in the trailer for Assassin's Creed Revelations had helped define his artistic direction.

In November 2021, Woodkid condemned a video published by Génération Z, a youth support group backing presidential candidate Éric Zemmour, for using his song "Iron" "in a totally illegal manner". Calling it a "propaganda video," the artist stated on social media that he "clearly intend[ed] to initiate proceedings" against the organization. The following month, Le Figaro'' reported that he had decided to pursue legal action against the group.

Discography Video games Year Title Notes 2025 Death Stranding 2: On the Beach Composer 2026 Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Reworked "Leave Her Johnny"

Film and television Year Title Notes 2015 The Divergent Series: Insurgent Film; performed "Never Let You Down" (with Lykke Li) Desierto Film; composer, performed "Land of All" Ellis Short film; co-composer (with Nils Frahm) 2021–2024 Arcane TV series; performed "Guns for Hire" (Season 1) and "To Ashes and Blood" (Season 2)

Albums Studio albums Title Details Peak chart positions Certifications FRA AUT BEL(FL) BEL(WA) GER NLD SWI UK US USRock The Golden Age Released: 18 March 2013 Label: Green United Music Format: CD, DL, LP, streaming 2 13 6 34 8 23 4 38 133 38 SNEP: Platinum BVMI: Gold IFPI SWI: Gold S16 Released: 16 October 2020 Label: Green United Music Format: CD, DL, LP, streaming 13 39 138 14 30 — 5 — — — "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

EPs Title Album details Charts FRA Label: Green United Music Format: Digital download 110 Run Boy Run Released: 1 January 2013 Label: Green United Music Format: Digital download 31 Ellis Released: 8 July 2016 Label: Erased Tapes Format: Digital download — Woodkid for Nicolas Ghesquière – Louis Vuitton Works One Released: 7 May 2019 Label: Island Records Format: Digital download —

Singles As lead artist Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album FRA BVMI: Gold 2015 118 — — — — — — The Divergent Series: Insurgent "Volcano" — — — — — — — "Land of All" 2016 86 — — — — — — Desierto – Original Soundtrack "Winter Morning I"(with Nils Frahm) 144 — — — — — — Ellis "L'Aérogramme de Los Angeles"(with Louis Garrel) 2018 200 — — — — — — Génération(s) Eperdue(s) "Goliath" 2020 22 — — — — — — S16 "Pale Yellow" 70 — — — — — — "Horizons Into Battlegrounds" 55 — — — — — — "To the Wilder" 2025 — — — — — — —Woodkid for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

As featured artist Title Year Album "Clear" 2015 "Highschool Never Ends" 2016 Mykki "Karma" 2021 Ghettolimpo

Other charted songs Title Year Peak chart positions Album WW "To Ashes and Blood" 2024 181 Arcane League of Legends: Season 2

Videography Music videos Work Year Artist(s) Director(s) "Evergreen" 2007 "Au Grand Jamais" 2008 Bensé "Demain" Berry "Ce Jeu" Yelle "Faut-il, faut-il pas ?" 2009 Nolwenn Leroy "Mistake" Moby "Dreaming of Another World" 2010 Mystery Jets "Teenage Dream" Katy Perry "Back to December" 2011 Taylor Swift "Wastin' Time" The Shoes "Born to Die" Lana Del Rey "Take Care" 2012 Drake, Rihanna "Blue Jeans" Lana Del Rey "Run Boy Run" Woodkid "I Love You" 2013 "The Golden Age" 2014 "Jewels" Black Atlass "Land of All" 2016 Woodkid "Sign of the Times" 2017 Harry Styles "Goliath" 2020 Woodkid "In Your Likeness" "Killer" 2022 FKA twigs "Reactor" Woodkid Saad Moosajee

Commercials Title Year Brand Region Le Voyage / Balloon 2008 TiJi France News 2009 France 24 Graffiti 2010 AIDES An Incredible Light Taste Lipton Twirly-gig 2011 Cadbury United Kingdom Premier Parfum 2012 Lolita Lempicka France ANTIdiaRy 2016 Samsung United States

Awards and nominations