Lilly Wood And The Prick

First making one another’s acquaintance in a Parisien café, Tel Aviv-born singer-songwriter Nili Hadida and French guitarist Benjamin Cotto soon struck up a strong rapport, and by 2006, they had formed the English-language folk-pop outfit Lilly Wood & The Prick. Sharing demos via MySpace during their formative years, they soon inspired the confidence of local indie label Choke Industry, with whom they released a debut EP entitled Lilly Who and the What? in 2009 before signing a joint deal with Wagram subsidiary Cinq7. The pair’s debut album, Invincible Friends, arrived in the spring of 2010, reaching number 30 in the French album charts and spawning a national #9 hit in the form of the wordplay-heavy “Prayer in C”. After securing a 2011 Victoires de la Musique award via public vote, the duo returned in 2012 with their second LP, The Fight. It was more successful than its predecessor, peaking at number 16 in France, and was promptly followed by a film about the band, Lilly Wood and The Prick au Trianon. In an unexpected turn of fate, the pair scored an enduring global hit in 2014 after tropical house pioneer Robin Schultz revisited “Prayer in C”, transforming the track into a dance anthem. The remix topped charts in much of the world, achieving diamond certification in Germany as well as a quadruple platinum plaque in Italy and double platinum status in the UK and Australia. This didn’t persuade the duo to depart from their original folk sound, however. Their third album, Shadows, arrived in 2015, reaching number 35 in France and producing no top 40 singles. On the fifth anniversary of Schultz’ “Prayer in C” remix, they released a new version by Junkx, before reemerging in 2020 with their first new composition in four years, “Lonely Life”.