Folamour: "Movement Is Therapy and I’m My Own Sun”

Folamour is guiding the rhythm and moving with purpose. The French DJ/producer’s new album Movement Therapy isn’t just aimed at the dance floor – it’s a full-body, full-heart experience about change, healing, and rediscovering joy through motion.

A global force in house and disco-infused electronic music, with over 170 million streams, five studio albums, and performances at festivals like Tomorrowland, Glastonbury, and Coachella, he’s earned his place as a key figure in France’s dance music scene.

Championed for his high-spirited sets, radiant grooves, contagious smile, and signature bucket hats, Folamour takes things to a deeper level on this latest record. After hitting a personal and creative rut, he hit the reset button and got outdoors – running, hiking, slowing down, and reconnecting with what matters. The result? Fourteen tracks bursting with funk, soul, house, and emotion, built around a personal manifesto and potent yet straightforward mantra that all dance floor enthusiasts live by: “Movement is life.”

From gospel-tinged bangers to dance floor diaries wrapped in sound, Movement Therapy is as much about letting go as it is about moving forward. He even dropped an app that only lets fans preview the album while they’re physically on the move – no standing still allowed.

We touched base with Folamour as he gets real about the moments that shaped the album: running a half-marathon with his dad, processing grief, leaning on friends, and finding freedom in motion.

Hey Folamour, thanks for joining us, and Happy belated birthday! How did you celebrate?

My pleasure! Nothing crazy, just spent the day with friends and my loved ones, good laughs and good vibes, don’t need more!

"Movement is life" is a powerful mantra that runs through this album. It feels more personal and philosophical than ever, especially with the spoken intro and the manifesto. Can you talk about the moment you realized you needed to start moving again – creatively, emotionally, or physically?

I couldn’t point to a specific moment, but I think, in the last couple of years, I could feel I wasn’t evolving as I was used to, I wasn’t feeling flexible anymore, creatively and emotionally. I was feeling stuck in many ways, numb too, and I needed a change. I started with running, spending more time with friends, touring less, travelling for pleasure more often, hiking, and trying new things.

I noticed the link between everything was the movement, doing things, and being active. I found a new meaning behind all these things, something deeper than it seemed at first, and I wanted to explore that.

Ahead of the album release, you've created an app that gives fans a sneak preview of your album, but only when they are on the move. Can you explain how you developed the concept behind this?

The goal for this album was for it to generate movement. I would love for people to go through the same realization I’ve been through. I started thinking about more ways for this album to cause waves, and I thought that exchanging energy for music sounded beautiful, and with the label, we started working on how to make it happen! I’m very proud of the result and to see how many people have used it and have unlocked the full thing!

Speaking further on getting out and moving, you recently ran and completed a half marathon with your father in Paris (congrats)! How was that experience?

Thank you! It was fun. When I started running a year ago, I called my father and asked him if he wanted to do a race together at some point, and we decided that a half marathon was the perfect distance, considering I started running a couple of months before (and my father is 60 years old). I just love the race vibes. I’ve done a few and it’s always the best Sundays I can imagine, everybody’s here to have a good time and to make memories while doing their best, and it creates something special. I’ll always remember these two hours, doing something together like we’ve never done before, and the joy of going through the finish line together.

Movement Therapy feels like an undulating, funk-fueled collection of 14 individual tales from the dance floor. Can you select one track from the album and tell us the story behind what real-life experience led to its creation?

I could do it for any track from the album, but “Time” is probably one with the heaviest meaning behind it. I made this track as a tribute to a two-day studio session I had on the French coast a year ago with my good friend Bidou. Right before we left Paris to head there, he called me to announce that he had cancer. I was the first person he called after hanging out with the doctor, and it was a brutal moment, for him mostly, but for both of us, too. He decided to maintain the studio session, saying “it would be his last moments of creation and freedom for a long time,” and we had some of my favorite moments together that week. I wanted to express the duality between the brutality, the sadness, and the love and passion we shared. It turned out to be “Time”, one of my heaviest club tracks, but with that orchestral part in the middle to show the love in the turmoil of sickness and death. He passed away last September, and I wrote two songs for him on the album, “Time” and “U Made The World A Better Place.”

“Ça Va Aller” is a song about hope and leaning on others. What inspired it, and was there a moment when your friends helped you through a tough time?

My friends and loved ones are often the reason I’m able to do the things I do. I can look like an “always happy and smiling” person, but the truth is always more nuanced, I guess. I go through ups and downs like everybody else, and in many cases, they are the reason I’m back on my feet with new energy. Making this album, I’ve had many moments of doubt and pain, and they’re always here to carry me through the storms and give me hope in the future.

How many bucket hats do you think you own? We want to know because we love them.

To be honest, I have no idea anymore. I remember counting them a couple of years back, and I had a bit more than 200, but I’ve received so many as gifts from promoters, festivals, friends, and from my people as well! I’d say around 300, maybe a bit more.

After a decade of touring and four previous albums, what feels different about Folamour in 2025, both as an artist and as a human being?

I think I’m a better artist and human being now than I’ve ever been. I feel freer than ever, not caring at all about expectations, limits, or rules, I just do things how I feel, and it’s a new feeling. I’m also in a healthier place (mentally and physically) today than ever before. I’m finally able to take time to enjoy life and do the things I love with the people I love, and I want to focus more on all this in the future.

Folamour's fifth studio album Movement Therapy is out now via All Night Long. Listen below and get it on Beatport.