#mon23

First off, a bit of backstory:

Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc has always had a passion for music, but it wasn’t until the pandemic that the Monegasque decided to buy himself a piano so he could start learning how to play it during the off-season.

After posting a story on Instagram of him playing some music on the piano, he received a lot of positive feedback from fans on it, and it inspired him to record and release his own original music on streaming platforms such as Spotify and iTunes.

“AUS23 (1:1)” was born, released on 25th April 2023. It was named after the Australian GP he competed in that year. A sweeping, cinematic piano piece with synthesised strings as backing to support the main melody. Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack may come to mind, and according to Charles, he’s actually one of his idols in music. In an article on EssentiallySports, he stated, “I think everything by Hans Zimmer is good. Otherwise, I like Coldplay.”

Fans LOVED “AUS23”, and the track currently sits at 15.3 million listens on Spotify as of 18th February 2025.

Then came “MIA23 (1:2)”, nearly a month after the success of “AUS23”, on 8th May 2023. This track was named after the Miami GP Charles competed in that year. This is another emotional piano piece using the same strings in the background to support the main melody.

“MON23 (1:3)” was released a month after that on 14th August 2023. It was named after the Monaco GP Charles competed in that year, but this time, it wasn’t released the day after the race had taken place. The melody remains pretty much the same; the only difference being that the strings are replaced by a synthesised choir.

Let me highlight this particular track for a moment: I think “MON23” is a very special piece because Monaco is where Charles was born and a place where he currently lives. It’s a place that’s very personal to him, and this is evident upon listening to this track. It’s gentle, it’s atmospheric, and almost holy sounding in a way, like something you’d hear in a church. Charles himself has described in the past that he "[believes] in God,” but he is "[not someone] who would pray or go to church". Whether it was done intentionally or not, I personally think it’s a nice little touch. In my perspective, I imagine “MON23” as his journey from birth to where he is now: A Formula 1 driver from Monaco who wants to win races, and most of all, win his 1st World Championship title in the sport.

In February 2024, Charles travelled to Paris to a music studio to do a collaboration with the “Piano King” Sofiane Pamart. They spent 2 days working on 4 different piano pieces for the EP DREAMERS. The tracks are called “Focus”, “Heartbeat”, “Limitless” and “The Dream Continues”, and they are all references to Charles’ Formula 1 career. The album was then released on 16th February 2024.

If you compare the DREAMERS EP to Charles’ solo work, you can hear the differences in how each track is composed. In “AUS23”, “MIA23” and “MON23”, they sound more experimental and minimalistic. They have simple yet catchy melodies, and they all have a particular style that is unique to Charles. The arpeggiations, the way the music is structured and sectioned, how each of them start and end, things like that. Whereas in DREAMERS, it’s clear there is more involvement, more range, more keys being played because Charles and Sofiane are sitting side by side playing different keys and pitches, trying to emulate the feel of a Charles composition. It sounds more polished and professional that way. It’s not a bad album by any means; far from it. It’s just they don’t sound very Charles -like to me. It’s a solid effort nonetheless and I enjoyed listening to it! 😍🥰

Now we finally get to MC24 / SIN24, Charles’ brand new single, which he released yesterday! This announcement came completely out of the blue (Pun not intended) as he usually posts a few behind-the-scenes clips and previews leading up to the release to get a taste of what the music sounds like to fans. I’ll give him this though: It had been a while since he released some new music to the public, so I can forgive him there. Anyway…

“MC24 (1:4)” retains that familiar sound we all know and love from Charles’ solo work. This time, it sounds like it’s recorded live in his room because you can hear a little bit of background noise in some places such as the piano keys being pushed and Charles shuffling in his seat. Also, there aren’t any other instruments playing in the background; It’s just him and the piano. So simple yet so lovely.

“SIN24 (1:5)” is pretty much the same as “MC24” in terms of style and quality of the recording, but this one sounds much more dramatic in comparison, especially in the middle section. At least, to my ears. It’s great!

I have created a playlist of all the music he’s released so far, and listening to every single one of them in release order, it’s so fascinating to me how much he’s improved over the course of two years. I’m so happy for him. Keep up the fantastic work, Charles! 🥹🥹🥹