Phénix V — Album Track 03
Album: Ce qu’il reste de moi
Official release: October 21, 2026
I Had Everything, Except Myself
Can you build an entire life without realizing that you don’t fully know yourself yet?
I had always known what I wanted to achieve. Not because I dreamed of wealth or success, but because I wanted security. A family, a home, a future, and the ability to make sure that the people I loved would never go without.
I came from almost nothing. From a very young age, I was used to being independent, thinking ahead, and finding solutions. When I started my own family, I wanted to build something solid. A home we could rely on.
And that is exactly what I did.
There was a family, a home, a business, and eventually more and more possibilities. A bigger house, a garden, a swimming pool, space to live, and the opportunity to turn plans into reality that I could once only have dreamed of.
I was proud of what we had built. And rightly so.
But every time I achieved something, I could already see the next step. A new project, a new challenge, something that could be improved. My mind rarely stopped.
Not because anyone forced me to. That was simply how I worked.
But everything I built also brought new responsibilities. More obligations, more work, and fewer and fewer moments when I genuinely had nothing to do.
Standing still almost felt wrong. There was always something else to arrange, improve, or prepare.
And yet, to me, that was perfectly normal.
After all, I had built the life I had always wanted.
But there is something I want to make very clear.
I wasn’t unhappy because I had a family. And I wasn’t pretending to be happy either.
I loved my family, my children, and everything we had achieved together. I cared deeply about them, and I mainly expressed that love by providing, working, and creating security.
That was my way of showing love.
The thing was, I lived most of my life inside my head. I thought, analyzed, organized, and searched for solutions. I knew how to deal with problems, but I rarely stopped to consider what I was actually feeling or what I needed myself.
Not because I was consciously suppressing anything.
I simply didn’t know another way.
It was only much later that I would discover that happiness doesn’t always come from achieving something. That you can simply be somewhere without thinking about tomorrow. That closeness, peace, and connection can be enough in themselves.
But how could I have missed that back then?
How can you long for something you don’t even know exists?
That is the central idea behind J’avais tout, sauf moi.
This song is not about regretting my former life. It is about someone who built everything he believed was important, without realizing that there was still another side of himself waiting to be discovered.
I knew how to take responsibility, how to create security, and how to keep a family and a business going.
But truly getting to know myself was something entirely different.
Where Je portais le monde tells the story of someone who could carry everything, this third track describes the life that same person went on to build.
A life filled with love, responsibilities, achievements, and material security.
A life in which nothing seemed to be missing.
I had everything I knew I wanted.
But I didn’t yet know everything about who I was.
And perhaps that is the true meaning of J’avais tout, sauf moi.
Not that everything I had built was wrong.
But that, alongside everything I had achieved, there was still someone I needed to discover.
Myself.
Lyrics
Read the complete lyrics (French original + English translation).
Je venais de presque rien
Alors je voulais tout construire
Une famille autour d’une table
Des raisons de rentrer le soir
I came from almost nothing
So I wanted to build everything
A family gathered around a table
Reasons to come home at night
Un enfant était déjà là
Je l’ai aimé comme le mien
Puis la vie s’est agrandie
Et je croyais tenir enfin
Ce que je n’avais jamais eu
There was already a child
I loved him as my own
Then our life grew bigger
And I believed I finally had
What I had never had
Un endroit
Des enfants
Un nous
A place
Children
An us
Je m’étais promis très jeune
Chez moi, personne ne manquerait de rien
Alors j’ai tenu ma promesse
Peut-être un peu trop bien
I had made myself a promise when I was very young
In my home, no one would ever go without
So I kept my promise
Perhaps a little too well
J’avais tout comme il fallait
Une famille, une maison, des projets
J’avais tout comme il fallait
De quoi entendre : « Pourquoi serais-tu malheureux ? »
Je pouvais montrer tout ce que j’avais bâti
Mais personne ne demandait ce que ça coûtait
J’avais tout comme il fallait
J’avais tout
Sauf moi
I had everything just as it should be
A family, a home, plans for the future
I had everything just as it should be
Enough for people to ask, “Why would you be unhappy?”
I could show everything I had built
But no one asked what it had cost me
I had everything just as it should be
I had everything
Except myself
On a commencé petit
Puis j’ai voulu aller plus loin
Une entreprise, puis une autre étape
Toujours demain dans mes mains
We started small
Then I wanted to go further
A business, then another step forward
Always holding tomorrow in my hands
Plus grand, plus beau, plus solide
Un jardin, une piscine, de l’espace
Tout ce que l’enfant que j’étais
Aurait regardé comme une victoire
Et chaque fois que j’arrivais quelque part
Je cherchais déjà ce qu’il fallait encore construire
Bigger, more beautiful, more solid
A garden, a swimming pool, room to breathe
Everything the child I once was
Would have seen as a victory
And every time I reached a new milestone
I was already looking for what else I could build
Parce que m’arrêter
Me donnait mauvaise conscience
Ne rien faire ressemblait presque à une faute
Alors je travaillais encore
Because stopping
Made me feel guilty
Doing nothing almost felt like doing something wrong
So I kept working
J’avais tout comme il fallait
Une famille, une maison, des projets
J’avais tout comme il fallait
De quoi entendre : « Pourquoi serais-tu malheureux ? »
Je pouvais montrer tout ce que j’avais bâti
Mais personne ne demandait ce que ça coûtait
J’avais tout comme il fallait
J’avais tout
Sauf moi
I had everything just as it should be
A family, a home, plans for the future
I had everything just as it should be
Enough for people to ask, “Why would you be unhappy?”
I could show everything I had built
But no one asked what it had cost me
I had everything just as it should be
I had everything
Except myself
Plus j’avais, plus il fallait tenir
Plus je construisais, moins je savais ralentir
Il fallait payer, prévoir, protéger, continuer
Toujours quelqu’un, toujours quelque chose
Qui comptait sur moi
The more I had, the more I had to hold together
The more I built, the less I knew how to slow down
There were bills to pay, things to plan, people to protect, and reasons to keep going
Always someone, always something
Depending on me
Et quand enfin il n’y avait rien à faire
Je ne savais même plus comment m’asseoir
And when there was finally nothing left to do
I no longer even knew how to simply sit down
On me disait : « Mais regarde ta vie »
« Tu as tout »
Et je regardais
La maison, le travail, la famille
Tout ce que j’avais voulu
People would say to me, “Just look at your life”
“You have everything”
And I would look
At the house, the work, the family
Everything I had ever wanted
Et je pensais
Alors pourquoi est-ce que je suis si fatigué ?
Pourquoi est-ce que quelque chose manque
Dans une vie où il ne manque rien ?
And I would think
Then why am I so tired?
*
Listen to J’avais tout, sauf moi
J’avais tout, sauf moi is the third track from the album Ce qu’il reste de moi by Phénix V.
The full album will be released on October 21, 2026, across streaming platforms.
Want to listen to the album as soon as it is released? You can already pre-save it on Spotify.
Ce qu’il reste de moi — Spotify Pre-Save
From October 21, 2026, direct listening links to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and other streaming platforms will be added here.
Phénix V — J’avais tout, sauf moi
Album: Ce qu’il reste de moi
Release date: October 21, 2026