Justine Bourgeus (Tsar B)

Justine Bourgeus is an artist, musician, producer, composer and singer-songwriter.

In 2025, she established herself as a singular voice in contemporary screen music with her score for the visually stunning series This Is Not a Murder Mystery (co-composed with Hannes De Maeyer). Drawing on the surrealism of Leonora Carrington, the theatrical moods of Kurt Weill, and the raw textures of musique concrète, the duo created a soundtrack where fragments of 1930s instrumentation collide with synths, 808s and experimental orchestrations. Recorded with the Budapest Art Orchestra, the score acts as a character in its own right—by turns playful, uncanny and extravagant.

That same year, Bourgeus composed for the feature film Floating, the Sundance-selected short Upper, the feature documentary on André Malby called Supernatural, and the third season of the hit courtroom series Assisen. These works reflect her versatility across fiction, documentary and television, and build on a growing body of work that includes Godvergeten (Canvas), The 42 Children of the Guru (Eric Goens), Samuel’s Travels (Aik Karapetian), Sibling (Laura Van Passel), Leef! (Lenny Van Wesemael), High Jump (Lennert Madou), and Season of Sex (VRT Max). She also collaborated with director Jessica Woodworth on the World Soundtrack Awards project Fly, and composed for Laure Prouvost’s touring installation Above Front Tears Oui Float.

Trained as a classical violinist, Bourgeus began performing internationally at 18 before launching her career as Tsar B, a solo project blending baroque influences, electronics and avant-pop. Her debut single Escalate (2015) gained international recognition from The Fader, Noisey UK and BBC Radio 1, and quickly became a global dance-world favorite, featured on So You Think You Can Dance and inspiring thousands of choreographies worldwide. She has since released three EPs and two LPs, and performed at major festivals including Pukkelpop, Dour and Lokerse Feesten, as well as in São Paulo, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Istanbul.

Her collaborative projects include work with Sylvie Kreusch, The Subs, Mauro Pawlowski and Nova Twins (UK). In 2020, she reimagined her repertoire for strings in the concert film Les Dîners de Gala, and, with multi-instrumentalist Dijf Sanders, closed Film Fest Ghent with a tribute to her lifelong inspiration Angelo Badalamenti, composer of the iconic Twin Peaks score.