I've pretty much lost all hope for that dream now. :)

I had lost all hope for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young too ... until it happened. :D

Woot!
I wish I didn't have to type or say their name, I usually call them CSNY.
It won't make a word, but if we rearrange the names it can be SYNC, which is exactly what they do with their voices. :p

MF/LB are masters of their craft. They recognized something special in Alizée and were masters at bringing it out.

The hook for me was, of course, Alizée. The looks. The choreography. The beautiful voice. It took me a while to realize my infatuation was more than Alizée, but included the compositions....the lyrical style. I was falling for MF/LB and didn't even know it. It wasn't until I started listening to MF/LB in earnest that I realized it was a complete package.

Without MF/LB, I would never have discovered Alizée. Without Alizée, I would never have discovered MF/LB. All around, a pretty good result IMHO.

While you are never supposed to say never in neverland, This will never happen.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...245422448s.jpghttp://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...vatar_2455.gifhttp://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...tage08_009.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m.../small-1-1.gif

i noticed SD777 that you tried to open a thread on AF
but in the french section - they closed the thread and i think they something like "Always in French!"

i thought that was funny :D
i probably would have done the same thing :D

as for MF and LB i say they were a very important element in Alizee's overall success - praise them :D

My thoughts on all of this:

Calling her ML's puppet was just the media's way of getting at ML. She is very popular in France, but also stays out of the media. She does not give them enough dirt for stories and so they attacked Alizee for it. Alizee was no more a puppet than any other young singer with managers.

There was an interview about Alizee with some guy on here not long ago where he talked about other artists like Alizee and how they almost always go down the femme fatale path. I always wonder if ML tried to lead her down that road and she just didn't want to go there.

I'm still on the fence about ML/LB. If there was some darker reason for leaving them Alizee would not tell us. She is not the type to sling dirt around. So right now there is still not enough data to make a judgment on it.

Also don't forget that she *did* get slightly pregnant and married around that time.

Yes, without ML/LB we may never have heard of Alizee even if she did get into the industry. For example, I only ever heard about Jenifer because she is a friend of Alizee.

It's rare to find a non-english song on the UK charts. When 'Moi... Lolita' broke this barrier, I was thoroughly exposed to my friends south of London. :)

Now I say, screw the charts, i'm going on a musical journey on my own.

i'm one of those who tend to think it might have been MF/LB even more so than alizee who wanted to end their partnership in the end. we know MF/LB have very high standards when it comes to every aspect of the artistic career; music, stage identity/public image, merchandising/marketing. trying to keep all these things at a high level probably took a toll on everyone and their relationships.

by the end of the second album and her tour, it seems to me that their magic was fading. while many of us think MCE was a bestseller like gourmandises, the truth is it didn't sell nearly as well and after JEAM, JPVA and ACC weren't very successful singles by their standards. the direction further being pushed (no more lolita) likely meant continued decline in popularity. i wasn't around at the time obviously, but i've read that her tours weren't very successful in terms of ticket sales and that she bailed out on doing a press promotion for her next single amelie m'a dit live and that was pretty much the end of her partnership with MF/LB and the start of her long break.

we all talk about how alizee probably wanted to go in her own direction and stop being the so called puppet, but i think that MF/LB knew better that their magic had already run out and it was also time to leave. how they sell music went against everything alizee probably wanted in her future. they needed suggestive lyrics, sexy outfits, and strict image control to still have a chance at success with her. they also had a reputation to uphold and why tarnish their legacy by taking chances forcing things with a teenager who they probably felt was already "milked" for everything by that time? it was more a business to them than it was to alizee and they knew the expiration date on their partnership had passed. my guess is that her getting married/pregnant and skipping out on amelie m'a dit promotion was the straw that broke the camel's back.

anyways, they should be praised imo. is there really any reason to crucify them? even if they wanted to end it more than alizee, they were not in the business to be alizee's mentors forever. they helped create the superstar that we all love and their part in being professional about giving the public high quality music and helping build alizee's lovable image are a big part of why we are fans. i don't know if i like everything MF does on her side of the business, sometimes i think she tries too hard at shock value, but i enjoy her and LB's music and i respect them very much. i think they deserve a lot of the credit and gratitude for bringing joy to our lives with alizee. i highly doubt if she wasn't found by MF/LB and her career had taken a different path, that i would know about her and be her fan. it took the magic of their amazing partnership, few extra years, and becoming a sensation on youtube to finally reach me in the end. :D

oh and what ogre says here is also how i feel:;)

All I can say is everytime I watch one of Alizée's newer performances, I am deeply impressed by MF. I used to hate MF once upon a time, but after I saw the new Alizée all I can say is that MF is a genius and easily one of the best performers. She knows how to tap the huge potential Alizée has.
After Alizée won the Graines de Star contest someone would have eventually signed her up and sadly she would have become the run-of-the-mill European popstar with maybe one or two hits and then go out with a bang, or fade into oblivion.