[wildfire]

Originally Posted by Chuck

FOR EXHIBIT "A", I'd like to point out that in her earliest recorded performances, before signing with Mylene, Miss Jacotey appears rather boyish, even tomboyish. In all her songs on TV, she wears pants.

Don't forget "sings nasally"... oh she was so adorable in her rawness. Alizee was quoted somewhere as saying that she usually preferred pants over dresses, too. She also said that she was "dressing the part".. yeah Mylene cleaned her up and boy, does Alizee "clean up" so nicely. I thought her Tomboyish aspect was more a manifestation of an inner strength that wasn't too apparent in her shyness.

Originally Posted by Chuck

FOR EXHIBIT "B", let me again mention that "some people" had spread chatter about Alizee seeming ungrateful. I'm not trying to say this gossip is evidence, rather, it's the fact that this gossip exists. People have been saying derogatory stuff about Lilly. I'm curious why? Since when? And who starts these kinds of rumors?

You can see that she was going through her rebellious stage in 2003 both in her music and her personal clothes.... and this may simply be in the form of self expressing rather than any sort of actual behavior. I doubt theres anything Mylene couldn't handle, being the vet that she was. It is a shame that Alizee and Mylene don't really speak now.

Originally Posted by Chuck

FOR EXHIBIT "C": Under "misc..", Wildfire had recently posted an online chat with Alizee from 12/07. In it, people asked about her split from Mylene. "Alizée: These are just rumors, we parted on very good terms. Mylène is someone I like very much, I also respect and above all it was she who taught me everything and I'm not here today if we had not met."

So where did the "ungrateful" stuff come from?

I mean the girl cried at her first award show and at Stars à Domicile 1 (I still cry when I see that!), hardly a sense of entitlement for this kid, let alone ungrateful. She wasn't a kid that sat around, watching TV, waiting for her fame to come. She was dancing most of her life, even heading choreography for some of her school shows, did some of hr own costumes, she would sometimes have surprise acts or moves at her school shows.. and had said that she wanted to be a dance instructor for kids when she grew up. She was also quoted as someone who really didn't ned to be prompted to do her schoolwork. Aside from any usualy behavior that comes from the chemistry set that is a kid's hormone at that age, I don't see any signs of an ungrateful person.

Originally Posted by Chuck

Ladies and Gents, direct your attention to EXHIBIT "D" -- PSYCHEDÉLICES. The album.

It's a great work, and very ambitious. Maybe over-ambitious. A lot of variety, a lot of fun songs. But then there's a couple real downers, right in the middle! (like somebody tossing a stinkbomb, almost). What I'm referring to is these two: "Jamais Plus" and "Psychedélices" (the title song). Admit it, upon first hearing those, we were all surprised Alizee could go to such dark places....

I'm saying that those two songs could be interpreted as not-so-polite "goodby" songs* from Alizee directed at Mylene. I don't say that was Alizee's intention (let's say it may or may not have been) . I'm merely pointing out that those two songs could be taken as such, and that's what might have made radio stations "boycott" the album.

In "JAMAIS PLUS", she sings of someone she'd just broken up with. Then they died. And she's never going to see them again, and she doesn't even seem to care, except in one way-- at the end, the words suddenly change to "tu m'as foutu", you left me f*d up.

Then comes "PSYCHEDÉLICES", a contender for the bluest blues ever written. A scathing indictment of some person with a very dark outlook. Someone who's wrapped in pain, and using drugs, someone who's dying from his/her self-pity. And in this song, the only sympathy the singer offers comes in this verse: "Gifted with flight, the bird excites your jealousy, Close the shutters, you could kill yourself for it..."

NOW I KNOW ALIZEE DIDN'T WRITE THOSE WORDS. I'm not even suggesting that she was aware of this possible interpretation. I'm merely pointing out that those songs could be construed as being nasty kissoffs. Toward somebody. (who knows, maybe they were even meant to be tributes to Mylene, but they backfired!) But if you're looking at it in the conspiratorial light, even the cover photo (having her cake and eating it) could be construed as Alizee thumbing her nose at Mylene.....

CONJECTURE, CONJECTURE... remember, this is all for amusement purposes only.

But didn't fans expect at least one or two songs on Psych would've come from Mylene? Perhaps even Mylene herself had expected to be asked, à la Shatner. If so, then this negligence may have also been seen as an offense.

SO WHAT HAVE WE PROVED? Nothing. Except that when Psych came out, it added a lot of fuel to the rumor fires. It gave people a lot of reasons to start saying things. I think that those rumors, combined with radio programmers fears of controversy, are what prevented this wonderful music from attaining commercial success.


WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Simply: THIS TIME, THOSE RUMORS SHOULD ALL BE IN THE PAST! i think that means that if Alizee's new album is even halfway decent, better airplay and better sales will be almost assured.



So the question remaining is the nagging one, the same one I hinted at first. Was Alizee's welfare and future career perhaps not Mylene's top concern? Did Alizee have reason to be ungrateful? And is it possible that she maybe even let a little bitterness escape? In a couple "sly" ways? Well, even if that were the case, that will all be behind her now, too--see WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?, above.



* - "GOODBYE" SONGS: historical examples include some real putdowns. Lennon's "How Do You Sleep" (for McCartney), the Stones "Had It With You" (for Bill Wyman), Neil Young's "Walk On" (to Skynyrd)...

Some great insights inter her songs, chuck... I've seen threads on translations, but not to many on meaning.. I'd luv to see more of those. I kid you not: sometimes I get little panic attacks when I hear her songs because I feel claustrophobic for not being able to understand the lyrics.

I think the speculation about songs being about mylene is pretty far fetched. I think Alizee was at the age of transitioning to adult hood when those songs were made. She got married, moved to a permanent res away from ajaccio, had a kid... I think there are aspects of shedding the teenage years in her song. She has mentioned that she doesn't like clubs, she doesn't booze or do drugs, and that the songs were concept songs.. Plus another aspect of her personality is that as a youngster she perceived as 20 being old and having a family and so on by then...

anyway... way too much speculation. What we can say that is mylene has a HUGE fan base... I'm sure quite a bit of them are gay (as you can see here)...

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...with accessible income...and Mylene must have a lot of pull in many circles. Much of that was stripped when Alizée went on her own, plus a crappy economy doesn't help nor does the label juggling.

I think its more about the future.. hoping that she will continue to make her music and have that amazing stage presence that we fell in luv with.