All hail Roman! Wow! Yes, he nailed it!
A lot of the original french letter got removed because (unnamed correspondent) was concerned that other LT people would see his name here and tattle. (Lefty was Right!
) I'm still trying to patch things up with him. We'll see. If he checks here again, I hope he doesn't see this and assume I'm further exploiting or betraying him. I'm not. I'm just trying to fill in some of the missing parts of the conversation.
As I mentioned to Roman a couple posts above, I've taken to writing out such a long passage in mostly-english first, then translating to french. I hope to get past that point soon, but as it is I'm still a bit rusty. Trying to write directly in french, I was wasting a lot of time by rechecking spellings, conjugations, or genders of french words that I'd wind up not even using. So this is my english draft here.
Anyway, just to help fill in the "mystery parts" here's what I wrote to (unnamed correspondent) that prompted his long (and volatile) response, so kindly and expertly translated by Roman. If somebody wants, I'll send you my french version of this, but I don't want to crash the server by making this post twice as long.
The
bold/italic typing is notes i'm adding now, where needed for additional clarification.
This is what i'd written:
My friend,
Sorry for the delay. You posed "La seule vrai question": "Est ce que sa nouvelle musique peut plaire chez vous...?" Then my answer got a bit long. That's why i'm sending to you it via PM now
(and I dodged a bullet by doing so, it seems) , but feel free to post any part or all of this on your forum.
(apparently, that's NOT going to happen, my opinions would be very unpopular there.)
Let me first say that I joined this forum
(LT) for a number of reasons:
1)huge fan;
2)I wanted to work on my french (but those language forums are sooo boooring!);
3)to help others in AlizéeAmerica with their questions about Alizée;
and finally
4)I think I was hoping all along that someone would ask me questions like yours! (I just didn't expect it so soon. See #2!)
tu as dit:
«Simplement, elle tient à chanter dans sa langue...»
TR: you had said: "Simply, she holds to singing in her language..."
Are you sure of that? If so, that will be a hindrance. How many French people can understand English? How many English people understand French? I Don't know either answer (and I really would like to!) But I do know that very few Americans (less than 1%) know any French. Try Haiti?
Perhaps she feels anti-english because she'd tried english lyrics before without much success? Believe me, those songs failed for a lot of reasons. Differences in culture, combined with errors of translation, and each of those songs turned into massive miscalculations!
The Fatal Flaws in some of her previous English-language releases:
"Yoopidoo" was just like a cute rabbit in a busy highway. No chance.
"Amelie" in english was beautiful, but the words made very little sense to us!
"I'm Fed Up" was okay, but too sweet, too poppy. And radio stations couldn't play it for fear of complaints from fish lovers!
"I'm Not Twenty" might have been a hit, except for one thing: In most of the US, young people aren't allowed to drink alcohol until 21 years. Stupid, but that's been the rule for decades. Thus, most young people here wish they were 21! (And once they are, they don't know how to drink. Problems ensue!)
These failures to "cross over" may have discouraged her. But as you can see, they're each easily explained! Other songs, like "Gourmandises" or "C'est Trop Tard" if translated, might have fared 100 times better!
tu disais:
«et n'a pas du tout envie de devenir la Shakira française; une blonde platinée qui fait du contorsionnisme en bas résille et chante en anglais!!!»
TR: you said: "and she does not at all want to become a French Shakira; a platinum blonde who does contortionism in fishnet stockings and sings in English!!!" (Also, U.C. had earlier suggested that Alizée might switch to a cropped "Edie Sedgewick" haircut for the new disc.) I reply jokingly:
Alizée en bas résille. Faisant du contorsionnisme. Hmmm. Un moment. (Quelle image!) Mais non! That style would not work for Alizée, besides, in America, we've already got that. And Shakira--she is no one to emulate--she's already gone as far as she's going to go. "Blonde platinée?" Non! A haircut like Edie? Not necessary. I saw the discussion here
(LT) on "which haircut you prefer", (the Juliette, the 50/60, or the bangs) and I agree with the results, that order. I like the bangs, but Lilly's huge forehead is so beguiling, she should not try to hide that. And actually, while we like legs, if Alizée were to perform on American TV, she would be accepted much better in a long, sparkling gown.
tu disais:
«La seule vrai question est;
Est ce que sa nouvelle musique peut plaire chez vous, parce que, en revanche, il est inutile de continuer à phantasmer sur la "petite danseuse en costume marin".»
TR: you said: "The only true question is; could her new music please people where you are, because on the other hand, it is useless to continue fantasizing about "the little dancer in the sailor suit."
Does her new music please YOU in France? Yesterday, (another now-nameless LT member) proudly wrote: «Psychedelices, ça va faire 6 mois que je ne l'écoute plus...» Hey (other guy), hey, France! I'm not criticising, just saying..
(The other guy on LT had said "Psychedelices, it's almost six months since I've listened to it"
Could her new music please american ears? For me and existing fans, certainly. To attract any new fans? I don't know. But to attain any great success in US, it would have to be in English. I'm not personally suggesting it, just stating fact. Maybe after she became well-known here, americans would accept her French. We (AAm'ers) love her music plenty, and overwhelmingly prefer her singing in French, but most of us "fat, lazy americans" will always prefer songs in English. Yes, as you may have suspected, Americans as a group are pretty ignorant of the rest of the world. But at least we're beginning to realize that.
Where Roman said "Chuck, please translate your own part", this is it:
LE COSTUME MARIN.
I know this opinion won't be popular, but I almost think Alizee would've been better off without the années Mylènéenne . Seriously! Me, my very favorite works of Alizee's are
Psyché and "Ma Prière" sur Graines de Stars. Think about it--"Moi Lolita" was a big hit, right? Then things started sliding from there. When her career should have been going up, up, up! Sure, MF/LB/AJ did some fine songs together, which we all love, but with Alizee's talent, better songwriters should've been able to match her. And that costume marin, albeit cute, is going to haunt her for a long time. For her future success, and to be taken seriously in the US, it might have been better if she'd never worn that!
(this is what elicited U.C.'s very stern warning that one must never speak against Mylène on the LTF, even though he agrees)
FRENCH ONLY.
If she will only sing in French, ok. There are some foreign-language musicians who are known in the US. But not very many. King Sunny Ade, Khaled, and Rammstein come to mind. And yes, some people here are still fans of Edith Piaf. But on radio or record-sales charts? The last hit in the US with any French lyrics was probably "Michelle" by the Beatles. Or Rush's 1978 song "Circumstances" with "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" in the refrain.
Then you look at a song like "Lillytown", which makes reference to Camus, DeBeauvoir, Magritte, Tennessee Williams, Lennon & Gandhi, and more... Remember, we're pretty ignorant here. Some would dig it, but most would have no idea at all! Still, the beauty and bounce of the song are hard to resist.
With "50/60", maybe more luck, but perhaps depending on people remembering or learning a bit about Edie. And what do those numbers mean, anyway? A Mystery! (Et qf j'ecoute "Quelle est la poubelle?", but that's my problem.)
I'd love to continue dissecting songs, but not now, it's late and I've written too much as it is. But I have two suggestions I'd like to toss out and finish with:
>> Suggestion 1: WEB. So far most American & Canadian fans only know of Alizee through the magic of the internet. (that's why some see the "old Alizee" as being just as real as "now Alizee".
The best way to support a new album is still to tour. But now, with YouTube and forums, the internet is the next best way! If there were videos to accompany each of the new songs, all on one website. That would really reach a lot more people. (Could there possibly even be subtitles on those vids, like in movies, translating the lyrics into Spanish and English? That would help draw people immensely!) Such a site could also post more clips of interviews, possibly even video messages from Lilly directly to her fans!
Heyyy. Such a site could be, maybe, your site here, and ours in the US! She's computer-savvy. She should know. If she'd coordinate with her existing supporters, rather than practically ignoring us, she'd be much more popular everywhere! Her most dedicated fans (so devastated by her concert cancellations - see * below) could at least feel a little closer to their idol.
>> Suggestion 2: (I'm not saying I want this, I'm only saying it would help CD sales)
What if she just did her entire albums, as she likes (mostly or all in French), then released English-only and Spanish-only versions also? - Exactly the same, but all the lyrics of all the songs replaced with Spanish or English? (I hope I'm not suggesting blasphemy here..) I don't think it sound too outre - In fact, a lot of Americans, once interested in Alizee, would want to buy both discs, in their favorite language
and French! Maybe that would be the same in England, too?
_____________________
* (Cancelling her concerts in October and March didn't help her image much. But before you'd mentioned it, I didn't know how much it really angered lots of North American fans, too. Many had already booked flights and hotels to Paris, only to be devastated. That was expensive, too, and a few were hit quite hard financially. Some quit the forum in disgust, and I don't think they've come back.)
So that's it for now. Hope i haven't bored you too much!
Regards, Chuck
And that's all I wrote.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pepelepew
Thanks Roman! Great job. It sounds almost impossible for Alizée to get back into the good graces of France. It also sounds like she never had the respect as an artist. A sex symbol and puppet of Mylène. I also realize this is one person's opinion though it is the most intimate response by a Frenchman that I have witnessed about Alizée in particular. She does need to hear that she is respected as an artist in the US and that we are not stuck on Lolita.
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Yes, pépé!
