Anthony's Analysis of the song A contre-courant

[garçoncanadien]

Source: www.nidalizee.com.

Introduction:

“A contre-courant”, one of the flagship songs of Alizée’s second album, “Mes Courants Electriques”, 3rd single, is without doubt the most textually rich song in the album. The principal themes that Mylène Farmer offers Alizée here are: the passion of new love and the sadness that inevitably follows. The abundance of electrical vocabulary in this song is the reason for the title “Courants Electriques”.

1st couplet:

“Our universes
Against the current”: Alizée is talking to whom she loves or has loved, she talks about an incompatibility between the two people due to their opposing universes.

“All upside down…
But not for long!” : She knows how to solve this slowdown in their relationship, she calls the shots and makes him understand that it is just a question of time.

“When you are on Earth
Keep me informed
That I imagine
Our fusions.”: In order that Alizée can restart this relationship that has become somewhat boring, she needs her significant other to give her a wave when time permits. So, she will be able to think about new ways to restart her couple.

“We desire each other
Under high voltage”: To convince her lover, she must increase the amount of flattering as a metaphor of passionate love that linked them in the past.

“But no takes…
Of nerfs, I re…
…concile your laughs
And my electrons”: She also promises him an end to all arguments, it’s she who will pull all the weight, and even if so much revolves around Alizée, it won’t stop her from loving him.

“A dance of life
Dance of balloons”: Here, the dance is a metaphor of the path of life, the balloons are moments of joy. So, Alizée promises a great many moments of happiness to her significant other.

2nd couplet:

“Nothing ordinary
Nothing but good times”: As always in her flattery and promises, Alizée dares to shun a routine life and prepares to offer him everything.

“Head upside down…
Not too long.”: She will get him excited, but not all the time, she will know how to be quiet when her man asks it of her.

“When you are on Earth
Keep me informed
That I guess…
The intentions.”: Always looking for news from him, Alizée wishes to see in him what he actually desires, a futile relationship, purely sexual, or some pre-construed idea?

“We electrify each other
Maximal voltage
The body circuits (short circuits)…
Of two lovers (lovers)”: A little comeback of their old relationship, she relates their diverse incidents that are the consequences of two characters, of two opposed lives.

“We illuminate each other
Carnal light
The school of the e
Electro lovers.”: but to bounce back to a sweet memory, she also explains the beauty of their past love, which is different from the others, and one can learn (like at school) how to manage it.

Refrain:

“Find meaning again
Of life, I think
Pass by boredom
When you, you are gone,”: It is hard for Alizée to control her life without her man, boredom comes out and causes all sorts of moral problems.

“Find meaning again
Moments that get insolent
Of precessions of fingers
Of my hunger for you.”: Missing the other is very hard, that she loses herself in the twists and turns of masturbation in order to find once again the tender past moments with her man.

“When the current passes, the menace too, of time that blocks itself, of time that separates us”: Here it is a clear appeal, she tells him that it is necessary to take advantage of the present situation (when the current passes between them) and to not allow time to separate or weary them.

“And the current passes, I’ve got the audacity, of the magnetic field, and that is magnificent!”: She musters up the courage to convince him to come back to her while telling herself that in the bottom of her heart this passionate love is still there, and that while talking to him, she can once again light the old flame that is sleeping in her old lover’s heart.

3rd couplet:

“Our universes
Against the current”: An incompatibility between the two beings due to their opposing universes.

“Come back to Earth
and for good”: In crescendo in the song, Alizée is no longer implying it, but she clearly asks her lover to come back close to her.

“When you wish me
Keep me informed
That I predict
A rebellion”: The rebellion that Alizée proposes is definitely not against her old lover, because her objective throughout the whole song is to get him back, in fact it’s her way of showing him that their lives will change completely if they come back together.

“We make each other motionless
When I tell him no
Not more than six
Short words”: As an aside in the text, Alizée addresses the listener, like a complaint of their incompatibility, again, of life. A single “no” will stop all discussion.

“He makes me panic
Of electrocution
My insulator
It is passion”: Like something that breaks the hope in the text, Alizée cuddles up in her imaginary world of an ideal love, she does not see reality in the face of this impossible love and of the panic that faces her, she prefers to believe in the utopic “passion” of new love.