2010-04-05 Télé 7 Jours n° 2602 magazine interview

[Roman]

2010-04-05 Télé 7 Jours n° 2602 magazine interview translation by Roman

(Friday April 9 France 2 23h05 you will get the last word!)

She is one of the most rare French singers who export themselves. At 25 years, the young mother abandons the baby doll look and pays hommage to Edie Sedgwick, muse of the sixties, in her new album. We've gotten some reactions to the texts of her songs.

Alizée
The seed of a star has really grown up!

Remember Moi... Lolita the hit of the summer of 2000, remained seven months in the top 10 sales of singles, and allowed Alizée to be spotted and produced by Mylène Farmer. This time, the ex-"seed of a star" releases Une Enfant du Siècle (A child of the century), her fourth album, more electro and more pop. More mature as well. Moreover, the former baby doll, after a triumphant Mexican tour, took back her independance while signing with the label Institubes. And she intends to return quickly to the stage.

Your new lyrics, like "She waited for a limousine under the Tiffany canopy / One might have taken her for the daughter of the president... " recount a curious course...
The ensemble of songs retraces the history of Edie Sedgwick, both actrice and model in the 60s, muse of Andy Warhol, who frequented the Factory in New York and died at the age of 28 from an overdose. Through the thread of different songs, I incarnate this vamp who meets Andy, loses her way in the parties at the Factory, and ends up leaving this world of the night and glitter which, finally, is not her's.

Since your start at the age of 16, your style has changed: "We are all the girls of Eden / The manor house ladies of the sealed heart... " So, is that the end of the lolita look?
I'm 25, I've grown up and I am the mother of a little Annily, 5 years old. And the fashion has changed too. I no longer wear high cut skirts or over the knee socks. I have opted for the jean jacket which I adore right now.

In Les Collines (the hills), you sing, "Hunted, I've reached the hills / I took to the maquis" What does this evoke for you?
Corsica! My island is always present, in my songs as in my life. When I'm weighed down by work, I know that this magical place exists where I feel well. Only there do I recharge and keep my head upon my shoulders. It helps me withstand the pressure.

In the song Une fille difficile (a difficult girl), you admit, "Often I turn toward the storm / life keels over at the border..." Is that really you?
I'm often told that I am ill tempered. I am very stubborn and I know what I want. And then I'm Corsican, from where I get this strong willed temperament. *2 I lose my temper rarely, but when it happens... *3

In Fantômes, you evoke, "my dark sides, my hours of shadow, my dangers, my illusions."
I am very afraid of illness, for me as for those close to me. In particular for my daughter Annily and Jérémy Châtelain, my husband. Both of them, we live a love inseparable and confederate.
Interview Marie-Anne Gongora


Info +
The Factory, opened by Andy Warhol in 1964 in New York, was a workgroup of highly reputed artists. At once an exposition gallery, film studio, concert hall and night club, this mythic place offered the elite of the New York jet-set the opportunity to slum with all the derelicts, depressives and druggies who Warhol liked to surround himself with during giant parties.

Star of tv series... in México!
In México, Alizée is a superstar. In 2008, she discovered that she is considered a mini-Madonna there. A monsterous tour, filled concert halls, two gold disks and a Luna Award for Best international pop artist. Furthermore, to thank her fans across the Atlantic, Alizée recorded a title in Spanish, Candida. She also did a bit in a television series, a telenovela entitled Las Tontas No Van al Cielo "stupid girls don't go to heaven" (?). In this true melodrama, we discover Candy, the young heroine, reconciling with her womanizing husband (?), during an Alizée concert at the Auditorio Nacional de México. The cult scene of a cult series!

*1 (answered)
*2 I've seen Alizée say stuff like this so many times. I really wonder what it is like in Corsica that this could be so. One starts to think of the Spartans after reading her say this so many times. Is this madness? This is Corsica!
*3 ha ha, I think I've known women like that. Actually, thinking on my childhood, that kind of reminds me of my mom. Man, sometimes when she'd lose it...

[pepelepew]

Thanks Roman for the translation. I don't remember Alizee being described as ill tempered although she has responded with sign language with the paperazi on several occasions. She has stated on numerous occasions being strong willed and knowing what she wants. I wouldn't want to be the focus of her when she does go off though. I bet she can be a pistol when she gets fired up. She would probably be cute even then.

[SDB]

Originally Posted by Roman

*2 I've seen Alizée say stuff like this so many times. I really wonder what it is like in Corsica that this could be so. One starts to think of the Spartans after reading her say this so many times. Is this madness? This is Corsica!

Southern/mediterranean temper

[user472884]

Originally Posted by Roman

I'm often told that I am ill tempered. I am very stubborn and I know what I want. And then I'm Corsican, from where I get this strong willed temperament. *2 I lose my temper rarely, but when it happens...

I hear that Polish interviewers and winking tick her off pretty bad, so I avoid both in support

[wasabi622]

Thanks for the translations!

Always great insight into our Goddess.

Originally Posted by Jalen

I hear that Polish interviewers and winking tick her off pretty bad, so I avoid both in support

You know.. that kind of kind of sexy. Angryzée..

[Bigdan]

Originally Posted by Roman

2010-04-05 Télé 7 Jours n° 2602 magazine interview translation by Roman

*1 repérer confused me a bit

reperer ( in this case) :"Spotted"

Originally Posted by Roman

*2 I've seen Alizée say stuff like this so many times. I really wonder what it is like in Corsica that this could be so. One starts to think of the Spartans after reading her say this so many times. Is this madness? This is Corsica!

You have to know about Corsican relation with France in the past and still today, to understand what she allude to...






.

[Roman]

Originally Posted by pepelepew

Thanks Roman for the translation. I don't remember Alizee being described as ill tempered although she has responded with sign language with the paperazi on several occasions. She has stated on numerous occasions being strong willed and knowing what she wants. I wouldn't want to be the focus of her when she does go off though. I bet she can be a pistol when she gets fired up. She would probably be cute even then.

"You're beautiful when you're angry"
I know of two occasions. I don't think I'd say several, but anyway...

I have recently read her say in another interview that she has a "sale caractère". That's quite different from her reputation, certainly from when she was a teenager especially. I always wondered about that. We didn't know, so we gave her the benefit of the doubt. Well, now we know, or so she says anyway.

Originally Posted by Bigdan

reperer ( in this case) :"Spotted"
You have to know about Corsican relation with France in the past and still today, to understand what she allude to...
.

Thanks. I wasn't quite sure about reperer because it makes it sound like Mylène discovered Alizée after she did Moi... Lolita or something. But then you never know know what absurd mistakes "journalists" might make.

I know that there were some in Corsica (or maybe still are) who are separatists and don't want to be part of France and I know that there are some violent feuds primarily between different families or different groups in Corsica. There was some bombing in the 90s. But yeah, I don't really have an idea how one might actually take some of those statements that she makes or what life might be like there. I don't suppose I can know without either living through it or some very detailed and drawn out description. Anyway, thanks for the attempts people.

I like Alizée, but I realize sometimes just how different her life has been and thus how little I can probably actually relate to her. I don't know. I suppose it might be like, some things one can easily make a connection on, but I'd be quite out of place in at least some situations, meeting her family or something. Of course, I'm a total foreigner, albeit, the French and American cultures share many commonalities and even a lot of each other's more specific cultures (Americans like "French" stuff and vice versa). Still, I tend to think that there is more difference between individuals or individual families than, for example, France and California. Corsica may be one of the more particular places in that sense.

How does one compare large countries? I guess one could talk about "typical" Americans, but seriously, I was just listening to a podcast about the Amish and I'm pretty sure they are as different from the typical American as any group in any part of France or Europe. There are around 100,000 Amish in the states (about a third the population of Corsica).

We spend so much time thinking about Alizée and consequently hearing about (and paying attention to) Corsica, it gives one the desire every so often to know the place (and the people).

[CFHollister]

Originally Posted by Roman

In Les Collines (the hills), you sing, "Hunted, I've reached the hills / I took to the maquis" What does this evoke for you?
Corsica! My island is always present, in my songs as in my life. When I'm weighed down by work, I know that this magical place exists where I feel well. Only there do I recharge and keep my head upon my shoulders. It helps me withstand the pressure.

This is exactly why I think that all translations of Les Collines need to retain the word "maquis" rather than translating it as something else like "underground" (I think that's what I saw in the translation on the video page by Toc de Mac).

It's a very specific word with specific, Corsican, connotation; and it is used in Alizée's songs with all those connotations intended (as is reconfirmed for us here by Alizée). Translating them out, I think, is a big mistake, and english listeners just have to learn what the word 'maquis' is and what it really means both denotatively and connotatively.

I also just have to point this out... The way Alizée explains the term maquis here is exactly how it is meant in my signature (when I feel weighed down, I know there is this magical person that exists who's music, and thoughts of this person, make me feel well) . (not a direct reference to the song of the same title, which I suspect many people who see it think). It's also why I pair it with that image in my sig

[Bigdan]

Originally Posted by CFHollister

It's a very specific word with specific, Corsican, connotation;...
Translating them out, I think, is a big mistake, and english listeners just have to learn what the word 'maquis' is and what it really means both denotatively and connotatively.

I agree. You're perfectly right.

[paintballpdh19]

thanks for the translation... it is much appreciated!