What Could've Been for Alizee in the U.S.

Originally Posted by JoeNY

Just to prove my point about Alizee being an unrivaled international French star

Alizée is most well-known French artist in the world, there is no doubt about that.

[FanDeAliFee]

Originally Posted by JoeNY

Just to prove my point about Alizee being an unrivaled international French star, the top 10 Youtube videos for Alizee have had over 95 million views... I could imagine Alizee having a CD-signing in the now-closed Virgin Records store in Union Square and selling 5000 copies of UEDS in one day. Well, as many as she could sign. I would stand in line for hours for my one chance to see her in person.

You make EXCELLENT points Joe - and welcome to AAm!

I know it is not quite the same thing, but maybe if you bring your UEdS CD to the Chateau Marmont show in the East Village on Friday, you might get one or more of its members to autograph it for you. As the composers of HALF its songs, they had a lot of contact with Alizee, and might even answer a question or two about her you pose. The last word I have from AAm's leader Ben is that he will attend, making it a great chance to meet him in person as well.

If I could attend, I'd ask the venue if I could shoot video footage, and then offer it up to CM for their exclusive benefit. Wouldn't that be a nice way to earn their possible friendship?

[Corsaire]

Originally Posted by JoeNY

Just to prove my point about Alizee being an unrivaled international French star, the top 10 Youtube videos for Alizee have had over 95 million views with her live performance of Jen ai' Marre getting almost 16 million views alone. Mylene Farmer's top 10 most viewed Youtube videos combined for a total 8 million views. And most of the comments on her videos are in French which tells me she mostly captures the French-speaking markets - France and Canada. I'd say the majority of comments for Alizee's videos are in English (and some Spanish, Russian, and even Chinese/Japanese/Korean). Of course, views don't necessarily translate to album sales and $$$, but exposure is everything in the music business.

Too bad we don't have any mega-record stores in NYC anymore. I could imagine Alizee having a CD-signing in the now-closed Virgin Records store in Union Square and selling 5000 copies of UEDS in one day. Well, as many as she could sign. I would stand in line for hours for my one chance to see her in person.

The problem I see with your line of reasoning is that those YouTube numbers for Alizée are/were mainly generated by days gone by dance moves, panties display, sexy look and bathing suit pictures. I am all for promoting Alizée, but let us be realistic, if you were to subtract the views and comments that relate to her teenage beauty and sexy moves, those numbers might not even be 5% of what they are. I have introduced Alizée to countless people and although every single one of them (male and female) commented on her exceptional beauty and grace, I doubt very much that a single one would care to see one of her shows, let alone stand in line for an autograph.

I can’t speak for other countries, but one can easily list 5-10 French female singers (Mylène Farmer, Patricia Kaas, Vanessa Paradis, Véronique Sanson, Mireille Mathieu...) that could show up in Canada tomorrow and get way more interest generated than Alizée can. The potential might be there, but I really doubt she is the most popular female French singer in the world right now, not even close.

And that is not counting other female francophone artists that are not of French nationality, like Céline Dion or Lara Fabian.

Originally Posted by Corsaire

The problem I see with your line of reasoning is that those YouTube numbers for Alizée are/were mainly generated by days gone by dance moves, panties display, sexy look and bathing suit pictures. I am all for promoting Alizée, but let us be realistic, if you were to subtract the views and comments that relate to her teenage beauty and sexy moves, those numbers might not even be 5% of what they are.

That was too much of assumption in saying that numbers would be 5%. I would say that some of the factors that you mentioned actually contribute to much lesser than your speculated 95%. I would put it as her beauty, dance moves and beautiful voice together in one group of factors and rest in other group. The former is much more dominant than the later one.

[Chuck]

You tell 'im, MA!

Say, I was watching Lettterman the other night, and when he announced some great foreign singer about to make her American TV debut, I held my breath for a moment. I wasn't expecting it to be Alizée, but I definitely stopped and paid attention. But it turned out to be a Danish hottie who goes by the stage name "Oh Land". Did anyone else catch this? Has anyone else here even heard of Oh Land before?

Mostly, I was filled with thoughts of "hey, that shoulda been our girl up there!" Well, maybe it will be next time... But it made me think of posting it in this thread. I had to wait a couple days before someone put it up on YT...

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CLgU8PXsZOE?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

You gotta admit, she nailed it, gave a great performance, and blew the crowd away. Alizée can already do that, too. But in English?? (key question)

[Corsaire]

Originally Posted by Merci Alizée

That was too much of assumption in saying that numbers would be 5%. I would say that some of the factors that you mentioned actually contribute to much lesser than your speculated 95%. I would put it as her beauty, dance moves and beautiful voice together in one group of factors and rest in other group. The former is much more dominant than the later one.

MA, the major point I was trying to make was the “days gone by” part in the context of JoeNY's claim that Alizée was an “unrivalled international French star”.

I was trying to explain that Alizée got/gets the vast majority of her views on YouTube from stuff that is gone, that does not exist anymore; teenage beauty, dance moves, panties display, sexy look... One could argue that Alizée is still very sexy (I would), but that does not seem to be something she wants to overplay as it was done in the past (and I prefer that, myself).

An example that might help to understand my point is Alizée’s rendition of Ella, elle l’a which generated close to 8 million views on YouTube. I would say that Alizée singing this song today, with her present style, wouldn’t get even close to 5% of 8 million. And you also have to consider that quite a lot of people who discover Alizée through JEAM or JPVA are trying every single Alizée YouTube video to find more of the “sexy” stuff.

I think many fans of Alizée (I am not targeting anyone in particular) overestimate the quality of her voice and the importance of her present beauty for new fans recruitment, while they underestimate the importance of her past beauty, moves, sexiness and persona. I think that the Alizée that got dozens of millions of views on YouTube is gone and I still maintain that she is not even close to being a significant (popularity wise) French female singer today. As I said, the potential might be there, but we have to see Alizée for what she is today.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Chuck

You tell 'im, MA!

It is hard enough as it is Chuck, don’t you guys gang up on me...

[lefty12357]

Well, "Les Collines", which of course is from her last album UEDS, was posted last March 19 and already has over a million views in less than a year's time.


This "Fifty Sixty" video was uploaded Oct. 25, 2009 and has over a million views as well.


This "Mademoiselle Juliette" video was uploaded on Oct. 24, 2009 and has over 2 million views.


And all of these examples are from what some would say is her less popular era. What complicates things is people are constantly uploading the same videos over and over again on YT, so it is hard to get a good idea of how many views in total are out there for any given song or performance. Just go to YT, type in Alizée and then under "search options", select "this week". You might be surprised at what people are still uploading, week after week.

Originally Posted by lefty12357

Well, "Les Collines", which of course is from her last album UEDS, was posted last March 19 and already has over a million views in less than a year's time.

I had exactly this song in mind during my previous reply in this thread. The insights for the video are even more interesting.

[Corsaire]

Originally Posted by lefty12357

Well, "Les Collines", which of course is from her last album UEDS, was posted last March 19 and already has over a million views in less than a year's time.


This "Fifty Sixty" video was uploaded Oct. 25, 2009 and has over a million views as well.


This "Mademoiselle Juliette" video was uploaded on Oct. 24, 2009 and has over 2 million views.


And all of these examples are from what some would say is her less popular era. What complicates things is people are constantly uploading the same videos over and over again on YT, so it is hard to get a good idea of how many views in total are out there for any given song or performance. Just go to YT, type in Alizée and then under "search options", select "this week". You might be surprised at what people are still uploading, week after week.

I did look at those sort of numbers before taking a guess at what Alizée would generate if she did not ride on her past beauty, dances, provocative moves and outfits (again, not that she is incapable of using these attributes today) and I still stand by my evaluation.

In the examples you gave, only Les collines did make me question my conclusion when I researched this. I do not really understand why that video got so many views. As for the other two you listed (FS and MJ), well, I would say this is still based on an Alizée that is gone. Dance moves, provocative images and sexy outfits. BTW, did you notice the dripping ice cream cone that Alizée licks in FS? I would say this is highly sexually charged and I doubt she would still agree to do that sort of stuff today, unless she decides to return to what worked the best for her (popularity wise), that is.

Also, as I alluded to before, any video of Alizée that has a thumbnail showing some sexy pose or some skin (even later in her career) will most likely have its view count artificially inflated since people constantly search for more sexy videos from her. Most people I have introduced Alizée to confessed to have done that since they find her so sexy. How many people came back to me mentioning that they searched for some of her songs and really wanted to hear more of her voice: nil. What made Alizée what she was is a full package of beautiful attributes and I doubt she will conquer the world tomorrow by the shear power of her soothing voice and beautiful face.

In any case, I was just trying to clarify the situation and make people aware of the fact that Alizée is nowhere near being the most popular French female singer today. Claiming this is utterly wrong as far as I am concerned. Arguing about the popularity of a singer from YouTube view data is rather difficult because the different variables cannot be isolated and analysed properly. I am sure you will at least agree with that point.

[Bigdan]

Originally Posted by Corsaire

I can’t speak for other countries, but one can easily list 5-10 French female singers (Mylène Farmer, Patricia Kaas, Vanessa Paradis, Véronique Sanson, Mireille Mathieu...) that could show up in Canada tomorrow and get way more interest generated than Alizée can. The potential might be there, but I really doubt she is the most popular female French singer in the world right now, not even close.

And that is not counting other female francophone artists that are not of French nationality, like Céline Dion or Lara Fabian.

I have the painfull duty to be... agreed with you.