Which a.i. Alizee voice would you choose for your computer?

[Mr Coucou]

Which a.i. Alizee voice would you choose for your computer?

Alizee speaking English with a French accent?
Alizee speaking English with a British accent?
Alizee speaking English with an American accent?


Myself--------

American accent!!! (I'm American.)

I'm dying to know what Alizee would sound like as an American!! The British accent would be interesting too!!

I would probably alternate between using the British and American accents. I don't think I'd use the French accent as much.

How about you?

[CleverCowboy]

I don't like to mess with perfection so I stuck with the French accent. Alizee has sung a few songs in English and spoke some English here and there. Her accent is thick and I like it.

[Scruffydog777]

Tough question.
Is there a site where we can sample these different ai accents?

I really loved the accent when she sang the English version of Youpidou, but I also loved the way she accented certain words in Ella, ella

http://youtu.be/MHJXsio4IqE?t=54

http://youtu.be/Ik5Nh94v7EQ?t=104

[Mr Coucou]

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

I don't like to mess with perfection so I stuck with the French accent. Alizee has sung a few songs in English and spoke some English here and there. Her accent is thick and I like it.

From the videos that I've seen where Alizee speaks English (such as scruffy's video at the dance studio), I think her voice is unique.

I bet that even without the French accent, her voice would be quite distinctive and sexy.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

Tough question.
Is there a site where we can sample these different ai accents?

I was thinking of open source software (such as the tortoise algorithm.) In terms of websites for voice cloning, the one called "eleven labs" sounds promising.

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

I really loved the accent when she sang the English version of Youpidou, but I also loved the way she accented certain words in Ella, ella

http://youtu.be/MHJXsio4IqE?t=54

http://youtu.be/Ik5Nh94v7EQ?t=104

I'd forgotten about the English Youpidou. Singing removes much of the accent, so the "chant" part of Youpidou gives an idea of what she'd sound like without an accent. Yes!

I'm dying to hear what Alizee would sound like as an American woman!

[Marshal Davout]

I voted for the French language; as I sort of fell in love with the young Alizee when I heard her first in French !
And I aspire to learn French; because of her !
I've listened to her English versions; such as "I'm Fed Up"; but being an American, I don't find the songs as attractive in English.
She seems to slip back into French in some parts ?
And you would be surprised at what I think she is saying in some stanzas.
( I think she is saying the word "Virgin" in many stanzas; although it may be my defective hearing ? )

Although my hearing might not be as good as some others ( having listened to too many Plane engines in my time ! )

[Alizée 4K]

I voted for French, of course! Just one more reason for me to keep learning and improving my French understanding so that I can speak to my AI popstar goddess! lol

Originally Posted by Marshal Davout

And you would be surprised at what I think she is saying in some stanzas.
( I think she is saying the word "Virgin" in many stanzas; although it may be my defective hearing ? )

I agree the accent/pronunciation is sometimes difficult to understand in her early English studio versions, she fully admits that she doesn't speak English and at the time was just trying to learn the sounds phonetically not understanding them. By her later performances she speaks the words far clearer although I still saw a recent interview where she outright said she doesn't speak English to this day. I like the way her voice sounds of course, I'm not criticising. I'm sure my pronunciation of French is far from natural sounding to native speakers!

As far as I know, none of the official English versions of Alizée songs use the word "virgin" and as a general rule, the English versions are significantly less raunchy and would avoid a word so direct. The first 2 albums in French are written in quite a clever way so that innocent children listening to them will interpret one way, but an adult may read sexual innuendo into a lot of it... this is less present in the English versions and when its attempted its less subtle and a little clumsy, presumably as Mylène is far better versed in her native tongue. Again, not criticising at all, I just love the French versions even more for their poetry and how open to interpretation and debate they are.

To use an example, speaking of virginity (as you specificially raised it!) there is a portion in "L'Alizé" that goes like this:

"J'emporte tous mes secrets dans un jardin d'Eden, m'allonger dedans, je sais que cet hymen durera longtemps"

A rough translation for a child would be "I keep all of my secrets in a garden of Eden that I lay in, I know that this innocence will last a long time".

But its possible to read it several ways with different meanings depending on how you approach it - the word is literally "hymen" which we obviously know the English language meaning of.

But in French, that word can mean childlike innocence, as I stated.
It can also literally mean the bodypart, or virginity ("I know this hymen will last a long time" / "I know I'll remain a virgin for a long time").
But its also interesting that it can be used as a poetic way to refer to a marriage, partnership or alliance (and often is, in literature aimed at older people), meaning "I know that this marriage will last for a long time" or "I know this combination will last a long time"...

Depending on your thoughts, that last interpretation can be taken either that she is talking about her relationship to the idea of staying pure and keeping her secrets to herself, or that she is lying down with another person about to share all her "secrets" for the first time (and the garden of Eden would imply she's with a male and they are naked?) but she trusts that their partnership will last a long time.

The fact that the very next words are her saying "then, say stop! Don't tell me that things are changing. Its not true. Please, stop" and many of the other lyrics are about her being young, flighty, changing direction like the breeze... to me, the adult perspective is that she is feeling these emotions and having these ideas, but reminding herself not to act on them because she is still young and her mind may change tomorrow.

But the childlike perspective for her younger fans (who aren't aware of the concept of virginity, or what her getting married may entail) can just as easily be read that she is just talking about being young, having fun and not wanting to grow up too fast or be tied down. And the garden of Eden reference would just be thought of as being religious/pure, well behaved, innocent.

French is a very poetic language that often described feelings, concepts, sensual awareness in an abstract and ephemeral way, and often there is no 100% direct way to translate to literal English without explaining the different possible interpretations based on your preassumptions of the reason for the conversation or the situations surrounding what is happening while the sentence is being said, or who is saying it. Part of this is because of the distinct cultural switch that was caused by libertine thinking and the effect it had on how life is experienced in a way that emphasises experiencing life through the senses rather than through rigid rules.

Some of this makes is pretty much impossible to translate the true intention of the French lyrics to some of the songs as in literal English to a Western audience's understanding, some of what is meant to be poetic remeniscing about early innocent thoughts and experiences come accross as innappropraite or taboo, whereas in French they are just a beautiful part of life, describing your own personal inner thoughts, feelings and emotions experiencing something and this is not perverse unless you corrupt them by having a third party fetishise the experience. But to a western audience, using a more direct language, just using the word virgin (or especially hymen!) associated with a girl that young would be taboo because we think more literally about a physical act, rather than sensorially just of thoughts and feelings that you aren't planning on acting on and romanticising remembering the experience of feeling both excited but also nervous about what you may experience as you get older.