Alizee's Stalingrad!..Has the clock stopped ticking?

[Scruffydog777]

I wrote this thread a few days ago, but I've been holding off posting it, hoping to hear something more concrete from the Alizée camp, because it is based on the assumption that I think a lot of us have made, that the concert was canceled "mainly" due to low ticket sales.
So here's my thread and I'm sticking to it.

Back in May of this year, I started a thread I titled Alizée's Stalingrad. I'm posting a copy of it below for those who didn't see it. Below it, I'm posting one of the responses to it.

For those of you not familiar with the battle of Stalingrad, during WW2, the Russian army surrounded a large German army (about 250,000 men if my memory is correct) that had been laying siege to Stalingrad. Hitler refused to let them try to retreat back to Germany and relief troops could not break through to them. The Germans surrendered after losing many men to the the vast Russian army not to mention the harsh Russian winter. When the Russians had the Germans surrounded, they would play the sound of a ticking clock over the radio for psychological warfare purposes. Every few ticks of the clock, marking the death of another German soldier. So the ticks meant time was running out for the German army and in my thread too, I thought time was running out for Alizée. Stalingrad was probably the turning point in the war, and so too, I thought the Moscow concert would mark a turning point in her career.
OLD THREAD

Alizee's Stalingrad!

So Alizee has started her world tour. She looks like a house wife now. She sounds like a house wife now. It's just a question if she'll be able to sell off a bunch of her origionnal fans on her new "re-orchestrated music". You'd have better odds betting on the U.S. economy. Enjoy her while you can. I wish her the best, but I fear the worst. Tick, tick, tick.....

RESPONSE

"Why are you even here scruffy? All you do is create negative threads or hijack other ones so you can bash on Alizée. It would be one thing if she had already done her tour, but you keep saying the same things over and over as if you are hoping she has no success just because you don't like her style.

Not only have you repeated the same point you flamed other threads with, but you once again put in the extra effort to be as rude as you can with a point you could have made in one short sentence."

Why was I here? Because I desperately wanted her comeback to be a success. I heard her new album and watched her Moscow concert and was deeply disappointed. Not only wasn't her new material very good but she made the huge mistake of re-orchestrating all the tremendously beautiful music of her first two albums. I tried to look at her performances not from the perspective that so many of her fans have, that would wildly applaud her no matter how her songs sounded or how she looked, but from the perspective of someone who thought she needed to do something to bring in new fans and also bring back many of her former fans.

After the Moscow concert, I thought there was still time for her to make changes so I kept hammering away at her in these forums. I know my methods sucked, but I had to somehow try and get my message across. Anyone who in any way agreed with me was quickly attacked.

After the Mexico concert, I stopped criticizing her, mainly because at this point, I thought it was too late.. Several members in the Alizée-forum who also thought that changes should be made after Moscow, were told that their messages had been heard and the Mexico concerts would be different. If there were changes, they were few and hard to notice.I thought some of her songs were down right painful to listen to.I heard the excuses being made where people said the acoustics were terrible and they were recorded on amateurish equipment. I'm sure there's a lot of truth in that, but It was so obvious that it just wasn't that good. One of the reasons I was looking forward to attending this concert in Paris was I wanted to hear it for myself. No more trusting other people's opinions. I'd be finally able to judge it on my own.

But now the concert's been canceled and we are left to guess why as to the real reason. I am guessing, that it's due to poor ticket sales. I think a record company would rather cancel a concert than take the chance of looking bad by sponsoring one where half the seats are empty.They don't care about how much her fans have spent on airplane tickets or hotel reservations. Alizée, I'm sure cares but I don't think it was her decision to make.Two weeks ago, I was wondering how the sales were doing so I went on line to see if I could order more and it did show that they were still available which had me kind of worried.How could she not sell out a concert in a major city like Paris. A place she now calls home. It's only a mile away from the Olympia where she sold out 6 concerts in one week back in 2003. The tickets cost less than 40 euros, not expensive at all by todays standards. Why were her own countrymen so alienated against her? That's something I still don't understand.

Now she's supposedly negotiating a contract with another record company. Is there hope here?
I don't think so. I'm sure it's because her current company doesn't see much hope in her and some other company will give her a contract that's probably no where's near as good as her current one (and I'm sure not very costly) ,just for the sake if she hits it big again, they have a lot to gain.

Is there hope for Alizée? I don't think so. If she sang more of her songs from her first two albums in the way they were origionally orchestrated and presented her self in a way that would accentuate her beauty, not hide it,she could still fill up a lot of concert halls in a lot of countries, but unfortunately, I don't think this would be the case in France. France is where she has to do well.

What does she have to do to succeed in France. She needs some new music; very good music! Not songs like Lilly town, or Fifty/Sixty, which are good songs, but song like Moi Lolita, L'Alize,J'en ai marre. These are the type of songs that when you first hear them, they immediately grab your attention. The type of song that if you first heard it on the radio, you'd be calling that station asking "What"s the name of that song and who sang it and please play it again!" The type of songs you want to play over and over. It wont matter how she packages herself. She could look like the south end of a north bound hippopotamus, she could wear a burlap dress, flip flops, shower cap, cold cream on her face and curlers in her hair,but if the music is good, very good that is,the people will come. New fans, old fans, pissed off fans, alienated fans, French fans and foreign fans will all be storming the gates.

How can she get good music? That's the big question. Mylene Farmer and Laurent Bouranat I feel may have used Alizée, but they also made her famous and if not rich, at least well off ( is she?). They produced some incredibly beautiful music and performances. The likes of which I doubt I will ever see again. They're gone. What's left. A still incredibly beautiful woman with a beautiful voice. But there's been a lot of beautiful woman come along who've had one hit and then just faded into oblivion. Without good music they were doomed and so to is Alizée's career.

I pray that she keeps trying but what I want most for her is for her to be happy whether she keeps singing or decides to retire. I'm just thankful for all the joy she has brought into my life.

To quote a line from Youpidoo
J'ai le moral au grand zéro.