Career discussion split from Lunas thread

[Rev]

Originally Posted by woohoo

She just wants to dance.

And yet she seems to have stopped dancing for the most part?!?

[Amigo!]

Originally Posted by Rev

And yet she seems to have stopped dancing for the most part?!?

Go figure

[Deepwaters]

As for "the past," we can see plenty of evidence to the contrary of RMJ's assertion, e.g.:

Encounters with fans during her previous career, her long break, and her comeback, in which she was never too busy to pose for a photograph, sign an autograph, or give a hello, a wave, or a smile.

The encounter with fans outside the radio station where she launched her comeback by playing MJ and having a short interview, in which she showed she knew them by name, and was ready to spend more time with them than her manager wanted.

The internet chat session in which she showed that she followed the discussions on the AFC forum and knew many of the posters by their handles and posting patterns.

Alizée is famous for not being a diva, for being down to earth, for not putting herself on a pedestal or snubbing people. It's been said many times, by many people.

The current silence is not usual for her, which is exactly why its provoking such resentment. If it were the way she normally behaves, everyone would shrug it off. People are pissed because they wonder what's changed, what's gone wrong. They feel betrayed. If she really were like that all the time, they wouldn't.

I wonder what's gone wrong, too; unlike some of you, though, I can see that something has, and am not prepared to rewrite history and memory to pretend she was always like this. I'm talking about the silence, now, not the canceled concert. I think the low ticket sales suffice for an explanation of why the concert was canceled, even if it's not the whole story. But it doesn't explain why she has gone into seclusion. I am still convinced that something in her personal life, which we don't know because it's none of our business, is the explanation for that.

She's on vacation right now; if RMJ was right earlier then she's here in the States somewhere. (Regrettably, I haven't seen her. But it's a big country.) This fits with my earlier speculation that the root of this is friction in her marriage. Predictable: Jérémy got used to having a full-time wife for four years, and now he doesn't any more. Who wouldn't feel a bit neglected, in his position? One can imagine an ultimatum: take some time off, spend some time with me, or we're through. Or bad feelings, even if no actual ultimatum, leading to the current silence as she removes herself from performances, fans, everything to do with being a pop star, and concentrates on her relationship. If that's so (and I admit I have no reason to believe it except that it's the only theory that seems to fit all the evidence), then by the nature of things she can't be reaching out to fans very much; that would defeat the whole purpose. Part of the attempted healing could easily include a long vacation together in the United States, starting after the award ceremony in Mexico.

If it's not that, then it's bound to be something equally personal, equally painful, and equally worthy of our understanding and patience. If she didn't care about her career, she wouldn't have tried to make a comeback at all. It's not as if she had to financially.

Now, at the same time, I'll agree with those who say the comeback was mishandled. As was already noted, she has a lot to learn about how to manage her music business; these are things Mylène used to do for her. The promotion of the singles wasn't handled well. Some of her early performances lacked confidence and audience connection, which was always her biggest strength in the past. Some of that seems to have gotten better. Other parts have not. When she's ready to return to the fray, she'll have to do better. Hopefully she will. But there's a difference between inexperience and lack of caring. I don't see any evidence of the latter.

In the end, there's just no point in yelling at her or putting her down. If you feel sufficiently let down to put some distance between yourself and her, then do it. You can still enjoy her music without being a fan -- and we all know that "being an Alizée fan" is something deeper and more personal than just enjoying her music. But if you're not ready to do that, then accept the fact that she's chosen to go private for a while. I don't believe it's a good career move (and I've told her so) -- but career isn't everything. She has reasons that seem good to her. I accept that. I suggest others do the same.

[Ben]

Lets separate the personal from the professional here.

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

Alizée is famous for not being a diva, for being down to earth, for not putting herself on a pedestal or snubbing people. It's been said many times, by many people.

These things are a little different than actually communicating about your career, which she has never done directly to any great extent. Saying she's gone into "seclusion" is a bit of an exaggeration. I'm sure she'd still stop for an autograph, etc. now given the opportunity. Having lived through four years of her professional silence, I don't find the current one unusual.

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

Jérémy got used to having a full-time wife for four years, and now he doesn't any more. Who wouldn't feel a bit neglected, in his position? One can imagine an ultimatum:

If anything, from what little I've seen and heard I think it would be the other way around, with Jérémy pushing her career and Alizée being resistant... But whatever, you can probably tell that I hate this kind of speculation! We don't know, shouldn't know, and probably never will know, so why even guess? I don't feel it's our place to be making up excuses.

I'm repeating myself, but cancelling a concert isn't the end of the world. Plenty of artists do it. Just waiting so late, and then lying about the reason, was adding insult to injury. I can think of no professional or personal explanation that gives Alizée and/or her team a "get out of jail free" card on that.

And it is in itself is an explination for the silence. Because what do you say after that really, other than sorry? Though those two seconds on myspace or wherever would go a long way to making people feel better. But for me that's as far as the whole "caring about fans" issue goes.

I have distanced myself for the moment. But am still around for you guys (someone's gotta run this place day to day!), and out of hope for the future.

[Roman]

Originally Posted by heyamigo

...
anyways, this should be most definitely a wake up call for her though.

Wake up call? I think her mind is made up.

Originally Posted by edgar93

Did you see her face too? Some people in Alizee-mexico say, Why always the paparazzis are bothering her?", or "Its not her fault". But come on!, some photos in the country wich loves her, wont kill her, also, look at her assistant (if she is), she doesnt want them to take pictures, too.
This kind of pictures makes me feel sad and a little upset .

I don't know the circumstances of this particular incident, but she says she hates the paparazzi. I just think, being famous, people will want to take photographs of you. She knows that by now. Maybe she's just fed up with being famous. Well, no longer a problem in France.

As much as I might hate to have to admit it, I'm inclined to agree with RMJ in general. I don't know what he knows, but from all that I have seen (and have been around since the end of 2006) ... yes for the Mexico concerts she and her team seemed to really pull it together, and yes months back things seemed a bit different - She did stay for extra time at the autograph signing for example - but overall in too many ways and especially recently it just feels like she never really committed to this thing. From the first interview of her return she talked about M&L demanding perfection and I have gotten the impression that she didn't want to have to work that hard. I hoped she could be happy while working however hard it would take to do what she did before. But, she's not the same performer as she was before. That apparently hasn't been anywhere near good enough for France even if it was good enough for me. And with just nothing recently, from a business perspective cutting her all the slack in the world for personal reasons with as many reasons as one can dream up, while I would like to only ever say nice things about Alizée (she has meant so much to me), her career in France died and she herself helped it along at the end and no amount of blaming anything else changed that. It's already done, in the past now. Of course it bothered me tremendouly because I have just wanted to see her continue and be part of the great adventure as she is the great Alizée. It has been difficult because I'm a foreigner and still don't really know much of her language. Yet, I have paid more attention to her career than my own and cared not for she was worth everything. I really hope she can continue to be happy with her life and I should have just said to her whenever I had the chance: Alizée, thanks for coming back and giving us another chance to see you in action. It was great.

She still talks about her team planning her concert tour and we've heard the new record company bit. So, maybe by the time they bring it around latin America will still care or maybe she'll find a way to create some new success out from under these ashes. Who knows? Everything is just bonus now.

[Quantum]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by RMJ

Her "manager" was she herself and Jérémy at that time really. And why she know them ? Well, it's complicated. They met earlier that year.

If she wants to manage herself she needs a much clearer idea of what to do and what not to do. At the present she lacks focus. It should be her focus that drives her individual artistic decisions, not the reverse.

It's VERY usual for her. She has always been hiding. She doesn't come to public unless she really has to. She don't communicate with her fans, she has never done it.

Watching her live videos and interviews she appears to me a little shy. Had she the proper focus (particularly the one I am thinking is perfect for her) this could be converted into a positive attribute. This would transform today's fan anger or unhappiness into support. As matters stand whatever present discomfort she may experience in unrehearsed situations appears inconsistent compared to her rehearsed performances, which is confusing to those who follow her. Her absences and silence in uncomfortable situations come across to fans as 'uncaring.' All this is totally unnecessary.

She was in NY. She's now in Paris. And will take vacation after her "long" working period (almost two full days ! If you don't include the ditching her fans as a working day).

You omit that her performance in Mexico (which I felt masked many of her principal strengths and so did little to advance her career) took considerable time to prepare for and rehearse. The actual time of work took much longer than two days.

[clique]

[QUOTE=Quantum;119303]

You omit that her performance in Mexico (which I felt masked many of her principal strengths and so did little to advance her career) took considerable time to prepare for and rehearse. The actual time of work took much longer than two days.

If lipsyncing (to a song she has lipsynced to like 5 million times now, or so it feels like at least...) and jumping around on stage for about 2 minutes took more than two days of preparation I honestly don't know what to say.

[Ruroshen]

Y'know, I often wonder if Lili reads threads like this and thinks to herself "I just should have gone into computers..."

Originally Posted by Quantum

Watching her live videos and interviews she appears to me a little shy. Had she the proper focus (particularly the one I am thinking is perfect for her) this could be converted into a positive attribute. This would transform today's fan anger or unhappiness into support. As matters stand whatever present discomfort she may experience in unrehearsed situations appears inconsistent compared to her rehearsed performances, which is confusing to those who follow her. Her absences and silence in uncomfortable situations come across to fans as 'uncaring.' All this is totally unnecessary.

Interesting. Care to expand on this? What is this "proper focus" you have in mind? I'm curious.

[Future Raptor Ace]

Originally Posted by RMJ

She was in NY. She's now in Paris. And will take vacation after her "long" working period (almost two full days ! If you don't include the ditching her fans as a working day).

Alizee in my city, FRA faints lol

[Future Raptor Ace]

Hahaha yeah the Giants are on fire 7-1 baby.
Cant believe the Jets beat the Bills, but I'm happy
Anyways, I would imagine she just did what all tourists do and have a good time. Or maybe..................................possible scouting..........................????????????