Alizée Article Translations by me

[garçoncanadien]

Translation by Dana0_7

Originally Posted by dana0_7

Translation 83-94 - without interviews

Reconnected, disconnected
Alizee goes into a short tour in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, exceeds the understanding. Paparazzi are waiting for her there. She’s insulted, but she continues her tour to South Korea, giving a great show. Before she goes again abroad, she presents us her new single, “A contre-courant”, including a new clip made by Pierre Stine. It was filmed in Binche, in a huge old building. She’s running after a man through the ruins of that building. She goes to several shows, including the sixth part of “Star Academy”, where she sings on 4th of october 2003 with Johnny Hallyday, Isabelle Boulay et Nolwenn Leroy. She goes in different parts of France during 10th of octobre – 20th of december 2003. She goes also in Belgium in october and in Sweden in november. Although the concerts should last until spring, her las show is on 17th of january 2004 at Zenith, in Paris. The public knows he’s filmed because of the new live clip.

In february, the newspapers write about the separation between Alizee and the recording label, but there’s nothing more than a rumour. But what is true, is the relationship she has with Jeremy Chatelain. They went in Las Vages where they got married in secret, on 6th of november 2003.

She goes for the second time at “Pour Laurette”, dressed with one of the dresses she used in her tour, singing with Natasha St Pier a Pascal Obispo’s song, “L’important, c’est d’aimer”. A few weeks later, she celebrates with Jenifer the 43th anniversary of Charles Aznavour, singing “For me, formidable”.

On 18th of october 2004 appears the live recording. But her fans have to thanks to a little, only an album and a DVD, with a little of making off. Although a new single is sent to the radios (“Amelie m’a dit”), Alizee decides not to promote it until her 3rd album is ready.

In november, one year after her american marriage, seems that she’s going to be a mother and we understand why she had this lack of interest in promoting her new single. On 29th of april 2005 she gives birth to a lovely little fairy (petite fee) named Anny-Lee.

Starting with this moment she’ll think more about her 3rd album. No new infos about it, but the separation seems to be done. Her destiny won’t be reduced to Mylene, but maybe to Indochine. Asked about a colaboration, Nicola Sirkis (during a show under the Eiffel Tour, a show for the coming out of their new album, “Alice and June”), sais that, for the moment, he only “gives her advices about how to escape from the claws of the spider (?). It’s not made already, but it’s not wrong either.”

Alizee is present at the party for the appearance of Sir Sid, her husband’s chothes brand. The couple also goes to the theater to see their friend Pierre Palmade acting with Isabelle Mergault, into a laurent Ruquier’s play, “Si c’etait a refaire” (If i had to do it again).


Emancipation(s)
Decided to make an original album, Alizee prepares her return in family. Jeremy is put to make the melodies and to create the songs for the new album, helped by his friend, Sylvain Carpentier. They met each other (J & S) when they recorded for “Varietes francaises”. Together, they moved to B cabin, in Juno studio, Yerres. The album is so waited and the fans are making pressures. A few months later, like so many french celebrities, Alizee is involved in Clearstream, a politico-financial scandal. That’s why the prucence is more that ever here. She makes herself descreet, but she assures her fans that she will be back, using a short lovely message, posted by one of her fans on a site. During this time, a hurricane is almost born in South America. Alizee’s popularity is bigger with every month that pass. An year later, in february 2007, Universal decides, as their request, to public her DVD live and a limited edition of an album connected to the DVD. The newspapers write about Alizee and she becomes an idol there, although she have never been to Mexico.

During this time, at the biginning of year 2007, “Moi...Lolita” is still heard, so everyone speaks again about Alizee. On 3rd of january appears “A good year”, a Ridley Scott’s movie after a Peter Mayle’s novel. “Moi...Lolita” has a huge role in this movie who was filmed in Provence. In may, the same song is sung by Julien Dore, a candidate at “Nouvelle Star”. He sings a rock version. Everyone thought that Alizee would be there on that evening to sing with him, but nothing. It’s not about grudge, but that was the single that she chose when there was the question of publishing a single to make her public wait until her first album’s appearance. And Mylene opposes to every change of the original text.

But where is that preparation of the album that we’ve been heard about? We know that Jean Fauque confirmed on 1st of april 2006 that he was working with her. We hear about Oxmo Puccino too, about the great Bertrand Burgalat, but also about Daniel Darc. The album is ready. She produced the album all by herself, after she bought back her name with a symbolic euro. So, Alizee and her producer go to search a recording label. Finally, the one who accept is Marc Hernandez, from Sony-BMG, RCA recording label. RCA also represent Patrick Bruel, Laurent Voulzy, Rock Voisine, Pink, Avril Lavigne and Usher.


Delight on Christmas
So it started the preparation. Alizee goes a lot at her recording label to discuss about the promotion strategy, about her image and radios. As a first single, they decide to chose “Fifty Sixty”, a pop song inspired of Blondie, with a text writen by Jean Fauque, speaking about fashion and Andy Warhol’s NY. But the spitefulness of a person who worked in the studio makes him post on internet a version of this song, not even the final version. So, Alizee and Jeremy decide to not come out with this song as her first single, but with “Mademoiselle Juliette”. The newspapers start to talk about other rumour, that Alizee has on her album a song about Mylene. The show “50 min inside” shows a report where journalists like Bertrand Dicale from “Figaro” and Benjamin Locoge from “paris Match” are asked about both of them.

On 24th of september 2007, there’s an oficial press release where she deny the rumour and she also sais that the new single will be MJ and the new album, Psychedelices, will appear until the end of the year. First is announced for 26th of november, but it appear on 3rd of december.

Considering Alizee’s interntions, we are sometimes tuched by her 11 songs. It is a pop album, which contain the elegance, the innocence and the glow of the 80s. it has something from Deborah Harry and Madonna (FS, MJ), from Nelly Furtado (Decollage, PLP), from Killers – their “Hot Fuss” period (Psychedelices) and something from Depeche Mode and The Cure too. Most cases of text are writen by Jean Fauque, who makes word games with great meanings. He gave Alizee stories about a dive who kills herself because of drugs (Idealiser), about 80s NY (FS), about sensual dates (Mon taxi driver) or about an imaginary city where you can meet Paris Hilton, John Lennon, Ghandi, Rolling Stones, one of the Desperate Housewives or Al Capone (Lilly Town)... Symbols from a zapping generation. Alizee also asked him for an intime song. So Jean wrote “L’effet”, a song about the great feelings of being a mother. When he proposes her a modern version of the story of Romeo and Juliet, he describes a heroine who wants to escape from her own history. How can’t you imagine that when she sings about a heroine who often had the feeling that she was in the audience at her own adventure? And what we should say about Oxmo Puccino’s text which speak about a Alizee ready to take-off? About Daniel Darc, he shows us the dark side of Alizee, speaking about “ac-triste” and “cica-tristes” in “Lonely List”. He also speaks about one who has the courage to write a goodbye letter (Jamais plus).


Don’t cry for me Mexico...
Having a clip filmed at Epinay-Champlatreux, in Val d’Oise, using scenes from “Eyes Wide Shut”, MJ remains only for 8 weeks in the top, but on the last possitions. During this time, her bet is achieved. She has a popular public and new listeners seduced by her originality. Because “Le 6/9” obtains the exclusiveness to show to the public her new single for the first time and some scenes with Alizee and her grandmother Marie-Jo and her bestfriend Helene, “Le grand journal” and “Cafe Picouly” goes together with “Fan 2” and “Star Academy”, and “Le Parisien”, “le Point”, “Le Monde” and others goes with “madame Figaro”, “Liberation”, “So Foot” or “Voxpop”. She doesn’t handle carefully her paine to defend her first album of heart and to explain the return of Tinkerbelle independently of Boutonnat/Farmer. She’s present at the inauguration of Zenith in Strasbourg, she goes to a autograph session on Champs-Elisees and she doesn’t grumble when they ask her to join some chats on the internet.

After she participates in january 2008 at the concerts of Les Enfoires or she goes to some concerts like “M6 Live” in Provence on 15th of february where she sings ML and FS, she goes to Mexico.

Radios, press, tv... There will be a huge promotion. On 3rd of mars, she responds to several questions in a press conference, where she’s dressed with a spring dress, where she seats on a sofa, surrounded with cakes like the one from the album’s cover. Two days later she has to cancel the autograph session from MixUp shop. They waited there 500 people, but there came more that 8000. She presents her excuses on Prodigy MSN’s site. The album receives a gold disc, competing with Alicia Keys album or Britney’s.

After her return in France, she goes on 20th of mars to a concert for Fight Aids, singins 3 Gainsbourg songs with Adrienne pauly, Elie Semoun and Jean-Felix Lalanne, whom she will meet a few week later at Casino in Paris.

About shows, she sings “Love is all”, “hung up” and “Adelaide” with Alain Chamfort. Again bad luck. The FS clip is uploaded on the internet, exactely on the server of those who were responsible for it. Her recording label is asking for the deleting of the clip, but without a good result. To promote the new single, Alizee already taken some photos at H&K. The photos are less sophisticated than the Nathalie Canguilhem’s. Starting with 21st of april 2008 she repetes for her future concerts, which will start at Moscow, than in Mexico from 22 to 31st of may. In june she will go in Argentina and Colombia, and then on 23rd of october in Paris, at Grand Rex. Coming soon a new live adventure.


Sorry if you'll find some mistakes.

[garçoncanadien]

[article continues]

of the closest town, leaving the unfortunate first place girl behind her. Under the strobes, she doesn’t dance jerk (Editor’s note: a moving thought for the fans of Thierry Hazard), but kindles the jealousy of other less desirable women and constraints of playing artifices while searching for their lost youth. She went on the dance floor and becomes the attraction of everybody who has a bit of testosterone, under the proud and dumbstruck look of her little sister, standing on a bar table. It’s the moment that chooses its suitor to leave. A bit lost, he watches her dance until daylight, and at a good distance, follows the two sisters who are going back to the village. The director will not need to look far for the boy in the clip. He is Jerome Devoise, a familiar face on the Farmer team, sound recorder on the Mylène Albums and sidekick of the engineer Bertrand Chatenet. To portray the woman, he uses the help of the Marseille artist Anne-Marie Pisani, who already worked on TV films and ambitious films, such as IP5, Germinal, or Delicatessen. Boutonnat will be faithful to him, offering him a role several years later in his Jacquou Le Croquant (Jacquou the Peasant).

Everything is ready. From the first reactions of the radios from May, we figure out that the song has a good future ahead of it. While Mylène releases “Innamoramento” as an extract of her live album, the single of her student is released on the 4th of July and is received as the best video of Summer 2000. “Moi…Lolita” makes everybody happy, from camps to clubs, of greedy children of a perky song sang by one of them, to a more mature audience, even understanding the double meanings and the strand of vice that comes from it. The song has such great success that the song stays for 44 weeks in the charts, and seven and a half months in the Top 10! Third best sales of the year 2000, “Moi…Lolita” stays in the 52nd position next year of the most sold singles. Strong from this immediate success, Alizée takes the good old string of the Farmer style promotion, and during the whole summer, she is instructed on her coming schedule. With an embargo on information and absolute discretion, it is necessary to know how to maintain mystery, feed absence and create demand. Her record company only accepts very few interviews and those done are by telephone. Also, one favours the risk free feathers of the adolescent press and television, and less than ten snapshots are distributed on the media.

The singer leaves her isolation on the 8th of September 2000 with the show “Le grand soir”. The channel shows a report filmed on her island, where Alizée is filmed on the beach and in the streets of Ajaccio with her brother. The grin is mischievous, the looks are seductive and as soon as a question is asked about her mentor, the singer learns to say “joker” (GC’s note: French slang for “no comment”) with a hearty laugh… We follow the young Corsican in rehearsals at the school of theatre and follow her shopping. She needs to prepare so quickly for her shows on TV that she hardly has time to prepare for her first CD and the stuff of celebrity life. Her look is perfect, mixing a college student outfit with a mini robe from the fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, that is quite in style, with a false fur coat. Discreet makeup but very intentional shakes of the hip, sexy winks at the camera, Alizée sings her show as her name scrolls across screens behind her, emphasizing the official spelling. Quite quickly, eight versions of “Moi…Lolita” are proposed to feed the collectors and the remix discos (Editors note: not less than five different remixes… “Lola Extended Remix”, “Hello Helli T’es A Dance Mix”, “Lolidub Remix”, “Illicit Full Vocal Mix” and “Lola Extended Remix Radio Edit”).

Strong from her success with “Moi…Lolita”, Alizée takes the nice old recipes of Farmer style promotion. Embargo on information and absolute discretion.

Rare interventions, multiple sources of support, sparing declarations, all this seems like its happened before, no? The strategy seems to be perfectly burned-in, will Alizée become a mini-Mylène? One week later, she defends her title on “Hit machine” and comes back on the 29th of September on the show that discovered her. She appears more sedate with an azure blue outfit. Under the gaze of Françoise Hardy, Laurent Boyer joins her and gets a few words about her beginning collaboration with the icon Farmer. Nothing transcendental is in her answers, just a single piece of crucial information: the release of a first album in October.

Delicacies and other treats…

Seeing the success of “Moi…Lolita”, Laurent Boutonnat and Mylène Farmer have created a team of faithful people to make the young girl’s creative work in record time. We find Slim Pezin, Mylène’s favourite guitarist on her first three albums and pillar of her show in 1989, the well known bassist of Francis Cabrel, Bernard Paganotti, the drummer Mathieu Rabaté and the singer Ann Calvert. Alizée records in the Guillaume Tell studio under the watch of Didier Lozahic, Dominique Blanc-Francard’s old assistant and engineer of her favourite original soundtracks of Luc Besson’s films. The album, called Gourmandises, owes a lot to Boutonnat’s direction and offers a sampling of up tempo juicy bits (“Moi…Lolita”, “L’alizé”, “Gourmandises”, and the successful “Veni Vidi Vici”) and other synthesizer based ballads in the form of electronic and evanescent marshmallows, fortified with keyboard (“Lui ou toi”), percussions (“A quoi rêve une jeune fille”) or done with an almost speaking voice (“Mon Maquis”). It is filled with references to childrens literature (“Gourmandises”, “Veni Vidi Vici”) and allusions to Gainsbourg. The text of “Lui ou toi” invokes Adjani and his “blue sweater”, Paradis and her “wave of tears”. Alizée plays the chameleon, being at the same time a seductive Lolita, adventurous James Bond Girl, romantic adolescent or a tortured child-woman. Mylène uses her to describe the period of adolescence, a time when childhood seems far away with its group of illusions. “A quoi bon/Les vies chiffons/Les mots d’amour/Qui sont trop courts”, Alizée asks, in « Parler tout bas ». It is a time of questioning, (« A quoi rêve une jeune fille »), of awakenings (« Gourmandises »), of capricious humors (« Abracadabra », “L’alizé”), and of impossible choices.

Mylène Farmer wins the bet of instilling personality into this painting while taking care to highlight Alizée’s group of unique characteristics.


This confusion of feelings, the writer translates it into a cacophony of styles and people (“Lui ou toi”), even going as far as writing grammatically incorrect sentences (“S’il te plait/Arrêtez”) (GC’s note: te (you) and Arrêtez (stop, subjunctive) should agree in number, but they do not, this is what the author means by grammatically incorrect) .

Outside of the sensual sounds and the effective gimmicks, Mylène Farmer wins the bet of instilling personality into this painting while taking care to highlight Alizée’s group of unique characteristics. As evidence, she could neither allow herself to pass by a song titled “L’alizé” nor advertise her Corsican origins (“Mon maquis”, “Veni Vidi Vici”). “Et si ça se corse/Elle se décorsette/Une île de beauté » she makes her sing in « JBG ». The discretion of her goddaughter also inspires two pieces talking about the secret garden of each little girl. The bed of a child becomes a secret and trespass-free territory, a place of giving the ultimate secret to “The Inanimate World” (“Parler tout bas”) and the siblings hideout (“Mon maquis”). Still, Mylène does a portrait of a young girl who is demystified, who takes the role of “un zeste de féminité/Sur un corps-puce de gamine” (“Veni, Vidi, Vici”), and describes the strong character of her student by saying that under her timid character, mademoiselle always gets what she wants (“Canon, car on/Doit tout lui donner/Le bon dieu sans resister, car…” in “JBG”). “Ce qu’elle veut, A-LIZEE l’a toujours” she writes in “L’alizé”.

Sweet breezes are made of this…

17 november 2000. The first edition of “M6 Awards”, new ceremony occurring with the “NRJ Music Awards”, happens in the Zenith of Lille. Alizée had only published one single, but the channel did not want to wait for the imminent release of her album, it wants to bet on the excitement and is eager to put the plough on the cows (GC’s note: get the ball rolling, get stuff working), by proposing to put her on the TV viewers vote beside Pit Bacardi, Mystik, Damien Saez, Superfunk and Yannick. The public awards her the prize of “Best discovery of the year”, which is given to her by Tina Arena. Very moved, she thanks her parents, her audience, her record company and her producers under the applause of Olivier Kahn, her manager. During the ceremony, Mylène Farmer is also awarded for her clip “Optimistique-moi”. She thanks the audience while saying a few words to Barbara, and congratulates Alizée, all the while crying at the podium.

After this awards ceremony, Gourmandises is finally released. “L’alizé” is chosen as the new single, published on the 28th of November 2000, and accompanied by the usual dose of remixes, like the good doctor Mylène Farmer ordered. To create a bit more agreeable image, this song shows a happy Alizée, ready to experience her first feelings of love during the rough times of adolescence (“Moi, j’suis comme le vent/L’esprit à mille à l’heure/Je juge sans doute trop vite/C’est ok, tant pis”). Whether it be the CD insert of Gourmandises or the video of “L’alizé”, we are going towards the little girl! Wahoo! The singer films this second clip in Belgium, under the direction of Pierre Stine and his chief operator, Aldo Piscina. In the presence of Dnaiel Davoudian, a celebrated glassblower and sculptor of bars of soap, Alizée evolves like in a dream in a carefully done pastel painting. She is carefree, she has fun, she flies and she does some acrobat moves. The filming turned out to be quite grueling. A story that reminds us that Alizée is above all a singer, the musicians are filmed, using their respective instruments on elevated platforms. The pop song goes to 11th place in the charts, but has first place for two consecutive weeks in January 2001.

The singer does her best and presents her single on “Hit Machine” on the 2nd of December with the same musicians as those in the clip, who unfortunately had not yet learned how to mime the playback recording! On the 9th of December, she sings in the Telethon and next tours several TV shows for kids like “Les petits princes” (The little princes) and “Les petits anges de Noël” (The little angels of Christmas), and does nights of pop taking advantage of the success of the year. Therefore, Alizée finishes the year 2000 on “Le grand hit” of M6, on the 28th of December. During that week, she succeeded in placing her two songs on the first and the 3rd place of the most sold singles. Only “Les rois du monde” (The kings of the world) of the musical Romeo and Juliet slid in between the two successful songs. Despite the late late release, the album Gourmandises is raised to the 51st place among the most sold albums in 2000 and starts to seduce the French speaking world (Editor’s note: “Moi…Lolita”, sixth most sold single in Belgium in 2000).

Veni, vedi, vici

The year 2001 starts with a very good outlook. Alizée continues to promote her album, notably in “Video gag”. A week later, on the 20th of January 2001, she is in Cannes for the “NRJ Music Awards” where she sings in lip-sync “L’alizé” and wins the prize for the best internet site, and the more coveted award of best Francophone discovery, awarded by Patrick Bruel. Nominated to “Victoires de la musique”, she is shunned by the Academy, who prefers Isabelle Boulay on the 17th of February 2001, probably because of the difficult relationship between the association and Mylène Farmer. However, she gets another form of award because she is invited to participate on the Enfoirés show, recorded this year in Lyon. Alizée becomes the narrator of a medley constructed from the “Rock collection” of Voulzy and sings for the first time on stage, live and with an audience blown away by her new star status. The press follows the phenomenon very closely and the singer poses with Henri Salvador on the cover of Paris Match for a strange multi-generational page between the old bloke and the wise little girl. In March, Alizée is called to Holland, where the original version of “Moi…Lolita” sees great success. On the 30th of April, she participates in an exceptional open air concert, before 40 000 people in Amsterdam, organized by The Music Factory as one of the events celebrating the birthday of the Queen of Holland.

While Europe is discovering the French Lolita, Alizée continues her journey by releasing the ballad “Parler tout bas”, broadcasted on the radio since March. She sings about her difficulty growing up and confronting what she imagines to be the violence of the adult world: “Les grands ont des griffes/Comme des bouts de ciment/Comment leur dire/Quand on a que seize ans/Le lit qu’on défait, n’a plus/Le gout du zan(…)/Les grands ont des rires/Qui vous gifflent/En passant ». To protect herself from the unknown, she closes herself up in her imagination, preferring to receive love from her toy bears rather than crashing into real love: “Parler tout bas/Trouver les mots qu’il faut/Parler de tout, parler de moi/Pour trouver le repos”. Some snapshots from Philippe Bouley appear and the clip is signed Laurent Boutonnat, assisted by Jean-Marie Dreujou, the chief operator who was his second hand man for the clips of Nathalie Cardone, picks up with a more obscure tone. Alizée is stretched out on her bed, her house is in ruin. Rain is falling down on her face and her toys are broken. Her dolls become alive and try to escape with her. Alizée decides to bury her bear – and to symbolically quit the world of childhood – under the eyes of her dolls, perched on the branches of a tree. Liberated from all that troubles her, she can finally live a life with her lover, rejected without shame in the video of “Moi…Lolita”.

“Parler tout bas” takes an honourable path in the charts for more than twenty weeks, attaining in June, 12th place in the Top single. On TV, Alizée presents herself in a laid back way and sings while sitting down on a chair, notably in two editions of “Tapis Rouge” (Red carpet) (Editor’s note: including one dedicated on the 4th of July 2001 to Enfants de la Terre (Children of the Earth), the association of Yannick Noah). She does shows on “Hit machine” in April, in “Drôle de petits champions” (Funny little champions) in May, and on June 1st 2001, she participates on the famous “Stars à domicile” (Stars in your house) filling little Julia with joy from the Eure-et-Loir. For the occasion, she barges in on the little girl’s birthday party, while singing “Moi…Lolita”, her show, that was awarded a few months earlier, on the 31st of May, with the SACEM Vincent Scotto prize. Loyal to Laurent Boyer, she goes on the show “Bébé stars” (Baby stars) in the beginning of summer and stops on the 22nd of July 2001 by an appearance on the show “Génies en herbe” (Geniuses in the grass).

[garçoncanadien]

no more translations of this book from me
Backinblack is doing pg 1-40

[lefty12357]

Thank you Garçon ! That must have been quite a lot of work. I can't thank you enough for your efforts.

[Ben]

Awesome Garcon, thanks so much. How about the interviews dana skipped though?

[heyamigo]

damn i'm gonna miss your translations GC... great job yet again.

and the successful “Veni Vidi Vici”

how are they calling VVV successful when it wasn't a single? (it does happen to be one of my favorite alizee songs though)

[TheBarrett]

If you like it, then it's successful!

[Rev]

Thanks very much GC.

[NarutoSoul]

Merci beaucoup, GC!

[wildfire]

Originally Posted by garçoncanadien

ALIZEE TECHNO GIRL

Who said that girls don't know anything about a computer? Not Alizee! We met the singer during the release of her new album, "Psychedelices". Interview with a charming geek, an absolute fan of the iPod.

A rude awakening on a February morning... Hard to get up, even the iPod would refuse to get out of its case! Only enough time to get a cafe and to get warmed up near the road by the big Parisian hotel where we invited Alizee. The singer is back after three years of absence. The time was used to have a baby and to conceive an album. Just like the sound of her new disc, the young woman has matured. Finished with playing lolita under the leadership of the duo of Mylene Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat. The little Ajaccio girl broke with her mentors who discovered her during the show Graines de Star on M6. The artist affirms herself in life without denying anything about the past and takes her career into her own hands, knocking on the door of Alain Bashung's favourite author, Jean Fauque, or of the sombre Daniel Darc, singer of Taxi-Girl. That gives quite a mix to the intersection of pop, and even rap. An eclectisism done in her image, likeable and quite the opposite of the singer marketed by her record company. Alizee shows her tastes like her addictions for boys toys. The iPod and and the Mac are very important to her daily life. She's arriving now, smiling despite looking tired from doing seven Enfoires concerts for the Restos du Coeur in only five days. Meeting.

SVMiPod - You are back from the Enfoires concert... Tired but happy?

Alizee - The Enfoires tour is an interesting moment. It is a bit like a summer camp, you sacrifice your own interests for the interests of the whole group. This year, the show was changed into a play, we put on costumes, we have fun! Most of the artists don't feel nervous at all, when we are singing in front of 10 000 people...

You and your iPod, are you inseparable?

I always have it with me, even during concerts. With the Enfoires, we each have to sing about fifteen songs, and my MP3 player allows me to rehearse. Same with the TV shows, where I am frequently asked to sing several different versions of the songs on the album: I take my iPod, I listen and I count the number of refrains, its a great reminder (laughs...)! All the artists that I work with have an iPod, and that doesn't even count MacBooks or iPhones. During the creation of the album, I kept all the different versions of my songs on my mp3 player, from the initial draft to the first time I sang it, with the musicians recordings... In summary, the iPod is an amazing work tool, but thats not their only role. I like to see films as well. When I go flying, I take my iPod so my daughter can look at cartoons. She was born with an iPod, she doesn't even know what it's like to fly without an mp3 player! My iPod is also quite useful for sports. I don't do sports anymore without music and without a playlist that I let the thing run, and time flies!

How do you explain the success of the iPod?

For girls, its above all a fashionable thing that comes in different colours, that we can engrave... All the biggest brand names make accessories for it, like Chanel or even Vuitton who have released cases for the iPhone even before its release! Its also ultrasimple, like everything else that is stamped with an apple.

Aren't you afraid that the usage of mp3 players supports illegal downloads?

No, mp3 players are not at the source of piracy, its the price of progress and the Internet... we can't do anything about it, we made a lot of laws, it was a battle lost before it begun, unless we go back to vinyl records. I think we should prepare for the death of the CD.

Are you a fan of the first days of its release?

I found out about the iPod via the Mac. During my tour at the end of 2003, I went into a store to get a Powerbook. I wanted to get the best out of three months travelling and musicians' advice, who all work on Mac computers, to really get into it. And then, when I saw the iPod beside the Mac, I really fell for it! Then, I really loved the Mini rose, a limited edition Hello Kitty that I ordered in Japan, until the day when a funny icon appeared on the screen, a person with little eyes and a smiling mouth. I tried everything to reboot it, pressing both buttons at the same time without success... its my little girl who inherited it as a toy, to do the same thing. Then, I went to the black Nano, all the way to the new Classic 80 Go gray that I received as a birthday present.

You aren't convinced by the Touch?

16 GB of memory is not good enough. With my Nano, already, I had to keep selecting bits of music in iTunes. It is too frustrating when someone like me has a musical library that is 40GB in size! I prefer to take all my music in my pocket. The Touch, I give to my husband (Jeremy Chatelain: editors note), I gave him one for Christmas.

According to you, the status of geek is no longer reserved for just guys?

Effectively, since I have always liked new things in technology... Finally, a few years ago, I blamed myself for only liking guy things! When I started to earn my own salary, I spent as much money on gadgets as handbags, my two passions! I love going to Japan to shop in high tech shops. There, they have several story buildings where each floor is reserved for cameras, videocamcorders, computers, quite a surrealistic thing! Quite modestly, I have learned some stuff and today I know more than my husband...(laugh). With him, I play the customer service representative. Its my dad who is responsible for me liking this stuff, and he is proud of it. I have always had computers at the house, I have photos where you can see me as a little kid beside a piano. When I have a problem, I will troubleshoot for hours why it doesn't work. It's only in really difficult situations that I call my dad up. Besides, he always picks up the phone and says "Apple Assistance, hello!"

What do you use your computer for?

I do a bit of everything. In total, I have 21000 photos that I keep track of with iPhoto or Aperture (that my dad told me about), and, definitely, Photoshop to do some retouching. I also like making some small movie cuts with iMovie to show them on my iPod for people close to me: vacations during making-of the recording of my last album while going through my dad's birthday...In 2003, I called him during a concert with 4000 people to tell him happy birthday. The makeup artist filmed in the wings of the set and I put everything on my Mac to give to him. Its a unique gift that particularly touched him.

Do you use the Net a lot? Do you personally work on your site?

Artists official websites are heavy and difficult to keep up to date. I prefer to use MySpace with is really accessible to everybody, to publish new photos and news. Therefore, I keep up my pages everyday and I receive fans messages directly... I am naturally on FaceBook, but there, its more personal.

What digital device has not been invented yet that you dream about?

Something that can drive everything in the house (from TV to food), like the iPhone, at the touch of a finger. And so something I liked a lot on my iMac and the other manufacturers should get ideas from: it only has one wire! And that, for a girl who is doing housework, its very important...

By Olivier Frigara

I BLAMED MYSELF FOR ONLY LIKING GUYS THINGS!

MP3 PLAYERS ARE NOT AT THE SOURCE OF PIRACY

HER SITES

The Geek Journal: this site talks about current gadgets.

Nitrolicious: A fashion blog that is about the latest bags, sneakers, and even MacBOok Air. I could have done it myself, it is quite like me.

Clubic: I get little shareware programs that I need for my Mac there.

Purse Blog: A blog on It Bags, these timeless high fashion bags like Hermes' Kelly.

FaceBook: This is the fasion site. Its cool to keep in contact... But in the end, I think I will get tired of it.

Sold Out: Collete's store website. I order sneakers or clothes that you can only find there.

HER PLAYLIST

Gorillaz - Dare

I am totally a fan. I adore the graphical universe of the clip!

Madonna - La Isla Bonita

I had the chance to sing it in her presence during a special show on France 2.

The Killers - Somebody Told Me

It is my favourite group and the reference album for the creation of my last CD.

50 Cent and Justin Timberlake - Ayo Technology

I am not very hip hop, but there, I have always had feelings for that music!

The Beatles - Let it Be

The song for my dad. Everytime I listen to it, I think about him.

IN HER BAG

A Beez pink robe: it looks like a big Malabar. There is nothing that could be better for protecting the MacBook.

A FreecomToughDrive Pink Hard Drive: 250 GB always in my hand, for pictures of my daughter!

A Blackberry: A work tool, above all.

A LG Shine telephone: I adore its good luck charm, a USB keychain drive of 2GB, that it is attached to. Its a gift from my dad.

A paper Louis Vuitton agenda book: I have had too many problems with the electronic version...

A MontBlanc in its case: I signed my first contract as a producer with this pen. I am sure it will give me good luck!

Ray-Ban sunglasses: these are Wayfarers, that my dad used to wear for a long time and that are now back in fashion again. I use them to remind me of the Ajaccio sun.

OK, this is the HOTTEST interview with her that I've read!!

I took a cold shower!

Delicious insights into her intellect. I keep saying: the more I know about this gal , the more I like her. I luv the strong bond she has with her father. A note to designer single moms: see what happens when the father is around? your daughters grow up to be well adjusted pop stars!

Originally Posted by garçoncanadien

ALIZEE

TV Series
(What TV series actor could you be?)

A.: I hesitate... It could be a mix between Monica from "Friends" and of Suzn and Lynette of "Desperate Housewives". Not a bad mix! One could create a new one. We can't identify with just one of the characters because they are extreme, but thats cool because we can identify a little bit with all of them. And we can relate with them in some situations, but not all the time. Otherwise, I am "Desperate Housewives", "Grey's Anatomy", and "Prison Break". I have "Six Feet Under" on DVD at the house, "Sexy & The City" that I know by memory and "Friends" for sure. I tried "Lost" and "Heroes", but it didn't really catch my eye. Maybe its not girly enough (laughs).



DISCO: RCA/SONY-BMG MUSIC

She doesn't like "Lost"? Not Girlie enough!!! My heart is broken!!