Misc. Alizée Questions!

[C-4]

When Alizée was doing the charity show in Lyon, of which there are several performances and on which show articles of Alizée were auctioned off, I read on this forum years ago that the French are particular to get as perfect a performance on TV as possible, so they have a playback track to which the artist performs.

The artist may in fact sing along with these tracks, but the TV producers there want everything to go just right.

Let's face it, no one has a perfect performance live every time, and people do have off days, so doing it this way insures the best results.

[babyblue558]

OK thanks for clearing that up for me guys. Haha man I'd be pretty pissed off actually if I was an artist who was forced to lipsynch in almost every appearance, but I guess they need the promotional value of singing on TV so the have to accept the terms. It's a fair point though, outside of France, artists do quite a lot of live TV performances with no lipsynching, and some of them do sound noticably awful on occasion. But still, if you're someone who can sing very well live, all the lipsnching has got to piss you off. I know Mylène Farmer got a lot of stick from fans recently for lipsyching on the show Encore Une Chanson, when the broadcasters had advertised it as a 'live' performance. Now I know it probably wasn't her choice to lipsynch at all, and she's certainly an artist who can pull off a more than adequate live performance. Poor Mylène.

[Roman]

Originally Posted by babyblue558

OK thanks for clearing that up for me guys. Haha man I'd be pretty pissed off actually if I was an artist who was forced to lipsynch in almost every appearance, but I guess they need the promotional value of singing on TV so the have to accept the terms. It's a fair point though, in the UK, artists do quite a lot of live TV performances with no lipsynching, and some of them do sound noticably awful on occasion. But still, if you're someone who can sing very well live, all the lipsnching has got to piss you off. I know Mylène Farmer got a lot of stick from fans recently for lipsyching on the show Encore Une Chanson, when the broadcasters had advertised it as a 'live' performance. Now I know it probably wasn't her choice to lipsynch at all, and she's certainly an artist who can pull off a more than adequate live performance. Poor Mylène.

Well, you also have to remember that Alizée started off on tv when she was 15 and she was always more of a performer in general than a singer, though she's solidly taken on that role since 2007 or 8. March 15 2003 was a really great day for the world. Alizée did the first JEAM performance that I ever saw and a little earlier she also did another fabulous performance, Ella, elle l'a. If playback was necessary to get that great sound and performance, youpidou for playback, you know? If it's a fabulous life changing performance ultimately, then it doesn't matter quite as much if one learns later that it wasn't exactly live. She fooled me though. I do wish she could do that live, but I'm nowhere near complaining. If she was still doing stuff like that, I'd still have very little to complain about. At least Alizée did go on the show "Acoustique" and do several songs live, even if it was anything but acoustic and did have a backing track played along on a couple songs. Oh well. We have performances like at Les Enfoirés where it seems that it's all live and she tends to do rather well.
Speaking of which, she went on in 2008 and did the Les Enfoirés single along with several other people and frankly, as a group they were not that good. The actual concert was, but that particular show their voices were not melding that well and I think some of them did not sing that well either. Alizée seemed to do fine from what I could tell (and remember now). So, even if she's not among the greatest singing talents, it's not like she's worse than other highly popular people at least sometimes. And then as I've said since way back, it's her voice that is so appealing. Even if it has changed over the years, she still does this Alizée thing to a song that tends to make it pleasant. Alizée should have just put out a 'greatest French pop hits that Americans have never heard' album with like 50 songs and thereby make great 50 songs that we'd probably never have heard otherwise. Which songs has she made great or greater?--La Isla Bonita; Ella, elle l'a, Il jouait du piano debout, whatever she sang at Les Enfoirés in 2002 ... uh, ça va pas changer le monde, um, tired and can't remember... You get my point.

[Scruffydog777]

Originally Posted by wasabi622

Well from what she said in one of the billions of interviews I've seen, she says she lipsynched because it was difficult to sing and dance at the same time.

Though obviously, she does sing live and dance as well.

Originally Posted by Roman

Oh really? I don't remember her ever directly addressing that. Let me know if you remember where you saw that.

I remember reading she said that in an interview too. I'll have to do some research to see if I can find it.

I'm sure that's very true about singing and dancing at the same time. I'm sure it would have a big affect on your voice. Can you imagine what Pavarotti would sound like if he'd try doing the Jam dance while singing?

I'm also sure that lip syncing is done a lot more times by everyone than we know about, for that reason and also I'm sure other reasons like the accoustics of certain stages. But I think one of the reasons Alizée lip syncs in some of her songs is because the studio enhanced version sounds noticably better than her live versions.

Most notably ML and JAM. Now I've said it before that this would bother me if it was true of all her songs. But she has so many songs that sound so beautiful when sung live. L'Alize, Hey Amigo, Lou ou Toi, Toc de mac, Amelie, just to name a few

But this shows the genius of MF and LB. When they wrote a song for Alizée, they recognized when a certain song needed tweaking in a sound studio. This was just another one of their great management skills that I think who ever is managing her now lacks.

[user472884]

I'm just giving a heads up, I may be frequenting here in the coming days.

[Karlalizee]

lipsyncing is nothing new. i learned that jerry lee lewis was the first performer on american bandstand that did not lipsync his songs. i believe that was either in the 50/60's. omg did i just make a subliminal plug? i am so clever.

[rj.bagby]

Originally Posted by wasabi622

i have a question: why is she so awesome, adorable, and amazing(many "A"s much?)? it seems totally unfair that such a person(goddess?)
Could exist.

She is one of Gods gifts to the world!

[Roman]

Well, I know that she did mention that singing and dancing at the same time is very difficult and that's why she had to be in good shape and practice a lot. I think she was talking about her concerts where she certainly did do that for real.
By the way, just try it. Moving around a lot does very much change one's ability to sing.

[Scruffydog777]

I found this translation of an interview by Cooney that took place pre MCE, where Alizée mentioned it was hard to sing and dance at the same time. The type is in red where she said it. I'll also try to find out exactly which interview it was.

Cooney
01-07-2007, 09:44 AM
Alrighty! Here's the translation. There are a couple places where I adjusted a figurative phrase to flow in English, but otherwise I think it's accurate. I'll check out the subtitle workshop thing. Once corrections have been made to the translation, I'll see about making a subtitle file. Is there a higher quality version of this clip? It's a great interview, and I love the grin she has at the end, but subtitling seems almost wasted on a low res if HQ is available.

Host: Hello
Alizée: Hello
Host: You doing well?
Alizée: Quite well, thank you.
Host: We would like to know a little bit more about you...
Alizée: Yes
Host: ...and return to your debut. So you participated in "Graines de Star"...
Alizée: Uh huh
Host: ...and there, so, what happened?
Alizée: I won the show
(Graines de Star clip)
Graines de Star clip: Stop! Alizée will defend the colors on Graines de Star next month.
Alizée: And then after that, I heard there was a casting in Paris. I heard the producers were looking for a performer. So, I sent a tape and was selected to sing "Moi... Lolita"
Host: And that, what was that like?
Alizée: (laughs) Very very impressive like... already when we arrived for the first time at the studio and... very awe-struck as well to meet Laurent Boutonnat and Mylène Farmer.
Host: Your first video? What memories stand out? Were you stunned to find yourself quite suddenly in the middle of it all, with lots of people around?
Alizée: Oh yes. It was more-than-anything awe-inspiring to be in front of the camera, acting, because really in, in... Moi Lolita, that's really acting. Laurent gave me confidence. He told me "don't worry yourself, it'll work. We can start over again and again if something is bothering you...
(Moi... Lolita clip)
Host: Do you participate in the writing of your songs, or not?
Alizée. Umm, I talk alot with Mylène about what I like doing, about my life, and about my personality. She takes it in, and tries to incorporate it all in the lyrics. And we say... we can say she made me an album that's a perfect fit.
Host: Ok. It fits you well?
Alizée: Oh yes. It's really from A to Z. It's what I am.
(L'Alizé Clip)
Host: What effect did it have to receive that first prize, you know, the M6 awards?
Alizée: I was awe-struck already just to be there... mostly the room is huge! There were five thousand people there I think.
(M6 Awards clip)
Alizée: An award from the public, it's not like when one receives, umm, some other thing. But there, given by the public, it really warmed my heart and, and we can see that, because I started to cry, so, umm..
Host: You didn't expect it?
Alizée: No, not at all
Host: Do you have some advice to give to the children and young folks who want to become singers, or dancers, and take up an artistic profession? There they are! (points at camera)
Alizée: Ok. So, in order to succeed, always you have to have willpower, uhh, huge [willpower]. Know what you want, because there are times you say to yourself "Ok, I like it... I'll do that, that'll be successful... Maybe that works, but it doesn't really make me very happy, so I have to really do what I love" and, uhh... above all, stay natural, which is very very hard.
(Parler Tout Bas clip)
Host: A day in the life of Alizée, what's it like?
Alizée: Oh la la. It starts very early in the morning. I dedicate an hour to singing, so I work, I do vocal exercises. I work on my songs, umm, and dance at the same time, because it's very hard to dance and sing at onceAnd I can have an afternoon with interviews all afternoon long, and in the evening, a television show. So, to Paris...
Host: It's packed!
Alizée: it's very very packed, yes.
Host: So then, you've stopped taking classes?
Alizée: I'm taking certain classes with an English professor. And uhh, I'm taking French classes, so uhh... One can say it's essential, what one needs in one's career, and so we'll find out later.
(L'Alizé clip)
Host: And when you have a little bit of time to relax, do you watch TV at your house?
Alizée: Yes, yes
Host: Do you watch a lot of cartoons, or no?
Alizée: Since I have my little brother, who's eleven, there too, so..., him as well, so I'm in front of the TV with him.
Host: You don't forget "M6 kid"
Alizée: Of course not
Host: Do you like R&B music a little?
Alizée: Yeah, I like it a lot, yeah
Host: Because just after our cartoons, we're going to meet Craig David in an exclusive, you'll see it, it's great. But now, I suggest we watch your cartoons. What do you think?
Alizée: I suggest we watch Kong and Cartouche
Host: Not bad. Let's go.

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

I found this translation of an interview by Cooney that took place pre MCE, where Alizée mentioned it was hard to sing and dance at the same time. The type is in red where she said it. I'll also try to find out exactly which interview it was.

Wow! at last you found it. Now we won't forget where was it. Thanks for this. I know that you went through lot of interviews and translations on AAm to find this.