Your first experience of Alizée?

[Seapaddler]

It would be great to read everyone’s first time experience of Alizée. What were you doing at the time, how did you first hear of her, how long ago etc.

For me it was a few months ago, clicking a link on a website that led to the La Isla Bonita video on Ryoni.com. Watching this performance left me speechless; her natural beauty, her subtleties, her voice, her dancing - oh my freaking God who is this singer and why haven’t I heard of her before! Actually her music was released in Canada, where I live, and still I had never heard of her. From that point I couldn’t get enough; buying her music online and downloading anything and everything I could find. Her story of getting discovered and everything else I’ve read and seen of her interviews has imprinted a rare impression on me, I want to learn French and perhaps go to France some day to see a her in a live concert. Which incidentally many people from the West did. What person has that kind of influence? Amazing.

[brad]

i was kind of slowly exposed to her through a forum that I was on a few years ago. someone there would always post pictures of her, and people would argue about how 'perfect' she was. it was a while before I ever watched a video of her, (this was long before sites like youtube came around in 2005)

eventually i found alizee-forum, and through there downloaded some videos. once i watched the fun tv interview i was 100% hooked. i must have watched it 10 times in one day (without subtitles) .. i had no idea what they were saying but I was completely mesmerized with her.

[RadioactiveMan]

Vancouver! I'm from Kelowna, Seapaddler.

The Ryoni.com La Isla Bonita video was one of the very first ones that I saw, too (second after the J'en Ai Marre one, I think).

[LiliFan788]

I first saw Alizée in the video of her performance of "La Isla Bonita." Shortly after that, I saw the video of the March 2003 performance of "J'en ai marre." After that, I listened to samples of her songs in the French iTunes store, and bought her CDs online.

[blueskyy]

I stumbled across the J'en Ai Marre video on some website with a bunch of random video links and was just captivated. Then the La Isla Bonita video appeared on the same site. I then bought the MCE cd and really liked it. Eventually found more video's on this site and others, bought the other cd's, and now all other girls are ugly and can't dance. Nah just kidding.

[nurvonic]

my first alizee experience was somewhere mid-June of this year. i was browsing videos on some site and saw a thumbnail to her la isla bonita video. i saw her pretty face, and skipped over it cuz i just thought it was just some random hot chick. i think a couple of days later i finally clicked on the link to see what the fuss was about, and was captivated. i would go back to that site everyday just to look at that particular video..lol. then i did some google searches, some youtube searches, a wikipedia search and voila, here i am

[Cooney]

I believe it was around February of this year that I probably ran across her the first time, over on mojoflix. They had one of her well known JEAM performances posted, and I watched it... and watched it and watched it. Having taken French in the past, but having no idea what "J'en ai marre" meant, I pulled out my old French dictionary and looked it up. Shortly after that, I ran across the official Moi... Lolita video on the same site, and realized that I really liked this chanteuse, and I kept thinking about the lyrics, trying to figure them out. I'm quite intellectually curious, so when something like this gets my interest, I usually don't rest until I've got a grip on it.

I don't know where the first step over the line from casual interest to fan was, but in April I know I created an account on verbtoverbe.com in order to post and talk with people about her lyrics, specifically about the meaning of "courgettes" in JEAM. I was assuming it was slang for something, rather than literally meaning zucchinis. We couldn't figure that one out, and I became a bit obsessed with the idea of locating that information. (When I much later found out it was because she is allergic to them, I laughed and just about danced at my chair ::grins:: Thanks, FunTV!)

As I ran across more of her works, I believe ACC's video was next, I started downloading them and looking for biographical information on her. I believe that is what eventually lead me here, via the winds of a search-engine, where I discovered the video repository and forums. As soon as I saw her in interview and realized she really had her head on straight, and then saw how well she treats her fans, I was completely hooked and began hunting her products. I remained a lurker for at least a month, reading but not posting, until one day in mid-October I ran across a topic about the alcoholic beverage Alizé, which I happened to have in my refridgerator. For some reason, that inspired me to create an account and make an informational post about the drink, and it all snowballed from there.

I'm super-inquisitive by nature, and I love playing with language. Translating her songs, and the texts of interviews, is something I'd be doing even if I wasn't here. Nothing makes my brain itch more than hearing something that I can *almost* understand, but need a little clarification on - I have a whole shelf of reference books attesting to that trait. I WANT to understand; not just the literal meaning, but also the little details, the references, the thought process. Now, I've got pages and pages of print outs of stuff I've been working on translating for my own edification (this is what I post occasionally in my "Alternate Translations" threads), a stack of her CD's which are forever rotating through my car stereo, a bunch of DL'd vids, and orders placed from Taiwan to France to get things sent my way. I've got Youpidou licence plate frames, and I'm waiting on my custom plates... I'll post pictures when they arrive.

Now I'm on a quest to build a massive collection, a few pieces at a time. I rearranged my furniture the other day to make room for some new shelves I hope to get soon, where I can begin to display the stuff properly. I love her music, I love her lyrics, and I love her approach to life. What more can I say?

[Twitch]

I first saw Alizée in her Moi Lolita video back in 2001 when it aired on French Kiss on Muchmusic (music station in Canada), I just happened to wake up and turn on the TV and it was already on Much, normally I wouldn't have bothered watching French Kiss but Moi Lolita had just started it sounded interesting so I waited until they showed who the singer and what the song was. After which I had to get ready and head to class, but after class I searched the web and checked out the other song samples and videos available on the official site. And it provided an interesting dilemma, I liked it and enjoyed watching the videos (even the low quality official ones because that's all there was back then) but at the time would not have admitted to liking anything that remotely resembled pop music to my friends.

But I only had the sample files from the official site available to me until I returned home for the Holidays of that year (from an English city to a 50% French city) and saw the Gourmandises album on sale at the local Zellers while doing some last minute gift shopping, the clerk thought it was for a gift and I didn't correct her (in French markets it was mostly bought by teenage girls, not guys starting university). But after hearing the album I found other songs I liked more than the few mp3s I had found and have been keeping an eye on her ever since.

And recently after moving again and unpacking my stuff I noticed my Gourmandises album has gone missing, so now I am hoping to find another copy (buried in the back of the shelves) while doing some last minute shopping this year while I try and figure out who borrowed my first copy.

[rwd716]

I first saw her in late July of this year. A friend showed me her JEAM vid, and said that I had to see this girl. I figured it would just be another hot girl. The vid had barely started and my mouth was already wide open Then he said to wait because she does the night elf dance towards the end of the vid. He didn't have to prod me much

I was so "twiterpated" by this girl. She was so hot, but not a crazy slutty hot like other female singers are. I had to find out more about her, so a google search lead me here. I couldn't get enough of her interviews, so had the perfect attitude. I definitely can't deny my physical attraction for her piqued my interest, but after watching her interviews and seeing more of her performaces, I really fell in love with her as a person and an artist. The rest is history

[RadioactiveMan]

I forgot to ask in my first post, but where was her music released here? Are you referring to in Vancouver? If so, I'm interested to know what stores it was in. Or are you referring to a different part of Canada?