Une Enfant Du Siècle News/Discussion!

[Roman]

Well, here's my question for you guys who say that she didn't try to appeal to new fans: what is she supposed to do in order for that to happen? I think people already had their minds made up about what Alizée was. If she didn't appeal to her previous fans, what should she have done or more to the point, what should she do now to appeal to new fans?

I think people were just not impressed enough to get a huge reaction and then for some reason that prevented her team from getting anything together for her own concerts. Simply bad management of the situation, not just of the promotion. One must take what one gets and make it work. I think that's what was not done. Of course, I certainly couldn't tell anyone how to do that.

If Alizée performs with the guys she's working with now and acts more like a group, maybe that will get some traction. I don't know. But yes, the performances have to be good or people won't want to pay for more of them. It's a serious challenge. I have a hard time even imagining what this is going to look like if they do that sort of promotion - tv shows, multi-act concerts, etc. (whatever etc. is). It must be very difficult to toss something together after many months or years of inactivity and have it be good. It's people who constantly practice their craft and make it part of their routine that get really good at something.

Dance can be really beautiful. I think it fit Alizée very well. It's too bad that she didn't really take off with that. We all become what we become I suppose and we don't usually follow a very straight path. It's just lucky for us that we got the beautiful expression of Alizée's character that we did get. I hope that once again, whatever it looks like, this album seems to express something of Alizée's spirit. I think that helps when one feels like it's meaningful to her, though that may not even be necessary. "Love is All" was just some performance that she did, but it was great. She sounded great. Some songs and performances of them really fit her well. She needs to find a way to just do those. And more often. That's my opinion. She has talent and charm, but it needs to be carefully channeled. (Ok, maybe the same could be said about everyone.)

And lastly, damn it, it's just so difficult when she's not here and I'm not there and then she's only popular in Mexico. It's too confusing and difficult to follow. Where's that new album?!

[jung_adore_ALIZEE]

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

But the fact that two concerts were cancelled

ahem how many? I believe your numbers are a little off

[Scruffydog777]

Originally Posted by Deepwaters

I'm not trying to twist anything.

You say you're not trying to twist anything but you are a twist master extraodinaire. Painting things the way you see it. Refusing to look at the facts. Basicly accusing me of being narrow minded.

You've never seen me in here proclaiming I like a certain style of music and you never will because I don't pay any attention to that, don't care whether a song is categorized as being pop, hip-hop, soft rock, hard rock, rap, reggae, soul, whatever. All I pay attention to is the sound coming out of those speakers. If I like it, I will listen to it, despite what other people categorize it as or say about it.

In my early days, they had 45s and LPs. When a singer came out with a good record, they would put it on the A side of a 45, then put some less obscure song on the B side. You would never put two good songs on the same record. Heavens no. You maximize sales by putting each good song on a seperate record, along with a slacker. Well how many times have we seen in the past where the B side is the side that did well, the side that the people liked, because when people like a certain artist, they will listen to both sides they will judge for themselves what they like and don't like. Word will spread and the cream will rise to the top.

Well with Psych, people ( with people I mean the majority of people in France), listened to the A side, listened to the B side, didn't matter how many sides it had, they listened to it, didn't like it and word spread. Are you going to say that all these people are narrow minded, because that's basicly what you're accusing me of being. If Alizée's career had to be solely dependent on Psych, if there had been no MCE or Gour, she'd be still tap dancing her away across Corsica, trying to make ends meet.

[Roman]

@Jung - by the way, he meant the same concert was canceled twice (two concerts). Oh, and I guess we can ignore the short lived three other concerts in Europe and the two in Mexico. Is that what you meant?

@Scruffy - not to argue with you, but
1) I for one do not know how many times the B side did well and I had trouble following what you were saying there anyway (yes I know it was directed at Deep)
2) As for listening to the CD and word spreading ... really? How do we know what people did? I do not get the sense that people listened to it and then influenced others much to not be interested. Some of that may have happened through magazine or other reviews, but I would think that the influence was more about the few performances that she did and the singles played on the radio, to what extent they were. Word generally does not spread when someone does NOT like something. Word spreads when people DO like something (in the world of music anyway). Though, in the case of Alizée it's a little different maybe because she was already famous. Similarly, I heard that people didn't like the new Guns 'n' Roses that much. I did listen to some of it though because in the past they were really awesome. Having at least one song that is just a big hit would certainly make a difference. Alizée might argue that it was the difference.

Anyway, we're rather off topic at this point. Isn't there a thread for whining about the last album's sales?

By the way, Chateau Marmont is in Hollywood: http://chateaumarmont.com/ hmm I wonder if that's where they got the name. Where else?

[Ben]

Originally Posted by Roman

Well, here's my question for you guys who say that she didn't try to appeal to new fans: what is she supposed to do in order for that to happen? I think people already had their minds made up about what Alizée was.

Good point. She wouldn't have just been trying to reach people with a blank slate in France, but actually counter their existing perceptions as well. And as I've said before, I don't think the content was there on Psychédélices to do that. As much as we talk about it alienating old fans (which is true), I think the general public's reaction was, "meh it's more of the same from her, isn't it?".

So to answer your question, to be honest I don't think there was much she could have done. Not with that disc. Maybe she eventually realized this, which could be one reason why Psych promotion ended so abruptly and attention shifted to focusing on the next album. Hopefully with the right promotion, Une enfant du siècle will be cohesively different enough to reach a new audience.

[Deepwaters]

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

Basicly accusing me of being narrow minded.

Does that term apply to musical tastes? We don't discuss politics, religion, or philosophy here, so I'm in no position to say whether you're narrow-minded or not. I do say that you have a fairly narrow range of music that you like. You imply that yourself. There's nothing wrong with that, as there would be with being "narrow-minded" in the areas where that phrase is normally used.

You've never seen me in here proclaiming I like a certain style of music and you never will . . . All I pay attention to is the sound coming out of those speakers. If I like it, I will listen to it

The part before the ... above contradicts the part after. All you're really saying is that you don't label the music you like or don't like. Other people could, though, based on what goes into each category. Again, there's nothing wrong with having particular tastes and liking what you like, so you really shouldn't be offended. It's not like I called you a racist or something.

Well, old-timer (and you're one of the very few people here I can say that to ), I'm afraid 45s are just slightly before my time, though LPs aren't. But what you're saying illustrates what I was pointing out: that there's a difference between quality of music and style of music. I have seen and heard precious few of those old LPs that matches Psychédélices for sheer overall quality from the writing to the playing to the mixing, BUT take any album from the pre-digital era and you will find a consistent style throughout. It won't have a little jazz, a little rock, a little pop, a little country, etc. When an artist moved into something new, or departed from the norm in an album, the whole album was like that. If you liked that type of music, you would like the whole album at least sorta kinda. If you didn't, you wouldn't like any of it.

I suspect maybe Ben is right. Her Grace was a little too cautious about taking the plunge into something new, so she sort of threw a whole bunch of different stuff against the wall hoping some of it would stick. There was a very long post on her MySpace by a long-time fan who said that there were only a few songs on Psych that she liked, and she was really disappointed and was moving on. Most people DO have fairly narrow musical tastes. Ask somebody what kind of music they listen to, and nine times out of ten, they'll tell you in one word: "rock," "pop," "classical," "rap," "jazz," "country," etc. An album with all of those on it is going to have very few songs that you like, if you only like jazz (say), even if every song is superlative for its kind.

That same lack of confidence may be why the early performances were so bad, too. Once she got her feet on the ground it all came back, though.

Mainly I'm just disputing the term you used, "mediocre," to describe the songs on Psych, or most of them. Take any song from the album, and if you happen to like music of that type, you'll like that song. (There's one possible exception, and that's Decollage. As rap songs go, it's a bit weird. I like it, but normally I don't like rap, which tells me it might not appeal to people who do.) For what they are, they're all very well done. There isn't a "mediocre" song among them. But that won't help if a song is a superlative example of a type of music you don't like.

[wasabi622]

ahem people. this is about the upcoming album no??

last time i checked, psychedelices came out 2007, not so upcomingish now is it??

hows bout we hold hands and dance until the new album, that is seemingly perpetually pushed back, finally comes out??

[Scruffydog777]

Originally Posted by Roman

@Scruffy - not to argue with you, but
1) I for one do not know how many times the B side did well and I had trouble following what you were saying there anyway

It's really pretty simple what I'm trying to say. If someone comes out with an album and there are very good songs on it. People will find out about them. This the age of the internet. Word spreads overnight to countries thousand of miles away.

I'm just tired of people saying there were so many great songs on Psych and they have nothing to show to back that up. There were disappointing sales figures in France, two cancelled concerts, poor chart postitions and you have to realize these figures were probably a lot better than they would have been if she was an unknown. A lot of people bought this album just because it was by Alizée.

A lot to due in what I percieve as it's lack of success is that it was an experiment in styles. Trying to see what her fans would like and also seeing what she would like. Now hopefully she knows in what direction she wants to go and will concentrate mainly on one style and with that I'm sure she will have much more success.

It may be a style I don't like. I hope it isn't. I'm staying very optimistic about that album. But even if it's not to my liking. All I really hope for is that she has much more success with it than she did with Psych. I hope she will be able to schedule a concert in Paris and not have to worry if enough people will show up. I think that would make her very happy and that's very important to me. She has brought way more enjoyment into my life for me to expect anything more on my part from her.

[wildfire]

Originally Posted by ALS

Add me to that list also.

BTW I'll always be younger than her dad.

Think of yourself as her dad's younger brother! DOH!!

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

It's really pretty simple what I'm trying to say. If someone comes out with an album and there are very good songs on it. People will find out about them. This the age of the internet. Word spreads overnight to countries thousand of miles away.

Yeah but Youtube has become the passive napster. It makes illegally music much more accessible to the file-sharing illiterate. Especialy now that people are strapped for cash, they re less likely to buy albums if they can just listen to it on youtube and even organize playlists. there's no revenue generated except from the ads that I think only youtube gets. remember the music is posted by users.

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

I'm just tired of people saying there were so many great songs on Psych and they have nothing to show to back that up. There were disappointing sales figures in France, two cancelled concerts, poor chart postitions and you have to realize these figures were probably a lot better than they would have been if she was an unknown. A lot of people bought this album just because it was by Alizée.

I don't know Scruffy, I respect your opinion and even agree with it at some level, but I think its too limited. Disappointing sales for the album were aggravated by the growth of youtube since her last album.. essentially a free stream of her content. Plus there's the economy. The poor sales charts was probably aggravated by the poor promotion for her album. Similar reasons contributed to the canceling of her concerts. Would her album have done as well as MCE if these setbacks weren't present? Probably not, but it would have done better. Literally the era of CD died between her albums.

However I think you gotta give Alizee credit for being bold enough to do something unique. She didn't rest on her laurels. She left the comfort zone of being a prodigy and created something she saw as her own. Mylene provided not just professional guidance but also a fan base (mainly the gay dudes with disposable income for all of the Alizee swag!) and she pretty much gave up on that to do what she wanted. She also remained tasteful and professional, and private. Thats unheard of in this world, with the few exception like Moby with his recent album. And in that respect, yes, I got the album "just because it was by Alizee".. pretty much the same reason why I get Moby's music. I like having their music grow on me because its a sincere attempt on their part, not just some market researched "product"

[lefty12357]

There’s been a lot of discussion about why the Psych era wasn’t better received in France, and a lot of good points have been made by everyone. But there is one other area to consider. Alizée had a three year period in which to hone her artistic skills to really “wow” everyone and take it up a notch. But how much artistic growth did Alizée demonstrate when she came back? Her first live singing performances were not even up to her old standards. She could have learned an instrument, written some lyrics, developed her dancing abilities to a higher level, or most importantly, worked to improve her live vocal skills. Any one of these things could have really made a difference in the fans’ perception of her growth as an artist, because I think fans were expecting more from her. Some say Psych didn’t “wow” enough people. Or is it that Alizée herself didn’t “wow” enough people? Yes, the diehard fans bought it, but this is also about holding onto old fans as well as winning over new ones.

Can you imagine if Alizée walked out on stage with an acoustic guitar, playing and singing PLP? I know I would have been blown away. Or if she had nailed her first live vocal performances? Or really danced? I have no doubt she could have done it, or indeed any of the other things I mentioned, and her added effort and skills would have been greatly appreciated. The most valuable contribution MF/LB may have made to Alizée is to make her work hard on her craft. Having said all that, I think her vocal performances in the studio for Psych were really good, and in all other aspects she presented herself quite well. Personally, I like the album a lot.

So now we are approaching the release of her new album. She has chosen yet another group of people to work with. But one cannot improve oneself by only changing the people that surround you. You can change the music, the writers, the musicians and the team, but Alizée is still at the center and the focus of attention. I hope she has personally upped the anti somehow. It’s impossible for her to be any more beautiful, but it’s certainly possible for her to add something more to her performance.

I am not criticizing Alizée by saying all this, and I’m not being negative. It’s her career and her decisions and she can obviously do whatever she wants. And I’m not ignoring the hard work she has put in. I’m simply saying some of it may have been concentrated in the wrong place. She once said its 50% appearance, 50% music. I think her percentages are a bit off. Looking beautiful, fashionable and having an adorable personality only goes so far for so long. She has the talent, but she also has room for artistic growth. I hope she has put more effort into improving her own abilities, and not just relying on her “surroundings” , marketing or "image" to do the job.

And with that, I will say that I am anxiously awaiting her new album. I want nothing more than for this to be a huge success for her, because I consider myself a dedicated fan. I wouldn’t say any of this if I didn’t care. And most of all, I want her to be happy. And I think she will be happy if she wins over the French public again, even if it takes a lot of hard work on her part.