Alizйe - 2007-11-14 - Interview - Mademoizelle.com.flv FLV - 11m38s - 155 MB (162 829 694 bytes) French transcript by Needles - English translation by Cooney subtitle version 1.0
Just after the interview, the truth about the Tinkerbell tattoo. Real, or photoshopped?
But before that
A little aside that we liked (and which we want to share with you, viewer)
Pretty damn cool, eh Mademoizelle?
- You like them? - Yeah
Nothing more needed, yes?
I'm not who you think!
- Hi Alizee - Hi
How have you been since we last saw you?
Very well, very very well
So it's been 2 year... 3 years
- Yes, 3 years - Since you completely departed from the spotlight
- In the meantime, you've had a baby, a little girl - Yes
- Named Annily, if I'm not mistaken - Yes
With your lover, Jeremy Chatelain, whom everybody knows.
So why did you take this break, was it something you needed?
Yes. After four intense years of promotion
Moving around, I was always in foreign places too, so I had to take a break
To take a look at what I really wanted to do, to make the most of my family, all that
And to ask myself if I really knew what I wanted to do with the future, and the 3rd album, how it was going to be.
So, I took some time for myself, then I took two years to make the album.
Have you had to struggle against the Lolita persona?
- No - It hasn't been necessary to break away from that persona?
No, more than anything, to take a step back and understand what I really am, and what I really want. Voila.
In fact, I don't regret anything. I don't have any regrets.
Mostly proud to have done what I did, to succeed in creating something
To have sold so many discs, to have been able to meet people in concerts, my travels, all that.
So no, in fact I think that it's just an evolution.
When one is 15 years old, we have fun dressing up like or doing certain things like people that we really aren't.
We let ourselves wear those things, be guided, it works well, voila
And then it's true, when 20 years old arrives, one says "Good, now I have to do something that is a bit more like me"
- Yes, that's certain. And when you had your baby, you were 21 years old, right? - 20 actually
- 20 years old, that's way under the average French age for having your first child - Yeah
Was it an objective in your life to take the opportunity of your time off to have a baby?
As a matter of fact, since I was very young I've told myself that I wanted to have a baby early.
Then I have this break, all that... I did want it.
It's not that we were trying, it just happened naturally. It turned out well because it's what I've wanted for so long: to be a young mother.
My mom had me young, so I saw the same in store for me. It's really good to have a young mother when one is 23 years old.
How did you find the energy to throw yourself in to an album project after such a long break?
Really, a desire to discover things, simply. To meet people, learn different work styles
I want that, I need to feed upon many things, and that built bit by bit the mock ups, the recording, all that.
We came to it little by little, and then after we had a taste we said to ourselves "There it is, we can re-become what we were before."
How do you foresee the release of an album today at 23 years old, in relation to when you were 15 or 16 years old? Is it different?
When one is 15 or 16 years old, I think that we don't entirely understand it, really.
One doesn't think about it much, one let's it - one sees that the album sells well.
At the same time, everything was given to me on a silver platter for the most part, because Mylene was busy working on my behalf. I had the good luck to work with her, all that.
And now, as I am producing my own album, it's not the same thing.
There's more apprehension, because one is less protected
One finds oneself alone in the face of trouble, but at the same time, one is delighted to be able to give something more natural and more true.
Yes, it would have perhaps been less "you"
Absolutely, yes, a bit less. Like the song "Moi Lolita" had been written before I had come on the scene and appropriated it for myself.
It was a role we had to play
But now, if there are things I don't like, I can nix them.
If there are things I like, I can fight to defend them you see. They're not the same.
You are well served by your fantastic success to now be able to do what you like.
Voila. Now it will either work or it won't work, but either way, I can make the album that I've dream of, really.
- Since Psychedelices is your first album created without the assistance of Mylene Farmer - Yeah
- We can officially say that you know the entirety of it. There are a pile of guest artists who have worked with you - Yes, there are lots of people
Can you tell us about them quickly, because they are quite varied
I'm not certain this watchers of MademoiZelle are familiar with them all
There's Jean Fauque, who wrote I believe 7 texts, practically all of them
He was the writer for Alain Bashung. He's done lots of things, but is best known for his Alain Bashung works.
There's Jeremy Chatelain, who composed the music and who co-produced with Sylvain Carpentier.
There's Bertrand Bergalat, who composed a song for me about my daughter, written by Jean Fauque.
Perhaps Bertrand Bergalat is a bit better known for his work with Christophe Wilhem
He wrote for Christophe Wilhem, but the public at large really doesn't know him.
Still, he is a big name in musical circles.
There's Oxmo Puccino, who's a French rapper and poet
Who wrote me two songs
Whose body of work everybody knows
Between Kore & Skalp at the time, and Rai'n'B, all that. He's one of the biggest French R'n'B producers right now.
- And then there's Daniel Darc - There's Daniel Darc too
Who got his start with Taxi Girl in the 80's, with Mirwais.
Mirwais now works with Madonna, and Daniel Darc, who's dedicated himself to his solo career
Who did an album, who was recognized on "Les Victoires de La Musique," Crevecoeur, all that
With his companion Frederic Claude, who composes Daniel's songs, and who composed songs for me, for which Daniel wrote the lyrics.
What a group? How did you convince so many diverse people to work together?
In fact, I had the idea that I wanted to make a very different album, full of different types of sounds.
To find out if the others were interested, we simply went to see them, knocked on studio doors, and met them at concerts.
Since they had good impressions of me before hand, and it was a challenge for them
I said to them "Now I'm producer for my own album, do you want to share the adventure?"
That went over quite well.
It was always a very familial atmosphere, very simple, and always put everybody at ease.
We were there to make music. Voila, very simple.
- Good, Alizee, you're quite a "MademoiZelle" eh? - Yeah... MademoiZelle Juliette!
- Will you tell us a bit about your fashion? - Yes
So, what will Alizee look like for Fall-Winter '07-'08?
Really, I'm a big fan of clothes. I spend all my money on clothes, one could say.
In fact, I asked myself the question of if in the photos, if in the music videos
I would again play a role as far as my clothes, or if I would wear exactly the clothes I like?
I wanted to wear something new, I really want in the videos and photos to wear things that I love
But which I would wear in my daily life, in the street.
So I wanted to create something good, something "me," and which young women my age could find for themselves as well.
And so there are lots of sneakers, because I like sneakers
I think it's refreshing, you see - a bit bubblegum pop, with a freshness, skirts...
I have a period corset in the video, a real corset, wasp-waisted, like this
But yeah, it's a little bit of all that.
I try to inject a little bit of current fashion, but without making it distinctly dated
Things that will not have become unfashionable in 10 years, much less in 6 months
- Ok, you've got a background of toys behind you - Yes
They're a passion?
I love them! It's perhaps my childish side showing through.
I love all things Japanese, I find them really interesting.
There are those who have collections. Me, I have one at my house
And also in my video are I believe these three here, but big versions, much larger.
- Two meters, eh? - Yeah! No, one meter.
- You've brought sneakers too? - Yes, my favorite sneakers
Oh, here are some, already on
Here's a pair I had made for me, I chose the colors in fact
I chose them on a website where one can personalize one's shoes, and choose everything
How they make the interior of the shoe, the interior of the sole, the color of the swoosh, the color of the leather, the laces, voila.
It's something I like because it's unique. Now everybody stops me in the street and asks me "Where do you buy those?"
I say "They're unique, I had them made!"
And then there's this other pair, which was given to me for my birthday. They're a limited edition.
One either likes shoes or one doesn't. Me? I love them.
There's a little design here. Normally, the interior has the design, but because this is a limited edition, it has this one too.
In fact, the same person who did the toys did this too.
That's how it is with limited editions.
- And your t-shirt here, where does it come from? - Citadium 9,90 Euros!
- Well, thank you Alizee - Thank you
- Good luck with the release of your album - I'm crossing my fingers
- We'll cross ours for you too. See you soon! - See you soon. Ciao!
- Is it a real tattoo, the Tinkerbell tattoo? - Yes
No shit? My hat... Where's my microphone? Ah, there.