ma folie, mon envie, ma lubie, mon idylle

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This is perhaps my biggest recent surprise: I had only the dimmest awareness of Vanessa Paradis' pop career, but it transpires that not only is it still going, it's really very good. This is 'Divine Idylle', the single off her new album Divinidylle, which I only discovered after being commissioned to review it.

It reminds me most of Paris Hilton's album - not just the breezy soft rock music or the way Vanessa somehow makes her inability to sustain a note for more than a second seem like a strength (their voices really are very similar! we should have noticed this when Paris came out!), but there's a (WILDEAN) decadence to the lightness, in the way both Paris and Vanessa wrap themselves up - gild themselves - in their charmingly inconsequential vignettes. Key quote from the Paradis wikipedia entry: "They divide their time between houses in the Hollywood Hills and their farm in the South of France, and also own apartments in Paris, Manhattan and an island in the Bahamas."

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

A few years back I held a vague grudge against Vanessa for taking Johnny Depp 'off the market'. This is a pretty little song though.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha when I remarked in my office that I had to review this album, I'd barely finished the sentence before a female colleague piped up with "she's a FUCKING BITCH". also for "a few years" - make that NINE years! that is a v long time!

also dude omg 'HEARTBROKEN' IS AT NUMBER TWO! IN THE POP CHARTS! BASSLINE! NUMBER TWO!

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Indieline more like. Also being used by the BBC to advertise pretty much all of their services. AND EVERYTHING ELSE!

oh oh did you go to T2 on Friday?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ha yes I did but I LEFT BEFORE T2, aargh.

(was hungover from port shenanigans the previous night, aware of having to be functional on Saturday, had awesome time dancing to old-skool Sunship/Warrior Queen garage set - omg, Warrior Queen, most taleneted woman in Britain - then a load of grime MCs* who were really awesome...until they ran out of ideas and got boring. So I left. And have never ever ever in my entire life been as cold as on that journey home.)

(I assume he will come back now though, what with all this success!)

*one of whom was a 15-yr-old called Chipmunk who was sighted stashing his SCHOOL RUCKSACK under the DJ's decks before going on stage!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Kids on the corner were playing it out of their phones earlier this afternoon - but can it topple People's Leona?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

NOW WILL THEY TICKY???

[fathands.livejournal.com]

It's pretty damn indie, are you coming down with something?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

It is sweet sweet pop, anything which sounds this much like Paris cannot be indie!

(It might be chanson. I don't really know v much about chanson though.)

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, erm, I think 'chanson' is pushing it for this!

Vanessa's voice hasn't changed, and I still find her annoying but this may be for the reasons Kat outlines above! Like the song but not her vocals which are WAY INDIE.

Lemon Bagel Surfers

[koganbot]

Paradis had a U.S. album in the '90s that was terrible I'd ever heard (her version of the Velvet Underground's "Waiting For My Man" is one of the worst things I have heard in my life), but she has a Taxi song ("Joe Le Taxi"?) that I like quite well. Other than that, I know little about her, except I saw her in a movie once where I recall her acting well even though it was stupid and French.

Johnny Depp was once being interviewed in Smash Hits when he was still on 21 Jump Street or whatever it was called and he was asked what the name of his favorite group was and then Smash Hits wrote "We couldn't quite hear his response but we think he said, 'The Lemon Bagel Surfers.'" (In other words, he'd said "The Butthole Surfers" and Smash Hits decided they couldn't print that name.)

Re: Lemon Bagel Surfers

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Joe Le Taxi' is the only thing I'd known by her, it's not very like this.

Re: Lemon Bagel Surfers

[damnspynovels.livejournal.com]

there was that be my baby song from the v early 90s when she was hanging out with lenny kravitz too.

Re: Lemon Bagel Surfers

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'Be My Baby' is excellent.

Re: Lemon Bagel Surfers

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

her worst song is the one where she is actually singing about Lenny Kravitz. argh.

Little Peggy Bagel Surfers

[koganbot]

OK, finally now got a chance to play this; I like the "I Will Follow Him" rhythm (Lex, listen to it); I don't think Paradis's singing has nearly the presence of Paris's; but her dancing is great, total casual here I am lifting and moving my arm. And I quite like the song, a nice rock-pop thing. Not sure what I'll end up thinking, the barely voiced voice w/ the bubblepop. But I think it works, though I'm still skeptical I could listen to her for an entire album.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Divine Idylle is really lovely- I heard it a lot when I was on holiday with my parents this summer. It made me think of a not-shit version of The Pipettes, not to mention the lyrics are absolutely adorable.