If you're looking for young-sounding French pop by a female singer, Alizée is the more credible option--and that's certainly no bad thing; anyone who can give us a song as amazing as "J'ai pas vingt ans" is a popstar I have a lot of time for (and speaking of Alizée, she's back as well--check out the lead single for her upcoming non-Mylene Farmer assisted album over at Into The Groove). However, I have to admit I'll probably always (well, at least for the near future) have an interest as well in Lorie, the more bubblegummy, less credible, and yes, more cheesy of the two. Anyone who can create as fantastic a pop song as "Fashion Victim" is someone worth having around (and the dancey "On chante" is great as well, among some of her other good songs--I'll really have to post that at some point)! She's back now, releasing a new single in the lead up to her fifth studio album, and, though it's not going to change the world, I really like it.Je vais vite--like most of Lorie's songs, this is pretty much straight-up danceable pop, though maybe with a little electronic influence. It opens with noise from an airplane (helicopters and airplanes in the beginning of songs: always a good sign!) and proceeds into a nice chorus that's a little bleepy but far from minimal. It also throws in some piano, spacey sound effects, the word and sound "beep," noise from the people on the plane, and strings, all the while keeping that pop-with-some-dance-and-electronic-stuff core. Basically, it's catchy and makes me wish I knew French to sing along with it. I wouldn't argue by any stretch that it's a revolution in Lorie's sound, but I do think it's slightly more grownup-sounding (not that that really matters to me), thought from what I've heard (I don't have all her albums) I think Rester la meme included a little growing up as well; I think that's certainly what she's trying to do with her sound, anyway (it's obvious even down to the new image she's gone with for this era).
Lorie's fifth album 2lorenmoi (which I've also seen written as 2lor en moi) isn't out yet (it's due out November 19), but you'll be able to order it from here (physical).
Speaking of French singles, here's a mini-update on some artists I like or have written about:
Nyco has wisely gone with "Paura," one of his album's stand-out tracks, as the second single. Has he had much success so far? If not, I don't see this turning around, but that'd be a shame.
Nâdiya of "Tous ces mots" (which I wrote about last year) and "Roc" has a new single for a new album; it's called "Vivre ou survivre" and marks somewhat of a changed sound; I'd say it's more Eurodance-influenced (thought it's not really that Eurodance-sounding; the hard beats just remind me of that). Sadly, at the first few listens, I'm not all that impressed--maybe I want it to be faster or something. Still, I'm hoping I change my mind later; I still listen to and love "Tous ces mots," which is this fantastic aggressive '80's-sounding pop song that should soundtrack The Fast and the Furious--if those movies deserved a song that good. The chorus of "Vivre ou survivre" just doesn't feel hooky to me yet. There's a montage video to listen to it on YouTube if you want to. I think you're just better off listening to "Tous ces mots" below, though. If you don't think Nâdiya is an ace popstar by the end of this video, something may be wrong with you.
Oh, what the heck--here's the video for "Roc" as well. The song isn't as strong as "Tous ces mots" mainly because it feels more pasted together, but watching the video somehow manages to make you completely forget that and feel like you've been swept into a huge cheering stadium at the best '80's revival ever (even better is that the song itself actually contains those crowd noises, which alone pretty much make it amazing)--and really, I love it and think it's fantastic (though not as good as "Tous ces mots"), though I know it's not really all that strong a song. I guess it's sort of a song that gets by on sheer attitude and craziness.
(By the way, I keep seeing references that imply that she's shouting "Roc" as in "Rock" as in "Rock n Roll," and they could be playing on that, but I think--though I could be wrong--it's actually referring to a rock as in a stone--lines like "solid like a rock" make me think so, at least.)
I think there was someone else I wanted to write about here, but I've forgotten now--I'll mention it tomorrow or later if it comes to me.
Next up: look, two days without posting a Swedish song! Which probably means I won't be able to resist and I'll go back to Sweden tomorrow. Or maybe another Lorie song. Or Nâdiya.
