If you’re still scarred by French Lesbianism because of all the spaghetti and scissoring of “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” mon petits choux, do I have the perfect salve for you. Granted, I’m not nearly the kind of person who goes around bragging about liking some artist before they were cool. I’ve never even claimed to be cool. But I do think French singer Héloïse Letissier, who goes by the stage name Christine and the Queens, is very, very cool. So cool, I actually am not sure if I’m allowed to write about her. I’m probably not cool enough.
But enough about my uncoolness, onto her infinite coolness. First and foremost, she is French, which always has that certain je ne sais quoi about it. Second, she is queer – describing herself in pansexual and possessing a post-gender swagger about her with a proven affinity for long hair, suits, tank tops and glitter. Third she just released her American self-titled debut and is touring the states. Fourth, all of her music videos are basically amazing, even if I don’t know what she is singing about half of the time. Fifth, she can dance, dammit. Sixth, but really, check out her dancing in those videos where she will remind you of a heavenly mashup of Michael Jackson, Fiest, Laurie Anderson and that one amazing modern dance recital you went to in college that totally blew your mind. And, finally, seventh, I really like her sound. Yes, all that and her music is good, too.
Drake’s dorky “Hotline Bling” dancing has nothing on Christine. Like, in this video she does nothing but sit in a folding chair (while crooning some choice Kanye West) and I was riveted the whole damn time.
So, anyway, to repeat: I am not cool, but big oui to this Christine and the Queens lady who most certainly is. Fin.
Bought it. Wish they gave you commission Snarker for all the good recommends you give here.
ReplyDeleteyou should know that the French version of her album is just as unintelligible as the English one (French native speaker here), so you can relax about not getting a word of it !
ReplyDeleteFYI the lady is rather offically dating french comedian Oceane Rose Marie (trolling dummies on their respective twitter accounts about having the same dog AND the same carpet..). She's also notice worthy, but you'd have to speak that dreaded ...
Hi. I would just like to thank you so, so much for introducing me to this artist.Generally, I ignore most music recommendations because I'm set in my ways but I love this blog and I have to say, thank you thank you thank you. I'm a gay lady from Australia whose first language is French and I pestered my sister (twin) after seeing this to watch it STRAIGHT AWAY. She is a giant gay French Aussie lady as well. All I could say to convince her was "snarker recommended it!" She was on it straight away.
ReplyDeleteThanks as always Dorothy, you are truly awesome. If you ever come down under, give us a bell!
Nathalie
Whoa. That is all. For now.
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