Alizée

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Alizée
Alizée in the video clip for À Contre-courant
Background information
Birth name	Alizée Jacotey
Born	August 21, 1984 (age 22)
Origin	Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Genre(s)	(French) Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1999-present
Label(s)	Polydor
Website	(French) Moi-Alizee.com

Alizée Jacotey (IPA: [a.li.ze]) (born August 21, 1984) is a French singer. Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, she goes by the stage name Alizée — the feminine form of alizé, the trade wind.^[1] She was discovered by Mylène Farmer, a successful Quebec-born French singer, following her winning performance in the talent show, Graines de Star,^[2] in 1999. Alizée, collaborating with Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat, subsequently came up with two albums — both of which were hits in France and outside. Alizée came to be considered to be the protégée of , but since has struck out on her own.

Alizée entered the music scene in the year 2000. Since then she has released two studio albums, composed by Laurent Boutonnat and written by Mylène Farmer. Her first album was Gourmandises, which received Platinum certification within only three months of release. It was a success both in France and abroad — after it had its international launch in 2001 — earning her the distinction of being the highest selling female French singer in 2001.^[3] The album featured her most successful single "Moi... Lolita" which reached the number one spot in music charts of most countries in Europe and east Asia in which it was released. The marketing campaign around the single affixed Alizée's image as that of a seductive lolita. The album was followed up with a second studio album, Mes Courants Électriques in 2003, which was also quite successful — though not as big a hit as her debut album. Following its release, Alizée toured France during the fall of 2003, performing in 43 concerts throughout France, along with Belgium and Switzerland.^[4]

Alizée got married to fellow French singer Jérémy Châtelain in late 2003. Since her marriage she has taken a break from singing, but is slated to return with a new album soon.^[5]

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Also known by her nickname Lili, Alizée started dancing early in her life.^[6] By the age of four, she became quite proficient in it. A year later, she enrolled herself in Corsica's renowned dance school, Ecole du Spectacle de Monique Mufraggi, and received her training there till she was 15.^[7]

In 1995, at the age of eleven, she won a coloring competition organised by Air Outre Mer, a former French airline now partly acquired by Swissair. Her design won first prize and ended up being reproduced on the cabin of one of the airline's aircraft. The aircraft was subsequently named after her and for her efforts, Alizée won a trip to the Maldives.

In 1999, she appeared on the TV talent show "Graines de Star", broadcast on Métropole 6.^[2] She initially intended to sign up for the programme's dance contest. However, the dance category was reserved for groups only. Alizée therefore participated in the singing category instead, performing the song Ma Prière. She went on to win the "Meilleure Graine" award for most promising young singing star of tomorrow.

Her winning performance was seen by veteran French pop diva Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat, who were looking for a young, fresh voice to partake in their new project. They approached Alizée and she was selected after studio auditions. The duo architected her debut with a meticulously orchestrated launch, controlling her image and public appearances. In 2000, they produced her maiden album, Gourmandises which was a great success in France. The first single was Moi... Lolita, which set the tone of the album, portrayed Alizée as a Lolita who was capable of "melting the hearts of the local male population".^[3] She returned with a follow up album, Mes Courants Électriques, in 2003. This second album was also quite successful, though not to the same extent as Gourmandises. It was followed up with a live album of her countrywide tour.

[edit] Personal life

Even though the albums have portrayed her in a sexy, lolita-like image, Alizée had a "squeaky-clean public image as the perfect teenager" during her teens.^[3] Described as a very shy and a reserved person, she likes performing in front of audiences.^[8] Although she has a singing career, Alizée prefers dancing,^[8] and is quite proficient in classical dance, jazz, ballet, tap and flamenco.^[9] Alizée also likes football.^[10] She is a supporter of AC Ajaccio (Corsica), and was once invited to kick off one of their matches.

Alizée is actively involved in charity work through Les Enfoirés, a group of French celebrities who organize fund-raising concerts every year. The proceeds from these concerts go to Les Restaurants du Coeur. The organization, set up by French comedian Coluche, helps feed the poor. Alizée participated in these concerts in 2001 and 2002.

Alizée married fellow French singer Jérémy Châtelain, whom she met at the Eurobest awards function in 2003. They were married on November 6, 2003 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The couple had their first child on April 29, 2005 — a girl they named Anny-Lee (Annily). She currently resides in Paris, France.

[edit] Career

Alizée debuted in the year 2000 with the album Gourmandises. It went on to become a hit both in Europe and outside. It was followed up with a studio album in 2003, Mes Courants Électriques, and a live album — Alizée En Concert — in 2004.

Following her marriage in late 2003, Alizée has taken a hiatus from singing and has avoided appearing in the media since. Her first television appearance since then was on MTV France on February 18, 2006.

Alizée has sold more than five million albums throughout Europe. She has taken part in various stage shows and live performances throughout Europe and Russia. She has also starred in a Japanese commercial.

[edit] Gourmandises

Alizée in the video for her debut single Moi... Lolita, from her first album.

• Audio sample (file info) — play in browser (beta)

Alizée made her debut with the single, Moi... Lolita, her most successful to date. It enjoyed success throughout most of Europe and parts of east Asia, reaching the number one spot in music charts of most countries it was released in. Indeed, Alizée's image was that of a seductive Lolita character, referring to the novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The video for the single, which incidentally was the first to be filmed on her, showed Alizée as a village girl visiting a night-club.^[11] The song was later used in the UK trailer of the 2006 film, A Good Year.

The single was from her debut album, "Gourmandises", which translates to "Delicacies" in English.^[12] The album, written by Farmer and composed by Boutonnat, sold over 1,300,000 copies in France. It went Platinum in just three months. In 2001, the album, most of whose songs featured "risqué lyrics", was launched internationally, and she became the highest-selling female French singer in 2001.^[3][13] The album went on to sell over 4 million copies worldwide.^[14] Farmer and Boutonnat kept a tight rein how the album was marketed and controlled the image in which Alizée was portrayed. In the mean time, Alizée gave very few interviews, and even when she did, they did not stretch beyond 20 minutes per journalist. Neither did she agree to any photoshoots.^[3]

Her second single L'Alizé, also from the same album, followed soon after. It was also successful in hitting number one in France, and gained some success internationally. The video of the "sexily alliterative"^[3] song shows Alizée amidst soap bubbles against a pink backdrop singing about herself. The video was shot in a studio in Brussels — which had a 25 metre by 10 metre painted canvas to serve as the background — with real bubbles.^[11] This single was followed up with another single from the same album - the title song, Gourmandises. The video, which shows a gang of young boys and girls out on a picnic, was shot in a day.^[11] The last single from this album was Parler Tout Bas, which deals with the theme of dreams and aspirations.

[edit] Mes Courants Électriques

Alizée in the video for J'ai Pas Vingt Ans, taken from her second album.

• Audio sample (file info) — play in browser (beta)

In 2003, Alizée returned with her second album "Mes Courants Électriques", or "My Electric Currents" in English translation.^[15] With the release of this album, she changed her image from a 'Lolita' to that of a more toned-down teenager. This album was also written by Farmer and Boutonnat. While it had some success in and outside France, this second album — featuring English versions of four tracks — was not as well received as her first one, Gourmandises. It sold over 400,000 copies in France.

The first single from this album, J'en Ai Marre — also known as "Mon Bain de Mousse" in Japan — was released in 2003. The video for this shows Alizée in a transparent plexiglass cage, singing while having water splashed on her. For purposes of the video, the plexiglass cage, 3 meter by 3 meter in dimension, was constructed in a Parisian studio - where the shoot continued for two days.^[11] An English-language version of this song, titled I'm Fed Up, was also released and featured almost similar visuals for the music video.

The other singles from this album were J'ai Pas Vingt Ans and À Contre-courant. Like J'en Ai Marre, J'ai Pas Vingt Ans also had an English version. The video for this song resembles the ambience of a concert with Alizée dancing in the midst of a lot of other dancers.^[11] À Contre-courant, the last single from this album, was shot in an abandoned coal factory.^[11] Unlike the other two singles, there was no English-language rendition of this song.

[edit] Alizée En Concert

Alizée performing Hey! Amigo! during a concert, from her live DVD.

Following the release of her second studio album, Mes Courants Électriques, Alizée went on a countrywide tour of France — along with a performance each in Belgium and Switzerland — during the fall of year 2003. The tour started off with a performance on August 26, 2003 in Paris, France.^[4][16] It concluded with her performance on the eve of January 17, 2004 at the Le Zénith concert hall in Paris and had covered major cities including Lyon, Rouen, Lille, Grenoble and Dijon, among others.^[4]

A live CD and DVD, titled "Alizée En Concert" — comprising of selected performances from her tour — was launched a year later in the fall of 2004.^[17] The audio CD contained tracks, taken from her two studio albums. The DVD featured video footage of the same performances as on the CD, along with bonus footage of her rehearsals.

[edit] Future

Alizée's message for the fans.

Since Alizée took a break from the music business, there was no confirmed official word regarding her comeback for almost 3 years. Her official site has been down since the summer of 2005. Since then, many rumors had surfaced, many of which eventually turned out to be false.

After almost two years of fan speculation, on April 3, 2006, a handwritten message, signed Alizée, was received by the webmaster of the fansite Le Nid d'Alizée, stating that she is working on the third album. Translated into English the message is as below.

Hello everyone!

Just want to let you know that I am currently in the studio...
The new songs are great!!
Kisses and I'll see you very soon!
I promise

Alizée 31 March 2006

On July 7, 2006, the show Le JT de la musique on French TV channel "Europe 2" reported that Alizée has separated from her former producer and song writer Mylène Farmer and is now working on her third album. It was also reported that the lyrics of the new album are being penned by Jean Faulques. Her husband, Jérémy Châtelain, is also associated with the album. He has since confirmed this information in an interview.^[5]

[edit] Critical response

Despite marketing hype and commercial success, there were mixed critical responses to the launch of Moi... Lolita, Alizée's first single. The critics felt that the similarity in style to that of Mylène Farmer was too striking. Some felt that her Lolita image overshadowed her singing prowess—described as "desperately trying to be sexy", and many were ready to write her off.^[21] Still, to others Alizée appealed because of her deep voice, and her ability to "demonstrate her impressive vocal range", a trait for which she is often praised.^[22] Some of her songs have been described as "sweeping, atmospheric ballads" whose "melodies are so sparkling and beguiling", and into which Alizée manages to "squeeze more emotion than the usual pop package".^[23][24] Alizée's two albums include a wide range of songs, from catchy pop tunes to soulful ballads. Radio France Internationale featured Gourmandises as their CD of the week, stating "The ten songs on Alizée's debut album, Gourmandises (Goodies), have all been expertly manufactured by the Farmer hit-machine. Sweet syrupy pop ditties are wrapped in silky synths, violins and catchy techno beats and judging by the success of Alizée's sexily alliterative second single, L’Alizé, the Farmer team have hit upon a winning formula."^[3]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Year	Cover	Title	Chart Positions[25]
			Austria	Belgium	Finland	France	Germany	Italy	Spain	Switzerland	Poland	Greece	Hungary
2000		Gourmandises	40	7	26	1	27	27	22	27	13	27	23
2003		Mes Courants Électriques	-	9	-	2	26	29	-	13	-	27	90
2004		Alizée En Concert	-	-	-	38	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

[edit] Singles

All the released singles have a music video associated with them. In addition, a video for the song Amélie M'a Dit was released, for the promotion of Alizée's live album Alizée En Concert, even though it was not released as a single; for its promotion, a video of the song featuring a collection of clips from Alizée's performances in her tour was used.^[26]

[edit] DVDs

• Alizée En Concert (2004)

[edit] See also

• Alizée Search
• List of French singers

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Alizée

• Alizée's Official Site (Currently unavailable, archived version)
• Alizée at the Open Directory Project (suggest site)
• Alizée at the Internet Movie Database
• Alizée at Last.fm
• Alizée Fanpage