Album news!

At a recent press conference in Belgium, Christophe discussed his second album, which is scheduled to be released on April 16, 2009. He had some very interesting things to say about the possibility of recording in English. The original interview (in French) is here.

Some of the most interesting soundbites were as follows:

"We’re currently working on the second album… All the [songwriting] teams have been assembled. Of 14 songs, there’s about 8 that are in place, that have really taken shape."

"The people I’m working with right now are British, so we only speak in English. And we’re working with English demo's of the songs because the songwriters are anglophone. They keep telling me, "It’d be a shame if the songs were French-only, because they could work really well in English-speaking countries."

"If I were to record in English, it wouldn’t be with the intention of suddenly exploding onto the international scene. Not at all. We would release the album in French in francophone countries, regardless. That would be the main version of the album. But, we’re considering also recording an English version of the CD. Then if the French version took off, we’d have the English one ready. Because with "Double Je", especially here in Belgium, people have said it’s too bad there wasn’t an English version, because we could have brought it to people and countries that weren’t francophone."

Talk show highlites

Just a couple highlites from a cute talk show appearance. Discussing marriage proposals and learning how to drive... too funny!

Jacques A Dit - the English translation

While "Double Je" was the runaway success of Christophe’s album Inventaire, the follow-up single "Jacques A Dit" is in many ways the heart of the album.

Written specifically for Christophe by singer-songwriter Zazie, the song captures the disillusionment that we feel when we grow up and realize that adults aren’t perfect… and that they can cause us just as much pain as the children who bullied us in the schoolyard. The title refers to a children’s game similar to the English "Simon Says". Zazie uses this game as a metaphor, since 'Jacques' tells children that it’s easy to fly or to run, but when they grow up, they realize this was just a dream.



I’ve added English subtitles to the music video above. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to capture all the nuances of the original text. Zazie’s lyrics contain many double meanings and plays on words. Still, it’s a beautiful song even on a literal level.

Fête de la Musique Medley

Christophe recently performed a medley of his greatest hits at the 2008 Fête de la Musique in Paris. I think this was one of his best tv appearances ever! You can watch the performance here:



The dancers are dressed as construction workers because, as per the title of his concert dvd, Christophe is now “Closed for Renovations” as he works on his next album.

Double Je: the English translation

One of the most common questions among international fans is "what is he singing about?" In particular, many people are curious about the lyrics to "Double Je" (Dual Me), Christophe Willem’s biggest single so far.

"Double Je", written by French superstar Zazie, talks about the difficulty of defining ourselves as one single thing. As the title suggests, the singer feels there is a split in his personality, that he is several different people at once. It’s about all the different 'costumes' we try on as we’re growing up and trying to figure out what kind of person we’ll become. The music video takes the concept one step further, as Christophe enrols himself in a self-help group where he confesses his problem to a group of strangers.

I’ve added English subtitles to the music video below, so that fans can follow along with the lyrics. The translation is the best I could come up with, but please feel free to post any suggestions!



Translations of Christophe’s other songs, including “Jacques A Dit” are coming soon!