"Égal" (also known as "Egal" and "Ça m'est égal" ( French for "I Don't Care")) is a song by French singer

Amanda Lear Amanda Lear (; born 1939) is a French singer, songwriter, painter, television presenter, actress, and former model. She began her professional career as a fashion model in the mid-1960s, and went on to model for Paco Rabanne, Ossie Clark, and ...

released in 1981 by

Ariola Records Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomera ...

as the single from her album ''

Incognito Incognito is an English adjective meaning "in disguise", "having taken steps to conceal one's identity". Incognito may also refer to: Film and television * ''Incognito'' (1937 film), a Danish film * ''Incognito'' (1997 film), an American crime ...

''.

Song information

The song was composed and produced by Anthony Monn, Lear's long-time collaborator, and is a downtempo pop track arranged in the style of

chanson A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

. The lyrics, written by Amanda Lear in French, tell about a relationship breakup and are directed at a man who has left her

broken heart Broken heart (also known as a heartbreak or heartache) is a metaphor for the intense emotional stress or pain one feels at experiencing great and deep longing. The concept is cross-cultural, often cited with reference to unreciprocated or lost ...

ed. The singer reveals that now she has got over him and is ready to move on with her life. On its parent album, where every song stands for a " deadly sin", "Égal" represents pride. "Égal" was released as the single in spring 1981 to promote the album ''Incognito'', with "If I Was a Boy" as the B-side on most releases. In France, the song was billed as "Ça m'est égal" and included "Made in France" on side B. The French single also had a different covert art, sporting a photo of Amanda taken by her husband Alain-Philippe Malagnac. The song was also recorded in Spanish as "Igual" and released as the single in Spanish-speaking territories, backed with a

Spanglish Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is mos ...

version of "Nymphomania". The song only met with a minor success in Germany and was Amanda's last chart entry in that country.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the track was filmed in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, in a famous coffeehouse

Café de Flore The Café de Flore () is one of the oldest coffeehouses in Paris, celebrated for its famous clientele, which in the past included high-profile writers and philosophers. It is located at the corner of Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue Saint-Beno ...

, located at the corner of Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue Saint-Benoît. It pictures Amanda Lear at the table in the outdoor sitting area on the ground floor, smoking a

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Mar ...

cigarette and writing a letter to her ex-lover.

Track listing

*7" Single (1981) :A. "Égal" – 4:08 :B. "If I Was a Boy" – 4:10 *French 7" Single (1981) :A. "Ça m'est égal" – 4:08 :B. "Made in France" – 2:10 *Spanish 7" Single (1981) :A. "Igual (Égal)" – 4:06 :B. "Ninfomanía" – 3:12 *Chilean 7" Single (1982) :A. "Igual" – 4:03 :B. "Hecho en Francia" – 2:10

Chart performance

References

{{Amanda Lear 1981 singles 1981 songs Amanda Lear songs Ariola Records singles French-language songs Songs written by Amanda Lear Songs written by Anthony Monn