"Gabriel" is a 2005 song recorded by
French artist
Najoua Belyzel
Najoua Belyzel (born Najoua Mazouri December 15, 1981 in Nancy, France) is a French pop rock/electronic singer of Moroccan descent.
Biography
Najoua was born in Nancy, France and grew up in a large family with three sisters and two brothers ...
. It was her debut
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
from her album ''Entre deux mondes... en équilibre'', on which it is the sixth track, and was released in November 2005. It achieved great success in Belgium (Wallonia) where it topped the chart, and in France. To date, it is Belyzel's most successful single in terms of peak positions and sales and can be deemed as her
signature song
A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...
.
Song information
The music, written by Najoua Mazouri and composed by Christophe Casanave, is a mixture of
pop and
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
. The style of voice is between
Cranberries
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry m ...
' singer
Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan ( ; 6 September 1971 – 15 January 2018) was an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. She was best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist for the alternative rock band the Cranberries. One of the most recogniza ...
(a little hoarse at times) and
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a Canadian-born French singer, songwriter, occasional actress, writer, and entrepreneur. Having sold more than 30 million records in France, she is ...
(rise in acute notes and singing on the breath). The lyrics are poetic ("Que ton âme se jette à l'eau dans mon corps océan", "Zéphyr"...) and there are several play on words ("Gabriel, s'attend (Satan) à plus qu'un sentiment...", "Qu'il en soit ainsi ("Ainsi soit-il (Amen)", ...).
The phrase "Es-tu fait pour lui, es-tu fait pour moi ?" was interpreted as a choice between the spiritual love for God ("Him") or the physical love for an mortal human, but it has often been incorrectly interpreted as a hesitation in a choice of sexual orientation (gay / bi or hetero).
In France, the song had a long chart trajectory. It started at number 35 on 26 November 2005, then sometimes climbed, sometimes dropped. It entered the top ten in its eleventh week and stayed in it for 17 consecutive weeks, including a peak at number three for two weeks. The song dropped slowly and totaled 36 weeks in the top 50 and 40 weeks on the chart (top 100).
["Gabriel", French and German singles chart]
Lescharts.com
(Retrieved November 14, 2008) As of July 2014, it was the 94th best-selling single of the 21st century in France, with 317,000 units sold.
Track listings
; CD single
# "Gabriel" (radio edit) — 3:35
# "Gabriel" (instrumental) — 3:34
; Digital download
# "Gabriel" (radio edit) — 3:35
# "Gabriel" (instrumental) — 3:34
; CD maxi - Germany
# "Gabriel" (radio edit) — 3:35
# "Gabriel" (instrumental) — 3:35
# "Gabriel" (blue PM atmosphere mix) — 3:18
# "Gabriel" (blue PM extended mix) — 5:04
# "Gabriel" (house mix) — 4:45
# "Gabriel" (music video) — 3:34
Charts and sales
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{authority control
2005 songs
Najoua Belyzel songs
2005 debut singles
Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles