''Mes Courants Électriques'' (English: ''"My Electric Currents"'') is the second studio album by the French singer
Alizée
Alizée Lyonnet (''née'' Jacotey; born 21 August 1984), known professionally as Alizée, is a French singer, dancer and musician. She was born and raised in Ajaccio, Corsica.
She first became known with her winning performance in the talent s ...
, released on 18 March 2003 through
Polydor
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
. Unlike her previous album, which was entirely in French, this album has English versions of four of its songs. As with Alizée's first album, the entire production was the work of
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 ...
(Lyrics) and
Laurent Boutonnat
Laurent Boutonnat (born 14 June 1961) is a French composer and film and music video director, best known as the songwriting partner of Mylène Farmer and the director of several groundbreaking music videos.
Career
Born in Paris, Laurent Bouton ...
(Music), but this would be the pair's last work with Alizée.
Unlike Alizée's earlier album, this album was customised for different markets, with slightly different contents. The French version did not contain any English versions of any of the tracks, whereas the international version included four English language renditions. The Japan version refers to "
J'en ai marre!
"J'en ai marre!" (English: "''I'm fed up!''") is a song performed by French singer Alizée, written by Mylène Farmer. Released in February 2003, the song is Alizée's fifth single as the lead artist, and was the first song from her second studio ...
" as "Mon bain de mousse". In Taiwan and Hong Kong, and other traditional Chinese spoken parts of Asia, this album was launched as a two-CD set, along with an
Enhanced CD
Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both Compact Disc and CD-ROM players.
Formats that fall under the "enhanced CD" ca ...
not playable on DVD/VCD players, featuring videos of "
Moi... Lolita" and "
J'en ai marre!
"J'en ai marre!" (English: "''I'm fed up!''") is a song performed by French singer Alizée, written by Mylène Farmer. Released in February 2003, the song is Alizée's fifth single as the lead artist, and was the first song from her second studio ...
"
Background
''Mes Courants Électriques'' was released on 18 March 2003 two years after her previous album ''
Gourmandises
''Gourmandises'' (English: ''Delicacies'') is the debut studio album by French recording artist Alizée, released worldwide on 13 March 2001 by Polydor Records. It was certified double platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographiq ...
''. Released on the
Universal Distribution
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a t ...
label this was the last album recorded on this label, and was seen as the album to reinforce Alizée's international career, being a guest star on many TV shows around the world, but it was focussed on the Asian market, as she visited Japan in 2003 and was the spokesperson for many Japanese products. In this album Alizee was showing she is growing. ''Mes Courants Électriques'' tones down some of the overt sexual themes of her debut album, but retains the energy. ''Mes Courants Électriques'' was digitally mastered using
24-bit
Notable 24-bit machines include the CDC 924 – a 24-bit version of the CDC 1604, CDC lower 3000 series, SDS 930 and SDS 940, the ICT 1900 series, the Elliott 4100 series, and the Datacraft minicomputers/Harris H series.
The term SWORD is ...
s technology and follows the libertine philosophy of her mentor,
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 ...
.
Promotion
For the promotion of the album, Alizée traveled around the world performing in different places.
After the Gourmandises success, the singer returned to France to promote her second studio album. The first single extracted from the album was "
J'en ai marre!
"J'en ai marre!" (English: "''I'm fed up!''") is a song performed by French singer Alizée, written by Mylène Farmer. Released in February 2003, the song is Alizée's fifth single as the lead artist, and was the first song from her second studio ...
", officially released in February 2003. The single was made available in music stores as well as radio stations. To promote the single, Alizée appeared on the French radio station, ''
NRJ
NRJ (NRJ is an acronym read as Nouvelle Radio Jeune, or ''énergie'' in French, pronounced , literally "energy") is a private French radio station created by Jean-Paul Baudecroux and Max Guazzini in June 1981, and was widely popularized than ...
'', the video for the single was released for broadcast on March, though it was made available on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and many other TV channels. It was released on physical media, both CD and vinyl, on the same month.
After the release of the single came in total success playing in all radio stations and in TV shows, ranking in the top charts of many countries.
Another track from the album, "
I'm Fed Up!", the English version of the first single, in Asia was released with the name "
Mon bain de mousse" was leaked one month before the album was released. Though the song was not mentioned by name, the leak was confirmed in a press release which revealed the title and release schedule of the album. For that moment, Alizée was preparing her trip to
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
where the album was more focused in the Asian market. In Japan, she performed in many TV shows for the promotion of album, gave many interviews to the press of the country, and was the spokeswoman of many Japanese brands. After her return to France, she arranged the release of the second single of album
J'ai pas vingt ans
"J'ai pas vingt ans" (English: "I'm Not Twenty") is the sixth single by Alizée, released in June 2003. The single featured, in addition to the solo version of the song, an instrumental version as well as "I'm Fed Up!", which is the English version ...
and
I'm Not Twenty (English version of the single). The music video was released for the single, and for the promotion of the single and the album she performed at the
Tour de France
The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...
2003 in the official event show in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Following the success of the album, Alizée continued performing around Europe, kept promoting her album, and released her seventh single and the third and last of the album called
À contre-courant
"À contre-courant" (English: "Against the current") was released on 7 October 2003. It is the seventh single by French singer Alizée. It featured the single version of the song as well as " I'm Not Twenty", the English version of " J'ai pas vingt ...
. She then announced her first tour called the
En Concert Tour. Alizée keep promoting her tour and her last two album, which stayed on top of the charts.
Singles
"
J'en ai marre!
"J'en ai marre!" (English: "''I'm fed up!''") is a song performed by French singer Alizée, written by Mylène Farmer. Released in February 2003, the song is Alizée's fifth single as the lead artist, and was the first song from her second studio ...
" is the first single of the album. Released in February 2003, it had the single version of the song followed by an instrumental version. Later on three remixes were made available in special editions of the single. Internationally, it was released as "I'm Fed Up!". In
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, it was released as "Mon bain de mousse" ("my foam bath") along with a music video and a remix version of the song. "
J'ai pas vingt ans
"J'ai pas vingt ans" (English: "I'm Not Twenty") is the sixth single by Alizée, released in June 2003. The single featured, in addition to the solo version of the song, an instrumental version as well as "I'm Fed Up!", which is the English version ...
" is the second extract of the album, released in June 2003. The single featured, in addition to the solo version of the song, an instrumental version as well as "
I'm Fed Up!", which is the English version of "
J'en ai marre!
"J'en ai marre!" (English: "''I'm fed up!''") is a song performed by French singer Alizée, written by Mylène Farmer. Released in February 2003, the song is Alizée's fifth single as the lead artist, and was the first song from her second studio ...
". The English version of "J'ai pas vingt ans" is "I'm Not Twenty". "J'ai pas vingt ans" was remixed by
Benny Benassi
Marco "Benny" Benassi (; born 13 July 1967) is an Italian DJ, record producer and remixer. He is widely seen as a pioneer of electro house, a genre brought into the mainstream by his 2002 summer club hit " Satisfaction".
He started his career ...
. "
À contre-courant
"À contre-courant" (English: "Against the current") was released on 7 October 2003. It is the seventh single by French singer Alizée. It featured the single version of the song as well as " I'm Not Twenty", the English version of " J'ai pas vingt ...
" is the third and last single of the album, was released on 7 October 2003. It featured the single version of the song as well as the English version of "
J'ai pas vingt ans
"J'ai pas vingt ans" (English: "I'm Not Twenty") is the sixth single by Alizée, released in June 2003. The single featured, in addition to the solo version of the song, an instrumental version as well as "I'm Fed Up!", which is the English version ...
", "
I'm Not Twenty". Maxi CD of the single, released on 12 November 2003, included 3 remixes and the radio edit of the single.
Critical reception
Track listing
Personnel
*
Alizée
Alizée Lyonnet (''née'' Jacotey; born 21 August 1984), known professionally as Alizée, is a French singer, dancer and musician. She was born and raised in Ajaccio, Corsica.
She first became known with her winning performance in the talent s ...
-
Vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
&
Backing Vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
*
Laurent Boutonnat
Laurent Boutonnat (born 14 June 1961) is a French composer and film and music video director, best known as the songwriting partner of Mylène Farmer and the director of several groundbreaking music videos.
Career
Born in Paris, Laurent Bouton ...
&
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 ...
-
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
,
Lyrics
Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...
&
Costume
Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people.
The term also was tradition ...
* Jean-Jacques Charles & Jean-Philippe Audin -
Orchestra Director
A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the di ...
* Ann Calvert -
Backing Vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
(C'est trop tard)
* Bernard Paganotti -
Bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
* Henry Neu -
Design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...
* Loïc Pontieux & Mathieu Rabaté -
Drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
* Paul van Parys -
Executive Producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
* Philippe Bouley -
Guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
* Jérôme Devoise & Vincent Chevalot -
Mix
Mix, mixes or mixing may refer to:
Persons & places
* Mix (surname)
** Tom Mix (1880-1940), American film star
* nickname of Mix Diskerud (born Mikkel, 1990), Norwegian-American soccer player
* Mix camp, an informal settlement in Namibia
* Mix ...
Charts
Certifications and sales
Release history
References
External links
Chart Information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mes Courants Electriques
2003 albums
Alizée albums
Polydor Records albums