"Respire" is one of

Mickey 3D Mickey 3D is a French rock group from Montbrison, Loire; it was founded in 1997 when Mickaël Furnon alias ''Mickey'' and Aurélien Joanin alias ''Jojo'' parted from the local group 3Dk. They have fronted for the group Louise Attaque, which ha ...

's most popular songs. Released in March 2003, it met success in France, Belgium and Switzerland. Like many

French rock French rock is a form of rock music produced in France, primarily with lyrics in the French language. French rock was born as early as mid-1950s, when writer, songwriter and jazz player Boris Vian wrote parody rock songs for Magali Noël or Henr ...

songs the topic is about a controversial and realistic subject, in this case, the environment and its destruction.

Lyrics and music

The text of the song addresses a "kid" to alert him about the state of the world that adults will leave to him. The first part of the song deals with the story of humans' arrival on Earth and their disturbance of the whole balance of nature. The second part imagines the future of people if they continue to do so (referring to the disappearance of

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. O ...

, animals and even

genetic modification Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

because of

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

) and how the "kid" will try to explain to his grandchildren why he did nothing to prevent it. The third part concludes with a declaration on the selfishness of humans and leans more towards

pessimism Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is "Is the glass half empt ...

Music video

The music video was produced as an

animated feature These lists of animated feature films compiles animated feature films from around the world and is organized alphabetically under the year of release (the year the completed film was first released to the public). Theatrical releases as well as ...

, co-directed by Jerôme Combe, Stéphane Hamache and André Bessy. It represents a little girl running in what is believed to be nature, before discovering little by little it is actually a synthetic nature, reconstituted in a studio.

Awards and chart performances

In France, "Respire" won two

Victoires de la musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

in 2004 : one for the best song of the year, the other for the best music video. It was charted for 25 weeks on the French singles chart. After a beginning at #26 on March 29, 2003, it climbed to #12, its peak position, that it reached again in its ninth week. It remained for six weeks in the top 20 and 15 weeks in the top 50,"Respire", French Singles Char
Lescharts.com
(Retrieved July 13, 2008) and was eventually certified

Silver disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the SNEP. In Belgium (Wallonia), the single went to #35 on April 5, 2003, and climbed until reaching #6 in its fifth week. Thereafter, it almost kept on dropping on the chart and totalled eight weeks in the top ten and 18 weeks on the chart (top 40)."Respire", Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Char
Ultratop.be
(Retrieved July 13, 2008) In Switzerland, "Respire" featured on the chart for 16 weeks (from April 13 to July 27), 11 of them in the top 50, with a peak at #10 on May 18."Respire", Swiss Singles Char
Hitparade.ch
(Retrieved July 13, 2008)

Track listings

; CD single # "Respire" — 3:45 # "Chanson de rien du tout" — 2:49 # "Respire" (club 80) — 3:45 # "Respire" (music video) — 3:45

Charts and sales

Peak positions

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Respire 2003 singles Mickey 3D songs Environmental songs 2003 songs Virgin Records singles EMI Music France singles