"Un Monde parfait" ("A Perfect World" in English) is a 2005 song recorded by French young artist

Ilona Mitrecey Ilona Mitrecey (born 1 September 1993 in Fontenay-aux-Roses, Hauts-de-Seine) (more commonly known as Ilona) is a retired French singer. Biography Ilona always dreamed of becoming a stuntwoman or filmmaker. Her parents knew an Italian music pro ...

. Based on a traditional

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...

song, it was the first

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 debut album ''

Un Monde parfait "Un Monde parfait" ("A Perfect World" in English) is a 2005 song recorded by French young artist Ilona Mitrecey. Based on a traditional Neapolitan song, it was the first single from her debut album '' Un Monde parfait'' and was released in Febru ...

'' and was released in February 2005. It was immediately a very big hit in France and Belgium (Wallonia), where it remained for several months atop of the chart, thus becoming one of the biggest-selling singles there. It was also released in many other European countries and achieved success, in Switzerland, Austria, Portugal and Germany where it was a top three hit. It was the best-selling single of the 21st century in France, with 1.5 million copies sold. Ilona was only 10 years old when she sang the song.

Background and writing

In 2004, one year after its recording in France, the single had already been released in Italy, under the name 'Très Bien featuring Ilona'. Originally, it was intended for the Italian dancefloors. During an interview, Ilona explained that, before "Un Monde parfait", she sang just for fun with her friends. She confided that she recorded "Un Monde parfait" completely by chance and she did that only for play. Her father's society had asked whether she could sing this song from Italy. As she had already sung for some advertisements, she accepted, saying to herself that it could be funny to try.

Music and video

The French charts specialist Elia Habib explains that this song "mixes an involving sonority resembling

Daddy DJ Daddy DJ is a French dance act consisting of David Le Roy and Jean-Christophe Belval. Musical career David Le Roy and Jean-Christophe Belval first met at the French sound engineering school in Paris, where Berval was teaching while Le Roy was a st ...

with a text in the spirit of a nursery rhyme". It created "the major surprise of the beginning of spring 2005". The music video is computer-animated and shows a little girl who will feature in all the other videoclips of the singles from the album ''

''. Ilona features only in the first seconds. She explained that the producers had decided to make most of the video a cartoon because it tallied well with the lyrics and that would preserve her anonymity. Ilona says in this song that when she starts to draw, she imagines a perfect world populated of technicolor flowers and animals. Six of these animals also appear in Ilona's all other music videos and on every cover of the singles from ''Un Monde parfait''.

Chart performances

In France, the single went immediately to number two on 27 February 2005 and was number one the following week, and kept this position for 15 weeks. It remained on the top ten for 28 weeks and on the top 100 for 41 weeks, so it was the longest single running in the French singles chart in 2005. It was the best selling single that year and was certified

Diamond disc The Edison Diamond Disc Record is a type of phonograph record marketed by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. on their Edison Record label from 1912 to 1929. They were named Diamond Discs because the matching Edison Disc Phonograph was fitted with a permanent ...

Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique The National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing (french: Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique; SNEP) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym ...

. According to author and expert of French charts Elia Habib, Ilona, who was 11 years old in 2005, remains "the first native of the Nineties to reach number one of the rench Singles Chart Through her age, she now appears in Record books, ecause she isthe second youngest artist to peak at the top position, behind

Jordy Jordy is a masculine given name, and sometimes a diminutive of the name Jordan. Notable people and characters with the name include: People * Jordy (singer) (Jordy Lemoine, born 1988), French singer and musician * Jordy Birch (), Canadian singe ...

(four years old)". "Un Monde parfait" was cited as the most lucrative song of 2006 at the time of a conference given by the SACEM. The song eventually became the best best-selling single of the 21st century in France, with 1,500,000 units sold. In Belgium (

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

), the single remained on the

Ultratop 40 Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...

Singles Chart from 2 April to 5 November 2005 (32 weeks), and peaked at number one for twelve weeks. It was 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 ...

and was the second best selling single in 2005, only beaten by

Crazy Frog Crazy Frog (originally known as The Annoying Thing) is a Swedish CGI-animated character and Eurodance musician created in 2003 by actor and playwright Erik Wernquist. Marketed by the ringtone provider Jamba!, the character was originally creat ...

's "

Axel F "Axel F" is the electronic instrumental theme from the 1984 film ''Beverly Hills Cop'' performed by Harold Faltermeyer. It was an international number one hit in 1985. Background The title comes from the main character's name in the film, Axel ...

". On the Swiss Singles Chart, the single went to number 16 on 3 April 2005 and reached a peak at number three on 1 May 2005. It fell off the chart after 34 weeks, on 11 November 2005. "Un monde parfait" also appeared on Austrian Top 75 Singles Chart from 26 June 2005 to 18 November 2005 (22 weeks) and reached number three for two weeks. One year later, the single made a short appearance (2 weeks) on Dutch Mega Top 100, where it peaked at number 92, on 8 July 2006.

TV performances and cover versions

Ilona very rarely did live performances, but she was coaxed into appearing on the nationally acclaimed show Hit Machine on M6, on 7 May 2005. That performance, carried out with choreography, may have sparked her subsequent success with her single "Un Monde parfait". Le 6/9, a French team, recorded a parody of this song, under the title "Un Casting parfait". This version peaked at number six on the French SNEP Singles Chart and at number 78 in Switzerland. The song was covered by

Les Enfoirés Les Enfoirés (, 'The Tossers' or 'The Bastards') is the name given to the singers and performers in the yearly charity concert for the Restaurants du Cœur The Restaurants du Cœur (literally ''Restaurants of the Heart'' but meaning ''Restau ...

on their album ''2011: Dans l'œil des Enfoirés'', and included in the medley "Un monde Parfait". The song was performed by

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 ...

Claire Keim Claire Keim (born Claire Lefebvre 8 July 1975) is a French actress and singer. Biography Keim was born in Senlis, Oise to an architect father and a dentist mother. She is in a relationship with French footballer Bixente Lizarazu, and lives in S ...

, with additional vocals from

Grégoire Grégoire is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname / Family name *Alexandre Grégoire (1922–2001), Haitian painter * Augustus Gregoire (1936–1972), Dominican cricketer *Christine Gregoire (born 1947), ...

Christophe Maé Christophe Martichon (; born 16 October 1975), better known by his stage name Christophe Maé (), is a French pop singer. Career Maé learned to play the violin at age five, and later began playing the guitar and harmonica at age 16 after he ...

Pascal Obispo Pascal Michel Obispo (; born 8 January 1965) is a French singer-songwriter. Biography Pascal Obispo, son of Max Obispo (a former Bordeaux Girondins football player of Basque origin) and Nicole Guérin (originally from Angers), was born on 8 J ...

Formats and track listings

; CD single - France ; CD maxi Universal ; CD maxi 1 Atollo / Universal ; CD maxi 2 Atollo / Universal ; 12" maxi ; Digital download

Credits and personnel

; Original version * Written by Laurent Jeanne, M. Pirolla, Domydee, R. Castagnola * Executive producer : Ivan Russo * Assistant producer : Ivan Russo and Rosario Castagnola * Produced at Studio Moneypenny (Paris) * Vocal : Ilona * Choir : Laurent Jeanne * Guitars and bass : Rosario Castagnola * Fisa : Antonio Russo * Arrangements : Ivan Russo, Domydee and Rosario Castagnola, at Studio Atollo Recordes * Mixed by Ivan Russo at Studio Atollo Recording (Neaple) ; Whistler remix / Party remix / Extended mix / Blade remix * Remix and additional production by Glasperlen-spierlern (Robert Wässer, Daniel Scholz and Kay Wittgenstein ; 72 fest & forios radio edit * Remix and additional production by P. Aliberti, Cipro and C. Piccinelli for 72trax Productions * Original editors : Universal Music Italia Srl / Atollo / Moneypenny ; Cover and design * Photo : Stéphane Gizard * Artwork : Objectif Lune * Design elements and graphique : Studio Nestor for Costume3pièces, Courtesy for Scorpio Music ; Videoclip * Produced by Stéphane Mit

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monde Parfait 2005 debut singles Ilona Mitrecey songs Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles SNEP Top Singles number-one singles 2005 songs