''Voila'' is the seventh studio album by the American singer
Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Jo Carlisle ( ; born August 17, 1958) is an American singer. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist.
Raised in ...
, released in 2007. It was Carlisle's first studio album in over a decade, and is a covers album of "classic
French chansons
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 ...
and
pop standards
Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...
",
much different from Carlisle's previous English language pop records.
The album was critically praised however did sell moderately. Although all of the songs are sung in French, many of the musicians featured on the album are Irish. The album features keyboard arrangements from
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
.
Background
In an October 2006 press release describing the album, Carlisle said "After I moved to France, I became familiar with the classic French chansons and a lot of French pop music. I realized there was a whole world of artists and singers I was not familiar with. As I discovered all these amazing songs, I came to love this music and wanted to record some of them with a playful, contemporary feel."
Describing how music can transcend any language barrier Carlisle stated, "You don't really have to know what's being sung to know that 'Avec Les Temps'
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Upon the album's initial release, a limited edition version was available with a bonus second CD featuring four additional tracks sung in English. Despite the favourable reviews, Allmusic wrote ''"... not just a rewarding detour but one of her best albums"'', in the US, the album sold a modest 3,000 copies in its first two weeks.
Track listing
Personnel
References
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2007 albums
Belinda Carlisle albums
Rykodisc albums
French-language albums
Albums produced by John Reynolds (musician)
Covers albums