Search - Zazie :: Zizanie

Fresh French pop with concerned lyrics

Sandy | Brussels, Belgium | 02/06/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

""La Zizanie" is her 4th album. She is now established among the singer songwriters that matter in France. Her trademark is playing with words and expressions, which makes her lyrics difficult to translate literally.The three singles released so far have got a lot of airplay. "Rue de la paix" is an upbeat utopian song about peace, commercial equity and ecology: "I'm selling everything I own against everything I'm missing, I'm selling what can be bought against what's priceless. I'm selling what I'm worth against what I value most and if it's not worth a dime, I will give everything away to build up an hotel on Peace Street (...) I'm buying a world where everyone wins." The dance track "Adam et Yves" is about homosexuality: "which love is ideal, who's normal? They go from parties to failures, always glamorous. Yet they've been to war to dare to love each other in daylight". In the tender ballad "Sur toi", she explains to her loved one: "You don't write you're not missing anything, that you're happy, that everything is fine. That's why I don't write about you". Instead she writes about what bothers, hurts or scares her without sounding heavy or dark thanks to the well produced and often danceable music and the humor she can bring to the lyrics.For example, the vicious circle of domestic violence and lack of love depicted with half words in the fragile ballad "On éteint" (One turns the light off), or women rights in "Aux armes citoyennes". The bouncy "Tais-toi et rap" (shut up and rap) is a song about becoming someone and taking your future in your hands even if you're coming from a disadvantaged area. The song destroys the cliché 'immigrants (mainly Algerians, Turkish, Moroccans in France) equals non-schooled youth imitating American hip-hop culture'. It is an answer to the insecurity feeling exploited by Right Extremists. Other danceable tracks are "Danse avec les loops" (just released on single), portraying young people clubbing culture as their only evasion from a life they do not control, "La Zizanie" and "Cheese", about Star System and today's cult of personalities: "Is my skirt short enough to hope show bizz opens its doors to me (...). Is the frame becoming the center of our world rather than what we have inside? (...) Say Cheese, I know that image is stronger and takes the full page". "La fan de sa vie" is about building up your life around your favorite singer or actor. "You're the fan of his life, there is a bunch of love hanged on your bedroom walls (...) You're a fan and you'll be until the day you'll see that love is not for sale but for living it". Zazie goes introspective in the ballads "Qui m'aime me fuit" (Who loves me avoid me) and "Si j'étais moi" (If I were me), a song about the difficulty to accept yourself. "Dans la lune" (In the moon) is a dreamy ballad about escaping the problems inherited from previous generations.Easy to listen to, but mature and thoughtful: a recommendable artist."

Interesting French pop

G. DeRome | Greendale, USA | 08/21/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While living in Europe I have been searching for music that goes beyond the pop mold. Believe me, it is pretty hard to find. This disc is an exception: well-written interesting music that is NOT a Celine Dion clone. If you are looking for some beautiful French female vocals with interesting pop/rock arrangements, check this one out...."