Post by davidhr on Oct 5, 2010 11:15:14 GMT -5
Lara’s whirlwind tour of Montreal took place this past week, and it had to have fulfilled all her expectations. With some 10 TV and radio shows, numerous articles in the press (including several big magazine layouts, with some rather sexy pictures), Lara did all she could in the allotted time to tie herself back to that country that she proclaims she loves above all others. And in general her deep affection was returned; you could see the hosts adored her, and why not: she’s articulate, friendly, humorous, and clearly was extremely happy to be there. And, as fans pointed out, much more at ease with the media than she is anywhere else. It’s not as if the press has always been 100% in her corner in this country, but she’s apparently forgotten that, as whatever criticism she has experienced at their hands pales in comparison with the beating she’s taken in the French press. This is therefore ‘safe’ territory for Lara, and she acts that way, including answering questions that she will not address elsewhere.
So, what have we learned from all the open-hearted discussion that we’ve been shown? [And, BTW, we’ve gotten to see Lara’s appearances primarily through the efforts of Christina, who is due a big, big thank you for her tremendous efforts to collect the material and make it available to Lara’s fans as quickly as possible. Thanks also to larafabiannews.com and larafabianweb.com for organizing the various videos/articles, and of course to all of Lara’s Canadian fans for their help in obtaining it. Lara’s on-line fans may not be the most numerous, but they certainly are dedicated!]. An attempt at a summary is provided below, combined into general categories:
***TLFM: Lara acknowledged that TLFM got some poor reviews in France, but she placed them in the context of her trying to modernize the sound of older French songs by utilizing Simone Climie as the producer, incorporating rhythm and blues elements, etc. The implication: that the French are too stuck in the mud to accept more up-to-date approaches to their beloved songs, but the Canadians wouldn’t be. We’ll find out if that is true, but some of the (few) on-line reviews, and the reaction of the hosts, seemed to suggest a greater appreciation of Lara’s attempt.
Lara was asked whether the DVD “TLFM font leur show” would be available in Canada, and she suggested it would depend on how well TLFM itself did. She also indicated she would like to see TLFM1 (made with Canadian artists) released there as well (probably dependent upon the same issue, record sales).
***Possible concerts in Canada and elsewhere: When asked whether the ‘Toutes les femmes en moi’ concert tour will come to Canada, Lara said it, too, depends upon how well the album sells. When asked about Brazil, Lara acknowledged her success there, admired the country for its beauty, and yet admitted she hadn’t been back for 10 years. When this subject arose previously, she has said she needed to have enough of a guaranteed advance sale for any concert tour to justify it.
Herein lies the problem for Lara: she expects the record sales to justify her tours (at least outside of France and Belgium), whereas many other performers have the opposite expectation: they imagine the tours will generate the interest and record sales. In Lara’s case one difficulty lies in the size of her show – with something as extensive as this past tour (or even that of ‘Un regard neuf’), she needs big venues and a large audience to make it economically feasible. Even in France she couldn’t always get that. In lieu of this, she goes places (like to Israel) with just a pianist and guitar player and performs ‘acoustically’. Ideally she should have an ‘in-between’ show, which would be able to sell out medium-sized houses economically, and yet not be a bare-bones operation. Otherwise she will continue to perform tours (as opposed to individual shows) only in France and Belgium, and now, perhaps ‘the countries to the east’.
It was reported that Lara will be appearing in China and perhaps ‘Asia Minor’ next January, though for what exactly was not made clear. Maybe as part of the ‘Mlle Zhivago’ push.
***Her US career and singing in English: When asked, Lara justified her foray into the English language by saying it was part of her heritage (her grandfather was from Detroit) and to her it was second nature. Furthermore, given the wide-ranging utilization of the language, it was key to her performing and selling records all around the world. When asked why she, in effect, gave up on her attempts to win over the US, she said, in so many words, that it was destroying her soul with its commercialism, extreme scheduling, the conflicts with Sony/Columbia, attempts to remake her into a ‘dance music’ singer, etc. All this was undoubtedly true – and it may be more than just a coincidence that she got sick in conjunction with working on her second English language album. And she did try to some extent – appearing on the various US television shows to publicize the album. But, without reliving past history, what she didn’t do (or say in the interviews) was that she never scheduled an American tour, where prospective fans could hear her first-hand. And this gets back to the problem noted above, about expecting results prior to touring. She would have had to work to build the career in the States, and perhaps by this stage of her life, after her successes in Canada and France, and with her ‘soul weakened’ by those American influences, she no longer had the drive for it.
She was also asked about EWIM and Lara replied that it was inspired by the reaction she got to singing some of those songs in concert. She then preceded to downplay it: the one-take piano voice recording was not originally meant to be an album, and it was not yet available commercially. [Actually, since FNAC sells it, that’s not really true]. As has been suggested here previously, it would be a good way for her to introduce herself to the rest of Canada. Perhaps the possibility of its release might actually get a boost if Mlle. Zhivago revives Lara’s English language career.
***Her family: When asked if Gerard was the man of her dreams, Lara did not say yes. She said he was her companion, and she hoped they would take the long path of life together. A very honest answer (from someone whom one would not expect anything less). Fans suggested that 10 years ago Lara would have thought whomever she was with was her lifetime soul mate, but experience has shown her that those enthusiasms are often misplaced.
Both in this case and with respect to Lou, Lara answered all the questions straightforwardly – quite a change compared to her replies in France, which are basically of the nature of ‘I don’t discuss my personal life’. Another example of how she doesn’t feel threatened in Canada. She described her pregnancy and Lou’s (9 kg) birth as the only time in her life she felt beautiful. She indicated that she would not push Lou into being a singer, but would not discourage it either. She even went so far as to show the interviewer pictures of Lou. As for a second child, she doesn’t know whether there will be time for it.
Lara never missed the opportunity to say that out of all the women in her life, her mother was the one she admired the most, that her mother is there for both Lara and Lou, that she has a great voice, and, importantly, she has a lightness of bearing that Lara (who is often caught up in dramas) still needs to learn.
***Her past and future life in Canada: As far as the past is concerned, Lara indicated that she has now cleared everything up with Rick Allison, it having been achieved ‘with dignity’. Fans noted that when she spoke of him, there was affection in her eyes. A happy ending, and, who knows, maybe an ultimate musical reconciliation somewhere downstream (after all, Simon and Garfunkle have performed together again…☺ ). At the same time, Lara acknowledged that she is further diminishing her Canadian footprint, having sold her home there. When asked if she would ever move back, she indicated a great desire to, but much later in life, perhaps after Lou finishes her studies. She repeatedly indicated the need to be near her parents in Belgium, and the need to work in France – despite her distaste for that country (Paris, in particular), a fact that continually irritates her French fans.
***Lara and Celine Dion: The Canadian media was understandably very interested in Lara’s ‘letter’ to Celine in the TLFM album. The fact that Lara admired her, and thought of her as a ‘secret friend’ was then compounded when Lara said it was her dream to perform a duet with her. Fans reported that these statements got a mixed response from Celine’s fans on her website – but they were certainly newsworthy, and to the Canadian media, very unexpected! When asked if she could have taken Celine’s path (to greater commercial success) she said she made some choices that turned that possibility away from her (presumably associated with her U.S. career).
***Her health: Lara caused an inadvertent media blip by describing her ailment in 2004 as a tumor in the liver, without emphasizing that it was benign. She then had to issue an apology and clarification. She repeated what she has said in the past, she felt it was the result of too much anger on her part, and she had to face that in herself in order to be cured.
***Mlle. Zhivago: Lara expressed great happiness about the public reaction to her in Russia and the ‘countries to the east’, and implied that she felt this album was going to be very successful. She was also, as usual, quite complimentary about Igor Krutoi.
From her comments, and the written articles, it seems more likely that the Mlle. Zhivago film will be released next year, not in association with the album’s release (still scheduled for later on in October). Lara also noted that the film would have no dialogue, just music, which solves the problem of the intended audience. It then comes across as more like ‘Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, except that it is a series of episodes connected only by the implied reincarnational continuity of the female lead. However, it also therefore resembles a set of music videos, just a greatly elaborated step away from the DVD released with ‘Neuf’. Not an easy marketing job for a cinematic release.
***Live performances: Lara did very little singing on this trip; the only live videos we have available are the four from “les midi de Vero” (9-29-10) and the full song from “Salut bonjour” (10-1-10).
After watching all of this, one gets the impression that if Lara were to settle down in Montreal, she could straightforwardly raise herself back up into being one of the pre-eminent entertainment personalities. She is just that good with the media in this country. However, after this series of week-long ‘one-night stands’, Lara’s Canadian ‘circus’ (as one host referred to it) is now over, she has gone, who knows when to return.
In other news, the ‘best of’ release has been pushed back to mid-November. Rumor has it that as an additional enticement, it will also include the live DVD ‘TLFM font leur show’. And that in mid-January there will be another release, this time of ‘TLFM font leur show’ in combination with TLFM1. Were that to happen, it would imply people would have to buy the DVD twice to get all three components. The rumors also suggest that Lara will announce this at her TV appearance tomorrow on ‘dans l’universe de…’ At least in this case, the fans present at the show will let us know whether that part is true. Note that while the taping will be tomorrow, the broadcast date of the show may not be for several weeks.
Lara is also supposed to be present on the weekly musical variety show ‘Chabada’, next Monday or Tuesday on France 3. The several TV appearances in close proximity certainly suggest she is in the promotion mode in France, presumably for the ‘best of’ release. How this will play for the French media is questionable; one can certainly imagine their rejecting this new disc the same way that some of them did for the album of reprises, wanting something new. [And one last time: I wonder how Lara feels about a ‘best of’ disc if it indeed does not include Adagio, Broken Vow, etc…]?
David
So, what have we learned from all the open-hearted discussion that we’ve been shown? [And, BTW, we’ve gotten to see Lara’s appearances primarily through the efforts of Christina, who is due a big, big thank you for her tremendous efforts to collect the material and make it available to Lara’s fans as quickly as possible. Thanks also to larafabiannews.com and larafabianweb.com for organizing the various videos/articles, and of course to all of Lara’s Canadian fans for their help in obtaining it. Lara’s on-line fans may not be the most numerous, but they certainly are dedicated!]. An attempt at a summary is provided below, combined into general categories:
***TLFM: Lara acknowledged that TLFM got some poor reviews in France, but she placed them in the context of her trying to modernize the sound of older French songs by utilizing Simone Climie as the producer, incorporating rhythm and blues elements, etc. The implication: that the French are too stuck in the mud to accept more up-to-date approaches to their beloved songs, but the Canadians wouldn’t be. We’ll find out if that is true, but some of the (few) on-line reviews, and the reaction of the hosts, seemed to suggest a greater appreciation of Lara’s attempt.
Lara was asked whether the DVD “TLFM font leur show” would be available in Canada, and she suggested it would depend on how well TLFM itself did. She also indicated she would like to see TLFM1 (made with Canadian artists) released there as well (probably dependent upon the same issue, record sales).
***Possible concerts in Canada and elsewhere: When asked whether the ‘Toutes les femmes en moi’ concert tour will come to Canada, Lara said it, too, depends upon how well the album sells. When asked about Brazil, Lara acknowledged her success there, admired the country for its beauty, and yet admitted she hadn’t been back for 10 years. When this subject arose previously, she has said she needed to have enough of a guaranteed advance sale for any concert tour to justify it.
Herein lies the problem for Lara: she expects the record sales to justify her tours (at least outside of France and Belgium), whereas many other performers have the opposite expectation: they imagine the tours will generate the interest and record sales. In Lara’s case one difficulty lies in the size of her show – with something as extensive as this past tour (or even that of ‘Un regard neuf’), she needs big venues and a large audience to make it economically feasible. Even in France she couldn’t always get that. In lieu of this, she goes places (like to Israel) with just a pianist and guitar player and performs ‘acoustically’. Ideally she should have an ‘in-between’ show, which would be able to sell out medium-sized houses economically, and yet not be a bare-bones operation. Otherwise she will continue to perform tours (as opposed to individual shows) only in France and Belgium, and now, perhaps ‘the countries to the east’.
It was reported that Lara will be appearing in China and perhaps ‘Asia Minor’ next January, though for what exactly was not made clear. Maybe as part of the ‘Mlle Zhivago’ push.
***Her US career and singing in English: When asked, Lara justified her foray into the English language by saying it was part of her heritage (her grandfather was from Detroit) and to her it was second nature. Furthermore, given the wide-ranging utilization of the language, it was key to her performing and selling records all around the world. When asked why she, in effect, gave up on her attempts to win over the US, she said, in so many words, that it was destroying her soul with its commercialism, extreme scheduling, the conflicts with Sony/Columbia, attempts to remake her into a ‘dance music’ singer, etc. All this was undoubtedly true – and it may be more than just a coincidence that she got sick in conjunction with working on her second English language album. And she did try to some extent – appearing on the various US television shows to publicize the album. But, without reliving past history, what she didn’t do (or say in the interviews) was that she never scheduled an American tour, where prospective fans could hear her first-hand. And this gets back to the problem noted above, about expecting results prior to touring. She would have had to work to build the career in the States, and perhaps by this stage of her life, after her successes in Canada and France, and with her ‘soul weakened’ by those American influences, she no longer had the drive for it.
She was also asked about EWIM and Lara replied that it was inspired by the reaction she got to singing some of those songs in concert. She then preceded to downplay it: the one-take piano voice recording was not originally meant to be an album, and it was not yet available commercially. [Actually, since FNAC sells it, that’s not really true]. As has been suggested here previously, it would be a good way for her to introduce herself to the rest of Canada. Perhaps the possibility of its release might actually get a boost if Mlle. Zhivago revives Lara’s English language career.
***Her family: When asked if Gerard was the man of her dreams, Lara did not say yes. She said he was her companion, and she hoped they would take the long path of life together. A very honest answer (from someone whom one would not expect anything less). Fans suggested that 10 years ago Lara would have thought whomever she was with was her lifetime soul mate, but experience has shown her that those enthusiasms are often misplaced.
Both in this case and with respect to Lou, Lara answered all the questions straightforwardly – quite a change compared to her replies in France, which are basically of the nature of ‘I don’t discuss my personal life’. Another example of how she doesn’t feel threatened in Canada. She described her pregnancy and Lou’s (9 kg) birth as the only time in her life she felt beautiful. She indicated that she would not push Lou into being a singer, but would not discourage it either. She even went so far as to show the interviewer pictures of Lou. As for a second child, she doesn’t know whether there will be time for it.
Lara never missed the opportunity to say that out of all the women in her life, her mother was the one she admired the most, that her mother is there for both Lara and Lou, that she has a great voice, and, importantly, she has a lightness of bearing that Lara (who is often caught up in dramas) still needs to learn.
***Her past and future life in Canada: As far as the past is concerned, Lara indicated that she has now cleared everything up with Rick Allison, it having been achieved ‘with dignity’. Fans noted that when she spoke of him, there was affection in her eyes. A happy ending, and, who knows, maybe an ultimate musical reconciliation somewhere downstream (after all, Simon and Garfunkle have performed together again…☺ ). At the same time, Lara acknowledged that she is further diminishing her Canadian footprint, having sold her home there. When asked if she would ever move back, she indicated a great desire to, but much later in life, perhaps after Lou finishes her studies. She repeatedly indicated the need to be near her parents in Belgium, and the need to work in France – despite her distaste for that country (Paris, in particular), a fact that continually irritates her French fans.
***Lara and Celine Dion: The Canadian media was understandably very interested in Lara’s ‘letter’ to Celine in the TLFM album. The fact that Lara admired her, and thought of her as a ‘secret friend’ was then compounded when Lara said it was her dream to perform a duet with her. Fans reported that these statements got a mixed response from Celine’s fans on her website – but they were certainly newsworthy, and to the Canadian media, very unexpected! When asked if she could have taken Celine’s path (to greater commercial success) she said she made some choices that turned that possibility away from her (presumably associated with her U.S. career).
***Her health: Lara caused an inadvertent media blip by describing her ailment in 2004 as a tumor in the liver, without emphasizing that it was benign. She then had to issue an apology and clarification. She repeated what she has said in the past, she felt it was the result of too much anger on her part, and she had to face that in herself in order to be cured.
***Mlle. Zhivago: Lara expressed great happiness about the public reaction to her in Russia and the ‘countries to the east’, and implied that she felt this album was going to be very successful. She was also, as usual, quite complimentary about Igor Krutoi.
From her comments, and the written articles, it seems more likely that the Mlle. Zhivago film will be released next year, not in association with the album’s release (still scheduled for later on in October). Lara also noted that the film would have no dialogue, just music, which solves the problem of the intended audience. It then comes across as more like ‘Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, except that it is a series of episodes connected only by the implied reincarnational continuity of the female lead. However, it also therefore resembles a set of music videos, just a greatly elaborated step away from the DVD released with ‘Neuf’. Not an easy marketing job for a cinematic release.
***Live performances: Lara did very little singing on this trip; the only live videos we have available are the four from “les midi de Vero” (9-29-10) and the full song from “Salut bonjour” (10-1-10).
After watching all of this, one gets the impression that if Lara were to settle down in Montreal, she could straightforwardly raise herself back up into being one of the pre-eminent entertainment personalities. She is just that good with the media in this country. However, after this series of week-long ‘one-night stands’, Lara’s Canadian ‘circus’ (as one host referred to it) is now over, she has gone, who knows when to return.
In other news, the ‘best of’ release has been pushed back to mid-November. Rumor has it that as an additional enticement, it will also include the live DVD ‘TLFM font leur show’. And that in mid-January there will be another release, this time of ‘TLFM font leur show’ in combination with TLFM1. Were that to happen, it would imply people would have to buy the DVD twice to get all three components. The rumors also suggest that Lara will announce this at her TV appearance tomorrow on ‘dans l’universe de…’ At least in this case, the fans present at the show will let us know whether that part is true. Note that while the taping will be tomorrow, the broadcast date of the show may not be for several weeks.
Lara is also supposed to be present on the weekly musical variety show ‘Chabada’, next Monday or Tuesday on France 3. The several TV appearances in close proximity certainly suggest she is in the promotion mode in France, presumably for the ‘best of’ release. How this will play for the French media is questionable; one can certainly imagine their rejecting this new disc the same way that some of them did for the album of reprises, wanting something new. [And one last time: I wonder how Lara feels about a ‘best of’ disc if it indeed does not include Adagio, Broken Vow, etc…]?
David