Post by davidhr on Mar 12, 2019 7:58:12 GMT -5
"Lara in album promotion mode in Europe (France and Belgium)" would be the title of this News Update, though of course La Voix is still being broadcast in Quebec. She had many interviews and TV appearances this past week (hence another long Update). Perhaps the highlight of the live appearances is an acoustic version of ‘Par Amour’, performed on ‘20h30 Le Dimanche’. She included the video link on her website, at:
www.facebook.com/20h30LD/videos/2121426081276832/
It’s also available on youtube, thanks to the Lara Fabian Bien Plus Qu'une Passion Corse-Réunion FB site, at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=evU5Ci6m50g
A really nice performance which shows that at least one of these songs can really work without the “electro-pop” inflection. Some of them may be even better that way, i.e., more true to the lyrics, and giving Lara the chance to emphasize her singing.
Otherwise, the most interesting information came from the interviews, starting first with the one in Charts in France (http://www.chartsinfrance.net/Lara-Fabian/interview-109596.html). Here’s the translation:
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Lara Fabian in interview: her new album "Papillon", Maurane, the milestone of 50 years ...
Lara Fabian is back with a new album in French, "Papillon", witness to the calm look of a woman in tune with her time. From its genesis in her home in Montreal to her memories of Maurane, through her look at the youth of the trade, an encounter with sweetness incarnate.
A year and a half after the international opus "Camouflage", here you are back with an album in French, "Papillon". Is the way you approach a disc different for you according to the language?
It's easy to get naked, precisely? To approach perhaps, through a song, a personal experience?
LF: I do not know if it's easy or difficult, but I know that's how I've always worked. This is my writing mechanism: resonate with what I feel and tell it, by finding a way to make it more universal, to depersonalize it, so that the person who catches the song can appropriate it and give it to the next. It's nevertheless the idea of music, I think. Being passed on ...
"Butterfly" is a reference to the nickname your grandmother gave you when you were a child. What memories of music do you keep of her?
LF: All the women in my family sang all the time and very well. (Smile) Grandma she was in love, as they say in Quebec, with her granddaughter. I remember the first time I really sang her a song, the emotion it gave her. I remember asking her, "But what is it that you have, why are you crying?" She said to me, " It's your voice, it’s what you tell me in your voice." I was eight years old. It was very strong for me as an experience. What she transmitted to me is the love of music. My grandma sang and she listened to a lot of classical music, she was a great lover of Maria Callas. My parents loved Nana Mouskouri, whom I loved as well. Barbra Streisand, too. And I later developed a passion for Freddie Mercury, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. There was a real influence from the women in my family, who loved the big voices, but let's say that after I came into a world that was closer to my emotions.
This new album was designed at your home in Montreal. What did your days look like?
LF: You have to imagine me with a tea in hand, in pajamas, going down to the basement ... (laughs). Frankly it was almost that! At home is a studio tinkered with some makeshift chairs, a computer, good sound cards, a microphone, an amp ... Now one can record anywhere, we do not need to press any more the red button and rent a studio for months to make an album. You can definitely do it in the basement at home. I shared my days between my role as coach in "La Voix" [the Quebec version of "The Voice", ed], my family, the recording of the album and my everyday life. It's true that it was hyper comfortable to be able to devote part of my days to writing, then make food for the team, put my little girl to bed, discuss professional projects in the late evening and go to bed in the same house! It was pretty fabulous as comfort.
What did you bring from your home in this album?
LF: The serenity that emanated there. And the simplicity with which we did things.
The songs were made in just 11 days. What does this exercise change?
LF: A way to get to the point. Even if sometimes you can bang your head on an element for hours! There is not really a recipe at the level of writing, that's what is quite magical with music. I remember a masterclass with Peter Gabriel in England, where he said it could happen to him to write three songs in one day and sometimes a song in a year. He explained that he had absolutely no control over this elasticity of time. "I do not ask myself that kind of question, I do when it's possible and when it comes. I do not justify the inspiration, I let it be". I think that's the only way to approach that. In the end, the time allotted to an album does not matter. Just because you take four years to make a record or four weeks does not mean that one is worth more than the other.
It's almost a luxury to take your time, in an industry that is constantly evolving ...
LF: I always took the time, you know. I'm never tortured with that. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it does not come. I always accepted it. I remember the song "Tout". It took me six months to finish the text, I could not write it at all. I understood why after: there was something in me that did not want to be said. And here too, you have to go into resilience and accept. But when all of a sudden some things can be said in full light and with as much clarity as some songs are appearing on "Papillon", I try not to question why. Neither to know if it is a luxury or not. I try to be just myself through this writing.
After singing "Je t’aime", you sing ... "Je ne t’aime plus" You will break hearts!
Is there a link between these two songs?
LF: Yes yes, there is one of course. (Smile) If you have listened well in the arrangement, there is a musical quote at the end on the violins.
It's a wink for your audience?
LF: Yes! "I do not love you anymore" [Je ne t'aime plus] is a song that allows us to release a love from our system, in the true metabolic sense of the term. There are love affairs that cellularly never let us go, because we loved it so much, or rather, we loved it, that we kept some stigmata. Scars. I almost want to say tics, which are triggered over other loves. And one day there is a letting go that takes place in us thanks to a form of serenity. We say to ourselves: it's time to detach. And finally we get there. For me it was my statement on this subject. But as I explained at the beginning of the interview, I very very quickly depersonalized. The only purpose of a song like this is not to empty your heart, it's to talk to everyone.
In February, I understand you were to have participated in 'Victoires de la musique'. Why did we not see you there?
LF: I had to sing "On a prelude of Bach" in tribute to my friend Maurane . But to my great regret, I fell very, very sick.
Nine months after her death, how do you manage to live her absence?
LF: That's a very good question. We do not come away from someone we love. We love her in the absence, we love her otherwise. You know, just now a reporter asked me, "You do not think she was not accompanied at the end, that she did not have the listening and the support that she wanted?" I have allowed myself not to evade his question but simply to say that, out of love for someone so much respected and so much adored, we can not pronounce on what had been. We must be in absolute respect. And even I would say in silence. Today what I live is a kind of continuous attachment and what is dotted appeared to me when I think of her. Often it happens to me to imagine her, to see her in my head. That's how I do not lose her, continuing to produce this link. But it's difficult, difficult to say that I will never hear her sing again.
This song that you shared, "Tu es mon autre", has a particular resonance in the audience's heart and yours, with regard to the friendship that unified you with Maurane. Do you remember its recording?
LF: I especially remember its writing at the time. I called her right away to tell her, "It's a song that could so carry the two of us, because it could tell so much about that part of you and me that mixes." I remember when she listened to it there was silence after ...
You thought of it as a duet from the start?
LF: It did not come right away. Musically, originally, there was a kind of melody missing but that was the third finally, all these incredible harmonic notes that Maurane was able to fetch and she alone was able to write in her voice. She is a woman with a sense of innate harmony! It's by singing the third that I said to myself "Wait, wait ... I can not sing it just me. More, that's not what she's telling." And if we told it in duo? If it was said one says it the one and the other?" And that's how "Tu es mon autre" was born, two voices.
"You will be on the road next year to celebrate your 50th birthday. Is this a number that has meaning for you?
LF: For me it's a number. (Smile) I feel good, I live it well! It's a celebration too. It's a milestone. It does not scare me. With this anniversary tour, we will tell this story in music. Audiences will be able to hear songs that have counted but also those with less commercial count but have, for fans, a real sense. And that we realize through the decades, where all of a sudden we receive a monstrous slap with a song that we would call more confidential, like "Pas sans toi ", "Je suis mon coeur", " Releve-toi" or on this album "Je ne t’aime plus"and “Par Amour”, these are the two pieces that very strongly raise the hearts and souls of people. It will be therefore a celebration of these songs that have become somehow classics and then those that have been carried by the public unexpectedly.
Are you going to sing "Tout"? You explained a few months ago having trouble taking pleasure in interpreting this one...
LF: It is true! I have no joy in singing it. And when we do not have joy to sing a title, we are not in honesty. It's not at all a question of ambitus [the course of the melodic line], because "Je suis malade" or "Adagio" have ambitus as large in terms of vocal extension, it's not the basement up there that worries me. There is something about this song that I told when I was 24 or 25 years old that I can not reiterate through real joy. Afterwards, I think there is a respect that we owe to the public on certain songs, which means that we have to find a way to reconnect with joy. (Smile) I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no, but ... you'll see!
There is a lot of talk about youthism in the music industry. Do you think it's harder for an older woman to exist in the media?
LF: What does it mean older, already? Ask Jennifer Lopez or Pink what it means to be older! We forget that these girls are 40 and over. I am not sure that it is played in the sense of the public. And even so. Has there not been at all times a desire to highlight what a young generation can offer? I mean, when Johnny Hallyday arrived at the age of 16 or 17 in the midst of heavyweights who were perhaps over 40, in a way were we not privileged? I think that all times love youth, and it's totally legitimate. There is something in the youth that re-inspires us, that revives feelings we need to feel, that transports us to a place of lightness. A woman between 17 and 25 will never sing as a woman between 45 and 50. And that's it! I do not think we can blame the industry for loving young people. Who does not love youth, who doesn’t it inspire? One can be good of one's time, be laid down, anchored, and look at this young generation by loving it so as to age gracefully. (Smile) Me, it’s what I believe.
What are you most proud of in your career?
LF: To have always been in phase with what I felt, beyond all the awkwardness that sometimes that implies. But also and especially to be still here after 30 years.
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Lara Fabian: "With Gabriel, love is not an illusion"
The singer has led her man, engineer magician, to Canada where she is a judge on “La Voix”.
The star and the conjurer ... Their story was all about a chimera that their different universes and the age difference could have quickly dispelled. But for Lara, Gabriel has put aside his sleight of hand. Happiness, he creates it without magic formula. First because he accompanied Lara in her doubts. And that he shares her victories. Since 2018, she has been part of the jury for the Canadian version of "The Voice". And she just released her 14th album, "Papillon", the nickname given to her by her grandmother. Eleven songs that encourage you to enjoy the moment. Lara says, "I learned that to be happy you have to look at life with simplicity."
LARA FABIAN “With Gabriel, love is not an illusion”
The winter ,the snow, they say they adore that…but especially the warmth in their house. Their origins predispose them to love the shade of the olive trees. The magician was born in Sicily, like Lara’s mother. It is also the isle of their meeting, in 2012. The singer travels then to Acireale as a vocal coach for a musical comedy. In the troupe, there was Gabriel. Lara didn’t notice him, immediately. But some months later, it is she who took the initiative of their first kiss. The couple married. And he cultivates “a sweet life in a healthy environment” explains Lara, on these Canadian lands that brought luck to the singer by offering her first success. She was 20 years old. Since, she has sold more than 13 million discs in the world.
Paris Match. We left you suffering from deafness. How are you today ?
Which didn’t teach you anything ...
[Read also: "My life in yours" - Lara Fabian, the resurrection]
You say "we" ... Who are you talking about?
LF: Of my family: my daughter Lou and my husband Gabriel, so welded in this ordeal, but also my professional family, all those people who revolve around me, my clan. Between my adventure here, in North America, the coaching for "La Voix", a fourteenth album and the preparation of the tour, it's a new era that begins.
Why did you move to Quebec?
LF: For "The Voice". We lived in Andalusia barely a year ago when the phone rang. It was in the middle of summer. The job started eight weeks later ... We planted a sign "for sale" in front of our house and we left hurriedly for Quebec with two suitcases each! But it was a long time since I wanted to come back. This place has always been dear to my heart.
Gabriel follows you in your adventures?
LF: I never move without him nor without Lou. I have the luck of having an extremely present husband. His family matters before all. He has his profession of engineer magician, makes his tours, but sings also in some concerts and plays the guitar. As I travel a lot, he has the capitol role of watching over my daughter. His place is very important. It brings me incredible support.
How is created the relationship between Lou and Gabriel?
LF: They immediately had an incredible connection. It is if they had been linked in another life. I have a lot of luck!
How is your family life rhythm?
LF: Very simply. I try to never leave the house for more than a certain number of hours. And when I return our daily needs take precedence. I do my shopping, I make my meals, I prepare to eat. It is very important to keep my hands on our lives, of being artisans.
After La Voix, do you count on remaining in Quebec?
LF: For the moment, yes. But it is enough that I tell you so that the telephone rings in two weeks and that one proposes to me a new adventure!
LF: For me, to be in form , it is to live completely in the present. That is what I aspire to. To run after the past or the future is very illusory.
Is it so that you imagine the approach of your 50th year?
LF: I am serene. I have never very much apprehended old age. Still less now! I begin my 50th year with so many beautiful projects. I resist the desire to say to you “I will tell you once I will be there!” [Laughs]
What meaning does this new album have for you?
LF: It is an ode to contemplation, to lightness. I have written it with a lot of gratitude. Certain themes are heavier than others,, but it is an album which is renewed with the ancient tradition that I cultivate for love songs. With “Papillon”, I would like to pose the question of what one would do if we had only 24 hours to live.
And what would you do?
LF: I would remain with my family and my friends, I would profit from life. There would surely be a guitar and a piano in a big dining room filled with nourishment and love.
This 14th opus is very pop. It is a recent desire?
LF: It’s necessary to live with one’s time, not with the one we came from. This disc is a reflection of my daily life and of the music that I listen to: Panic! At the Disc and Christine and the Queens. When my daughter returns from school, we put on these songs and we dance like two madwomen.
What did Lou think of it, precisely?
LF: She adored. The day of the release, she rushed toward me while crying: “Mama, you are number one on iTunes in France and number two in Canada! Just below Ariana Grande!” She was euphoric. I said to her that I was very lucky, actually. She responded to me, “No, it is me who has the good luck of having you as mother.” She is crazy, this kid. She is my teacher. Sometimes I look at her and I tell myself that we have put in the world some people better than us. We have the duty to protect them. She is the great gift of my existence. In the same way that this magnificent man who is my husband.
Gabriel also loved this new album?
LF: It is the one that he listens to the most in the seven years that we are together. He even spoke about it with me this morning. He had insomnia and listened to “Papillon” to put himself to sleep. He said to me: “Lara, it is a great album.” That reassured me for, as an artist, I always doubt. Then, certainly, you can think that, being my husband, he’s not going to tell me that it is nothing! But he knows to be critical.
Gabriel is the man for whom you have waited?
LF: Totally.
With Gabriel, the age difference has never been a problem?
LF: Not really. In our society, when the woman is older, people ask more questions, that's for sure. But it just depends on how it's lived. I feel very good in my body. Age is only a number. I am with a young guy of 36 who is not with a girl of 50 years, but with the woman he loves. And it turns out she was born fourteen years before him.
Did the question arise, with Gabriel, of having a child?
LF: Yes. But it did not stay.
How do you raise your daughter?
LF: With respect and loyalty. Every evening, before going to bed, I make her do a list of three things that have made her happy in the day. So that she goes to sleep full of positive thoughts.
Do you do it equally yourself?
LF: I am more into thank you.
What thanks did you give last night?
LF: I have had a very dense week, I have seen little of my family. Then I was thankful for having been able to cook and dine with them. And then I was also thankful for the beautiful returns that I have had on our album, and, finally, for my health.
Why does Lou inspire you so much?
LF: She is a sunny child. She gets up from bed in good humor. She cooks while singing, leaves for her ballet course skipping. She loves life. Sometimes she gets up, looks at me and says to me: “Thanks mama, what a beautiful day!" She is free in her head, and that, that is priceless.
Is it that she would love to follow your tracks?
LF: Lou is an artist, that’s sure. But she is especially passionate about baking. She has already made for us layered cake and pancakes in the morning. Sunday she’s busy with brunch. She is a child in action.
What do you want for the future?
LF: That Lou continues to grow serenely, and that my story of love with Gabriel be the one of a life. I hope also to write my music for a long time still. I have the feeling of being useful to others with a simple song, from the moment when it does good.
How would you sum up at this stage?
LF: I am a woman in her skin, in contact with her inner child, lover of her family and of life.
You are in peace with everything, today?
LF: We all have small pebbles in our shoes. I have a mother who is very sick. She suffers from a neurodegenerative illness. In these sad moments, I’ve learned not to tinker with my pain, because it is useless. But I must admit that it is the unique part of my life where the word “combat” applies. As soon as I see a health problem, I look him straight in the eyes and say: “No, outside!”
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One of Lara’s charms is that she really allows people to get to know her, as in this amazing interview.
A partial interview with Lara is available from tetu.com/2019/03/07/lara-fabian-interview/?fbclid=IwAR1hg6lI6OcqKZ2W1y0BfKBc7Al-RzEWQs4xfhwiY-XAhF1A-s8jA2H5DQs, translated below:
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Meeting with Lara Fabian: "Since my childhood, I have always lived with the gay community"
En savoir plus sur tetu.com/2019/03/07/lara-fabian-interview/#qs0Epo6suvRKBLyG.99
[PREMIUM] In early February 2019, a flu prevented her from promoting her new album, "Papillon", before its release. A month later, TÊTU finally met Lara Fabian. An artist engaged for a long time against homophobia, with disarming sincerity. Interview.
There are interviews that we do without particular expectations. Surely for fear of being faced with a machine too well oiled, policed and tasteless responses. Lara Fabian could be one of those artists too lazy to exercise. Even unconsciously, the lackluster image that she gave to the TV of the 1990s and 2000s (Thierry Ardisson and "The Guignols" in mind) still permeates the idea that one can have of her. With bursts of laughter, thoughtful answers and disarming sincerity, the Belgian-Canadian singer exploded all the clichés we could have about her. We went back shaken, and lightened of a lot of misconceptions.
We met her for the release of "Papillon", published on February 8th. A new album that coherently mixes the singer's voice with an electro ethereal. This is her first in French since 2015. Her album "Camouflage", released in 2017, was in fact entirely in English. Lara Fabian is also a coach at "La Voix" (The Voice of Quebec). The singer came back for us on the impact of "La Difference" and "Deux Ils, Deux Elles", her two songs about homosexuality. She who says she is "a pain in the ass", because she eats gluten-free and few sweets, also spoke with us about the group of Sicilian gay men with whom she grew up, and her friend Maurane, who died in May 2018.
In addition to this new album, you are preparing "50", a tour to celebrate your 50th birthday which will start in January 2020. What to expect?
LF: I wanted to celebrate this nice milestone of 50 years with the people who have allowed me for 30 years to have a career. It's a way to thank them. This tour is a musical narrative of all the songs that have nourished this relationship with my audience. There will be obviously the classics: "J’y crois encore", "Immortelle", "Je t’aime", etc. But also more confidential ones that, without my knowledge, have become important to the public, such as "Pas sans toi", "Caruso" and "Relève-toi".
Your album "Papillon" is more electro. Because it's in the air or because that's what you listen to?
[To know more, one has to get the actual magazine…].
Lara was also on a number of live shows; the most interesting was with Chatherine and Liliane on Channel +, “LA BOITE A QUESTIONS”, visible at
www.facebook.com/catherineetlilianeofficiel/videos/2352678471678709/
Lara stopped by for “a little promo”, and described her album as one of “contemplation, joy and lightness”. They said that fits Lara, it resembles her, the caterpillar who transforms into the butterfly and flies away, all very positive. They noted that Lara sometimes sings of things a little sad, though even then it ends giving hope– and (once again, as in one of the articles) they brought up “Tout”. They said she sings “All, all, all is finished between us”, and at the end he applauds, the whole word applauds. It leaves the man alone, but he had a good time in the song. If they had the gift to tell that story in song, to “tell the whole chilly truth”, they would take advantage. They then had Lara sing a little chorus with the (translated) words: “You are mixed up, you are mixed up, Too much of everything, you're always there, F**k the sh*t around you.” – which understandably left Lara looking shocked! Then, they had her sing the following words for “J’y crois encore” : “I believe again, In orgasm before death, I have more power to simulate rage in the belly”; and then back to Tout with “Roué, Roué, 2000 euros a Roué, you, you, you will not have me under you, going to do you again, yeah oh yeah”. Lara then improvised herself, singing “They call me, they call me, I salute you my damsels”, and walked off. They then noted that she gave them a special dedication, but that “she is barred at the same time”. And concluded with “Butterly it has vanished”. Of course, the whole thing was probably scripted…noteworthy, none the less, and set up perfectly starting with Lara’s standard description of the album, then proceeding in just the opposite direction.
If nothing else, this ‘interview’ showed Lara that ‘she was not in Quebec anymore’!
She was also on “On n'est pas des pigeons – RTBF”; here’s the link:
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianetEmmanuelMoireLEduo/videos/2556802784391971/
Lara doesn’t want to give the appearance on these interviews that she’s now a permanent Quebecoise, which might have the effect of alienating her French and particularly Belgium audience. So she emphasizes the La Voix offer to her, making it a pragmatic decision to move there. We know that at this point it is much more than that.
As indicated earlier, Lara was on the show 20h30 Le Dimanche, with that acoustic presentation of ‘Par Amour’. The video of the actual program is at:
www.france.tv/france-2/20h30-le-dimanche/918639-20h30-le-dimanche.html?fbclid=IwAR0qZqVvj1Wj7IpplJPbUjkOV74drKToyw3Lcc_Xpiylc2iIZF45YcgZXjw
but can only be seen in France. Pictures of Lara with Audrey Lamay from the show can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianetEmmanuelMoireLEduo/photos/a.199122136821054/2201342179932363/?type=3&theater
and
www.facebook.com/larafabianweb/photos/a.839662216049315/2693249670690551/?type=3&theater
while there’s one of her with Pierre Yves Duchesne, who admired her ‘piano voice’ presentation,
www.facebook.com/larafabianweb/photos/a.839662216049315/2692208587461326/?type=3&theater
And Lara was on rtl.be. The video is available at (https://www.rtl.be/people/potins/lara-fabian-presente-son-nouvel-album-papillon-un-titre-qui-cache-une-histoire-touchante-1106940.aspx?dt=14%3A28&fbclid=IwAR39MrF9fxk7nBq9D077aPPbRXXAq5boLly2sYbP_3rlUkmJsE3ARMw9EiY); here’s a translation of the brief discussion of it:
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Lara Fabian presents her new album "Papillon", a title that hides a touching story
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The singer answered the questions of Olivier Schoonejans for the RTLINFO 13H.
After the release of an excerpt from her latest single "Par Amour ", the star stressed that this was her "favorite song". "It tells of the incredible ability to return to resilience when something makes it very, very bad for us, not to see it as a torture, but sometimes as a passage to something bigger in us." she explained.
"My grandmother called me that"
"Why 'Butterfly'?" asked Olivier Schoonejans. And the singer clarifies the choice of this title: "My grandmother called me that, to measure the urgency of being here, now because I was a little girl who worried a little and my grandmother always said "and if you only had a few days, would you worry?" she said.
Despite 30 years of career, the artist felt that she felt "still very feverish". "We are in the hands of the public, we only exist because they choose it," she said. "I never felt like I was under the obligation to do something that wasn’t me”, she concluded.
Asked about the Enfoirés tribute to Maurane, Lara Fabian expressed her willingness to continue to sing "Tu es mon autre", her duet with the Belgian star. "I do not think she wants me to stop singing her," she said, visibly moved.
The 50-year-old singer embarks on a tour that will take her to 50 cities, including Brussels: she will be visiting Forest National in January 2020.
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She was also on some other shows:
LCI “LA MATINALE” - Bintilly Diallo
Interview with Lara illustrated by the video clips
RTL “LAISSEZ-VOUS TENTER” - Steven Bellery:
LARA is the guest of the day with different extracts from the album
France Info “LE MONDE D’ELODIE” - Elodie Suigo:
LARA is the guest of the day with different extracts from the album
SUD RADIO “LE LOFT MUSIQUE” - Yvan Cuijous: LARA in guest talk with different extracts from the album
with the same scenario of questions and her answers being played out.
The ‘rhythm 105.7 FM interview was discussed last week, and its facebook link provided; it is now available on youtube, at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt-FUHRBxPM&fbclid=IwAR3pNq0qT4sfGfQw7Py5VKfdJjYj4VoyQ1CDfjrl09fnfqKGalLsF2PNqO0
In appearances coming up, Lara will be in the "Croissant Show" of Pablo and Nico on Friday March 15th from 7am to 8.30am, on Sud Radio; also recording Les Enfants de la Tele the same day.
Lara had her FNAC signing in Brussels over the weekend. Many pictures from there, from Alysson Juliette Lannez on the Lara Fabian Coeur de Lumiere FB site, can be found at:
www.facebook.com/larafabiancoeurdelumiere/photos/a.336468726990760/336469073657392/?type=3&theater
Lara then left the following photo on her Instragram site, at
www.instagram.com/larafabianofficial/p/Buy3UMzHLjS/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=14x98eqioaujl&fbclid=IwAR2DGathCgAT_p6OnJaUYaYh9EBWo3-ZiUenEpILIzpVip8H_F7Mo_oWzoo
with the (translated) caption, “A word to thank you all for coming to meet me at the @fnac_belgium ... always a pleasure to meet you and exchange a few words together ... The flight of "butterfly" is thanks to you ... thanks 💗 Lara”
Not to be completely left behind, there was an article about Lara in the Quebec publication “VIP Quebec” (https://vipquebec.com/a-presque-50-ans-lara-fabian-continue-de-se-demander-si-on-va-continuer-a-l-aimer-5598?fbclid=IwAR2F7PaDQNK5eLL7diUpHstDTd30a9N_WepZJPET6gZ2hUuGzkC8IBsjerg); thanks to the Lara Fabian Web site for the link. Here’s the translation:
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Lara Fabian continues to wonder if we will continue to love her
50 Years and still as magnificent. What do you think?
It is a return in force that the singer has made with the launching of her new album last February and it has been in first place in the Palmares listings since its release.
After more than 30 years of career, the singer is still so humble that she questions:
“One wonders if one is going to continue to be loved.”
But how not to love her? With her angelic voice and her immense generosity towards to audience, one cannot fail to be touched by her immense talent. She didn’t expect such success from her 14th album, but it represents a lot for her.
“This album, it is the album of my return to Quebec, then when I saw that the people opened their arms for me so wide…I was so happy, I was flying” explains the singer.
Returning recently to live in Quebec, she is very proud of this album 100% Quebecoise. The return to this province which is so precious to her has nevertheless given its colors to the final result of Papillon.
"A simple creative bubble, it moves, whether in Montreal, Belgium or Italy. But it was much more than that. When I went out for La Voix shoots, or even just went shopping, I came across people who said they were happy that I was back in Quebec. So it's certain that it has had a very, very great influence to see that people were welcoming me here again, so warmly", says Lara Fabian.
It is in next September that Lara Fabian will undertake a world tour which will begin in New York. She will thus visit 50 cities around the world where she will take advantage by celebrating her 50th birthday in January 2020.
And what does she make of crossing 50?
“50 years, it is a number, not a state of mind. I feel like a kid. So, all goes well.
50 years and still as magnificent!
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As noted, ‘Papillon’ is still #1 on the Adisq chart in Quebec for the third week in a row ((and #75 in all of Canada). In Belgium, it moved up to #11, a gain of three places, in its fourth week on the charts, while in France, it gained 9 places to #43 – perhaps the promotion is helping in these countries. BTW, in no other country is it charting; one reason may be that the CD is extremely hard to procure, even in the U.S. (where it’s continually been delayed). However, it has no presence on iTunes either, in any other country. Presumably, when the world tour finally happens, if it includes enough of the new songs, interest may pick up in the non-Francophone countries.
And, lastly, back in Quebec, here’s a report on the 4th episode of La Voix (again, the News Updates are one week behind – this past Sunday the last of the blind auditions took place).
**Once again Lara was very reticent to offer her services as coach, perhaps because she had 9 members of her team going in. As a result, she only picked up one new team member, Christine Toca. Of interest here, is that Lara was the coach of her sister the previous year (and hadn’t put the names together). We were introduced to the sister before Christine’s performance.
**Marc was the big ‘winner’, with 5 new team members. One of them, Steven Abadi, was so fixated on being in La Voix that he learned French in one year to do so. Good thing it got rewarded.
**Alex was the other coach who didn’t ‘turn his chair’ very often, but still picked up two candidates when he did.
**There were two best friends who auditioned – one of them was accepted, the other not.
**After watching the first four shows, IMHO the best candidates were auditioned in the first show, next best in the second show, and so on. Others might differ in that evaluation but it would make sense, given the desire of the program to ‘hook viewers’ right in the beginning. It would also encourage the coaches to ‘ante up’ early, if they knew the best candidates were being presented then.
As of the four shows, Lara had 10 team members, of which 7 are women. Alex had 9 members, 6 women. Marc had 11, 6 of whom were men. And Eric had 8, of whom 5 were men. While the gender split is not overwhelming, it would appear women are attracted more to Lara and Alex, while men prefer Eric and Marc (though Marc is the most gender-neutral).
Interesting photo(s) of the day: from the Paris Match article as posted on the Lara Fabian – PHQ site:
www.facebook.com/larafabianphq/photos/a.353954938084519/1677179575762042/?type=3&theater
www.facebook.com/larafabianphq/photos/a.353954938084519/1677180162428650/?type=3&theater
www.facebook.com/larafabianphq/photos/a.353954938084519/1677178549095478/?type=3&theater
and a beautiful picture of the two of them together, at
www.facebook.com/larafabianphq/photos/a.353954938084519/1677163589096974/?type=3&theater
Then Lara with another member of the household,
www.facebook.com/larafabianweb/photos/a.247913198557556/2690086791006839/?type=3&theater
As to what’s on her immediate agenda, Lara answered that associated with a picture on her Instagram site, at
www.instagram.com/larafabianofficial/p/Bu3mTONHtx7/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=tgl1e80q64ky&fbclid=IwAR3YSswEywobgI-48awCV8Mi5Kp6d5Z6HobOTkQXmgLzPx5rGohA7L9MJo8
and the caption, “On route for the interviews…the promo continues", with various other programs this week, either live or being recorded (including her FNAC signing in Paris). For La Voix, the next three weeks have the ‘Duels’ among the members of each team. Presumably these have already been recorded, leaving Lara time to continue her promotion. She’s certainly making productive use of her European media blitz; let’s hope it has a lasting impact in that market.
David
www.facebook.com/20h30LD/videos/2121426081276832/
It’s also available on youtube, thanks to the Lara Fabian Bien Plus Qu'une Passion Corse-Réunion FB site, at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=evU5Ci6m50g
A really nice performance which shows that at least one of these songs can really work without the “electro-pop” inflection. Some of them may be even better that way, i.e., more true to the lyrics, and giving Lara the chance to emphasize her singing.
Otherwise, the most interesting information came from the interviews, starting first with the one in Charts in France (http://www.chartsinfrance.net/Lara-Fabian/interview-109596.html). Here’s the translation:
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Lara Fabian in interview: her new album "Papillon", Maurane, the milestone of 50 years ...
Lara Fabian is back with a new album in French, "Papillon", witness to the calm look of a woman in tune with her time. From its genesis in her home in Montreal to her memories of Maurane, through her look at the youth of the trade, an encounter with sweetness incarnate.
A year and a half after the international opus "Camouflage", here you are back with an album in French, "Papillon". Is the way you approach a disc different for you according to the language?
LF: There is a fundamental difference in the poetry of one language versus another, so adaptation follows the moment when inspiration is triggered, that's for sure. When one develops the idea of the text, the mechanisms of rhyme are different because the grammar is not the same. But on the aspect of pure composition, of what one wants to tell, the density of what it must have? Not really. Intrinsically, in terms of approach, it's the same thing. The important thing is to be in full clarity about what one wants to do and say. To put oneself naked to the moment when one is crossed by the inspiration. When it is here, you have to grab it.
It's easy to get naked, precisely? To approach perhaps, through a song, a personal experience?
LF: I do not know if it's easy or difficult, but I know that's how I've always worked. This is my writing mechanism: resonate with what I feel and tell it, by finding a way to make it more universal, to depersonalize it, so that the person who catches the song can appropriate it and give it to the next. It's nevertheless the idea of music, I think. Being passed on ...
"Butterfly" is a reference to the nickname your grandmother gave you when you were a child. What memories of music do you keep of her?
LF: All the women in my family sang all the time and very well. (Smile) Grandma she was in love, as they say in Quebec, with her granddaughter. I remember the first time I really sang her a song, the emotion it gave her. I remember asking her, "But what is it that you have, why are you crying?" She said to me, " It's your voice, it’s what you tell me in your voice." I was eight years old. It was very strong for me as an experience. What she transmitted to me is the love of music. My grandma sang and she listened to a lot of classical music, she was a great lover of Maria Callas. My parents loved Nana Mouskouri, whom I loved as well. Barbra Streisand, too. And I later developed a passion for Freddie Mercury, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. There was a real influence from the women in my family, who loved the big voices, but let's say that after I came into a world that was closer to my emotions.
This new album was designed at your home in Montreal. What did your days look like?
LF: You have to imagine me with a tea in hand, in pajamas, going down to the basement ... (laughs). Frankly it was almost that! At home is a studio tinkered with some makeshift chairs, a computer, good sound cards, a microphone, an amp ... Now one can record anywhere, we do not need to press any more the red button and rent a studio for months to make an album. You can definitely do it in the basement at home. I shared my days between my role as coach in "La Voix" [the Quebec version of "The Voice", ed], my family, the recording of the album and my everyday life. It's true that it was hyper comfortable to be able to devote part of my days to writing, then make food for the team, put my little girl to bed, discuss professional projects in the late evening and go to bed in the same house! It was pretty fabulous as comfort.
What did you bring from your home in this album?
LF: The serenity that emanated there. And the simplicity with which we did things.
The songs were made in just 11 days. What does this exercise change?
LF: A way to get to the point. Even if sometimes you can bang your head on an element for hours! There is not really a recipe at the level of writing, that's what is quite magical with music. I remember a masterclass with Peter Gabriel in England, where he said it could happen to him to write three songs in one day and sometimes a song in a year. He explained that he had absolutely no control over this elasticity of time. "I do not ask myself that kind of question, I do when it's possible and when it comes. I do not justify the inspiration, I let it be". I think that's the only way to approach that. In the end, the time allotted to an album does not matter. Just because you take four years to make a record or four weeks does not mean that one is worth more than the other.
It's almost a luxury to take your time, in an industry that is constantly evolving ...
LF: I always took the time, you know. I'm never tortured with that. Sometimes it comes, sometimes it does not come. I always accepted it. I remember the song "Tout". It took me six months to finish the text, I could not write it at all. I understood why after: there was something in me that did not want to be said. And here too, you have to go into resilience and accept. But when all of a sudden some things can be said in full light and with as much clarity as some songs are appearing on "Papillon", I try not to question why. Neither to know if it is a luxury or not. I try to be just myself through this writing.
After singing "Je t’aime", you sing ... "Je ne t’aime plus" You will break hearts!
Is there a link between these two songs?
LF: Yes yes, there is one of course. (Smile) If you have listened well in the arrangement, there is a musical quote at the end on the violins.
It's a wink for your audience?
LF: Yes! "I do not love you anymore" [Je ne t'aime plus] is a song that allows us to release a love from our system, in the true metabolic sense of the term. There are love affairs that cellularly never let us go, because we loved it so much, or rather, we loved it, that we kept some stigmata. Scars. I almost want to say tics, which are triggered over other loves. And one day there is a letting go that takes place in us thanks to a form of serenity. We say to ourselves: it's time to detach. And finally we get there. For me it was my statement on this subject. But as I explained at the beginning of the interview, I very very quickly depersonalized. The only purpose of a song like this is not to empty your heart, it's to talk to everyone.
In February, I understand you were to have participated in 'Victoires de la musique'. Why did we not see you there?
LF: I had to sing "On a prelude of Bach" in tribute to my friend Maurane . But to my great regret, I fell very, very sick.
Nine months after her death, how do you manage to live her absence?
LF: That's a very good question. We do not come away from someone we love. We love her in the absence, we love her otherwise. You know, just now a reporter asked me, "You do not think she was not accompanied at the end, that she did not have the listening and the support that she wanted?" I have allowed myself not to evade his question but simply to say that, out of love for someone so much respected and so much adored, we can not pronounce on what had been. We must be in absolute respect. And even I would say in silence. Today what I live is a kind of continuous attachment and what is dotted appeared to me when I think of her. Often it happens to me to imagine her, to see her in my head. That's how I do not lose her, continuing to produce this link. But it's difficult, difficult to say that I will never hear her sing again.
This song that you shared, "Tu es mon autre", has a particular resonance in the audience's heart and yours, with regard to the friendship that unified you with Maurane. Do you remember its recording?
LF: I especially remember its writing at the time. I called her right away to tell her, "It's a song that could so carry the two of us, because it could tell so much about that part of you and me that mixes." I remember when she listened to it there was silence after ...
You thought of it as a duet from the start?
LF: It did not come right away. Musically, originally, there was a kind of melody missing but that was the third finally, all these incredible harmonic notes that Maurane was able to fetch and she alone was able to write in her voice. She is a woman with a sense of innate harmony! It's by singing the third that I said to myself "Wait, wait ... I can not sing it just me. More, that's not what she's telling." And if we told it in duo? If it was said one says it the one and the other?" And that's how "Tu es mon autre" was born, two voices.
"You will be on the road next year to celebrate your 50th birthday. Is this a number that has meaning for you?
LF: For me it's a number. (Smile) I feel good, I live it well! It's a celebration too. It's a milestone. It does not scare me. With this anniversary tour, we will tell this story in music. Audiences will be able to hear songs that have counted but also those with less commercial count but have, for fans, a real sense. And that we realize through the decades, where all of a sudden we receive a monstrous slap with a song that we would call more confidential, like "Pas sans toi ", "Je suis mon coeur", " Releve-toi" or on this album "Je ne t’aime plus"and “Par Amour”, these are the two pieces that very strongly raise the hearts and souls of people. It will be therefore a celebration of these songs that have become somehow classics and then those that have been carried by the public unexpectedly.
Are you going to sing "Tout"? You explained a few months ago having trouble taking pleasure in interpreting this one...
LF: It is true! I have no joy in singing it. And when we do not have joy to sing a title, we are not in honesty. It's not at all a question of ambitus [the course of the melodic line], because "Je suis malade" or "Adagio" have ambitus as large in terms of vocal extension, it's not the basement up there that worries me. There is something about this song that I told when I was 24 or 25 years old that I can not reiterate through real joy. Afterwards, I think there is a respect that we owe to the public on certain songs, which means that we have to find a way to reconnect with joy. (Smile) I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no, but ... you'll see!
There is a lot of talk about youthism in the music industry. Do you think it's harder for an older woman to exist in the media?
LF: What does it mean older, already? Ask Jennifer Lopez or Pink what it means to be older! We forget that these girls are 40 and over. I am not sure that it is played in the sense of the public. And even so. Has there not been at all times a desire to highlight what a young generation can offer? I mean, when Johnny Hallyday arrived at the age of 16 or 17 in the midst of heavyweights who were perhaps over 40, in a way were we not privileged? I think that all times love youth, and it's totally legitimate. There is something in the youth that re-inspires us, that revives feelings we need to feel, that transports us to a place of lightness. A woman between 17 and 25 will never sing as a woman between 45 and 50. And that's it! I do not think we can blame the industry for loving young people. Who does not love youth, who doesn’t it inspire? One can be good of one's time, be laid down, anchored, and look at this young generation by loving it so as to age gracefully. (Smile) Me, it’s what I believe.
What are you most proud of in your career?
LF: To have always been in phase with what I felt, beyond all the awkwardness that sometimes that implies. But also and especially to be still here after 30 years.
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Lara’s illness explains why the promotion did not start in the beginning of February, as planned, but is now coming to fruition in March.
Then there is a wonderful, personal interview in ‘Paris Match (https://www.parismatch.com/People/Lara-Fabian-Avec-Gabriel-l-amour-n-est-pas-une-illusion-1610854?fbclid=IwAR0zigU7bWUJ2F9kB28nb-tSSCC1SjIw06eKREcAM8zEDwZq-cElzuQRcmg), translated below:
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Lara Fabian: "With Gabriel, love is not an illusion"
They married in 2013. "Thanks to Gabriel, I believe in love again," says Lara.
The singer has led her man, engineer magician, to Canada where she is a judge on “La Voix”.
The star and the conjurer ... Their story was all about a chimera that their different universes and the age difference could have quickly dispelled. But for Lara, Gabriel has put aside his sleight of hand. Happiness, he creates it without magic formula. First because he accompanied Lara in her doubts. And that he shares her victories. Since 2018, she has been part of the jury for the Canadian version of "The Voice". And she just released her 14th album, "Papillon", the nickname given to her by her grandmother. Eleven songs that encourage you to enjoy the moment. Lara says, "I learned that to be happy you have to look at life with simplicity."
LARA FABIAN “With Gabriel, love is not an illusion”
The winter ,the snow, they say they adore that…but especially the warmth in their house. Their origins predispose them to love the shade of the olive trees. The magician was born in Sicily, like Lara’s mother. It is also the isle of their meeting, in 2012. The singer travels then to Acireale as a vocal coach for a musical comedy. In the troupe, there was Gabriel. Lara didn’t notice him, immediately. But some months later, it is she who took the initiative of their first kiss. The couple married. And he cultivates “a sweet life in a healthy environment” explains Lara, on these Canadian lands that brought luck to the singer by offering her first success. She was 20 years old. Since, she has sold more than 13 million discs in the world.
Paris Match. We left you suffering from deafness. How are you today ?
Lara Fabian. Very well thanks to God! I work so much that I do not even think about it anymore. This health problem is an old memory.
Which didn’t teach you anything ...
LF: Yes, I like to call it "my badly packed gift". In this silence, there was a lot of food for the spirit, a lot of wisdom. With hindsight, it is not a heavy baggage anymore but something that has given me wings. Today, we have really moved on.
[Read also: "My life in yours" - Lara Fabian, the resurrection]
You say "we" ... Who are you talking about?
LF: Of my family: my daughter Lou and my husband Gabriel, so welded in this ordeal, but also my professional family, all those people who revolve around me, my clan. Between my adventure here, in North America, the coaching for "La Voix", a fourteenth album and the preparation of the tour, it's a new era that begins.
Why did you move to Quebec?
LF: For "The Voice". We lived in Andalusia barely a year ago when the phone rang. It was in the middle of summer. The job started eight weeks later ... We planted a sign "for sale" in front of our house and we left hurriedly for Quebec with two suitcases each! But it was a long time since I wanted to come back. This place has always been dear to my heart.
Gabriel follows you in your adventures?
LF: I never move without him nor without Lou. I have the luck of having an extremely present husband. His family matters before all. He has his profession of engineer magician, makes his tours, but sings also in some concerts and plays the guitar. As I travel a lot, he has the capitol role of watching over my daughter. His place is very important. It brings me incredible support.
How is created the relationship between Lou and Gabriel?
LF: They immediately had an incredible connection. It is if they had been linked in another life. I have a lot of luck!
How is your family life rhythm?
LF: Very simply. I try to never leave the house for more than a certain number of hours. And when I return our daily needs take precedence. I do my shopping, I make my meals, I prepare to eat. It is very important to keep my hands on our lives, of being artisans.
After La Voix, do you count on remaining in Quebec?
LF: For the moment, yes. But it is enough that I tell you so that the telephone rings in two weeks and that one proposes to me a new adventure!
You seem more in form than ever…
Is it so that you imagine the approach of your 50th year?
LF: I am serene. I have never very much apprehended old age. Still less now! I begin my 50th year with so many beautiful projects. I resist the desire to say to you “I will tell you once I will be there!” [Laughs]
What meaning does this new album have for you?
LF: It is an ode to contemplation, to lightness. I have written it with a lot of gratitude. Certain themes are heavier than others,, but it is an album which is renewed with the ancient tradition that I cultivate for love songs. With “Papillon”, I would like to pose the question of what one would do if we had only 24 hours to live.
And what would you do?
LF: I would remain with my family and my friends, I would profit from life. There would surely be a guitar and a piano in a big dining room filled with nourishment and love.
This 14th opus is very pop. It is a recent desire?
LF: It’s necessary to live with one’s time, not with the one we came from. This disc is a reflection of my daily life and of the music that I listen to: Panic! At the Disc and Christine and the Queens. When my daughter returns from school, we put on these songs and we dance like two madwomen.
What did Lou think of it, precisely?
LF: She adored. The day of the release, she rushed toward me while crying: “Mama, you are number one on iTunes in France and number two in Canada! Just below Ariana Grande!” She was euphoric. I said to her that I was very lucky, actually. She responded to me, “No, it is me who has the good luck of having you as mother.” She is crazy, this kid. She is my teacher. Sometimes I look at her and I tell myself that we have put in the world some people better than us. We have the duty to protect them. She is the great gift of my existence. In the same way that this magnificent man who is my husband.
Gabriel also loved this new album?
LF: It is the one that he listens to the most in the seven years that we are together. He even spoke about it with me this morning. He had insomnia and listened to “Papillon” to put himself to sleep. He said to me: “Lara, it is a great album.” That reassured me for, as an artist, I always doubt. Then, certainly, you can think that, being my husband, he’s not going to tell me that it is nothing! But he knows to be critical.
Gabriel is the man for whom you have waited?
LF: Totally.
With Gabriel, the age difference has never been a problem?
LF: Not really. In our society, when the woman is older, people ask more questions, that's for sure. But it just depends on how it's lived. I feel very good in my body. Age is only a number. I am with a young guy of 36 who is not with a girl of 50 years, but with the woman he loves. And it turns out she was born fourteen years before him.
Did the question arise, with Gabriel, of having a child?
LF: Yes. But it did not stay.
How do you raise your daughter?
LF: With respect and loyalty. Every evening, before going to bed, I make her do a list of three things that have made her happy in the day. So that she goes to sleep full of positive thoughts.
Do you do it equally yourself?
LF: I am more into thank you.
What thanks did you give last night?
LF: I have had a very dense week, I have seen little of my family. Then I was thankful for having been able to cook and dine with them. And then I was also thankful for the beautiful returns that I have had on our album, and, finally, for my health.
Why does Lou inspire you so much?
LF: She is a sunny child. She gets up from bed in good humor. She cooks while singing, leaves for her ballet course skipping. She loves life. Sometimes she gets up, looks at me and says to me: “Thanks mama, what a beautiful day!" She is free in her head, and that, that is priceless.
Is it that she would love to follow your tracks?
LF: Lou is an artist, that’s sure. But she is especially passionate about baking. She has already made for us layered cake and pancakes in the morning. Sunday she’s busy with brunch. She is a child in action.
What do you want for the future?
LF: That Lou continues to grow serenely, and that my story of love with Gabriel be the one of a life. I hope also to write my music for a long time still. I have the feeling of being useful to others with a simple song, from the moment when it does good.
How would you sum up at this stage?
LF: I am a woman in her skin, in contact with her inner child, lover of her family and of life.
You are in peace with everything, today?
LF: We all have small pebbles in our shoes. I have a mother who is very sick. She suffers from a neurodegenerative illness. In these sad moments, I’ve learned not to tinker with my pain, because it is useless. But I must admit that it is the unique part of my life where the word “combat” applies. As soon as I see a health problem, I look him straight in the eyes and say: “No, outside!”
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One of Lara’s charms is that she really allows people to get to know her, as in this amazing interview.
A partial interview with Lara is available from tetu.com/2019/03/07/lara-fabian-interview/?fbclid=IwAR1hg6lI6OcqKZ2W1y0BfKBc7Al-RzEWQs4xfhwiY-XAhF1A-s8jA2H5DQs, translated below:
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Meeting with Lara Fabian: "Since my childhood, I have always lived with the gay community"
En savoir plus sur tetu.com/2019/03/07/lara-fabian-interview/#qs0Epo6suvRKBLyG.99
[PREMIUM] In early February 2019, a flu prevented her from promoting her new album, "Papillon", before its release. A month later, TÊTU finally met Lara Fabian. An artist engaged for a long time against homophobia, with disarming sincerity. Interview.
There are interviews that we do without particular expectations. Surely for fear of being faced with a machine too well oiled, policed and tasteless responses. Lara Fabian could be one of those artists too lazy to exercise. Even unconsciously, the lackluster image that she gave to the TV of the 1990s and 2000s (Thierry Ardisson and "The Guignols" in mind) still permeates the idea that one can have of her. With bursts of laughter, thoughtful answers and disarming sincerity, the Belgian-Canadian singer exploded all the clichés we could have about her. We went back shaken, and lightened of a lot of misconceptions.
We met her for the release of "Papillon", published on February 8th. A new album that coherently mixes the singer's voice with an electro ethereal. This is her first in French since 2015. Her album "Camouflage", released in 2017, was in fact entirely in English. Lara Fabian is also a coach at "La Voix" (The Voice of Quebec). The singer came back for us on the impact of "La Difference" and "Deux Ils, Deux Elles", her two songs about homosexuality. She who says she is "a pain in the ass", because she eats gluten-free and few sweets, also spoke with us about the group of Sicilian gay men with whom she grew up, and her friend Maurane, who died in May 2018.
In addition to this new album, you are preparing "50", a tour to celebrate your 50th birthday which will start in January 2020. What to expect?
LF: I wanted to celebrate this nice milestone of 50 years with the people who have allowed me for 30 years to have a career. It's a way to thank them. This tour is a musical narrative of all the songs that have nourished this relationship with my audience. There will be obviously the classics: "J’y crois encore", "Immortelle", "Je t’aime", etc. But also more confidential ones that, without my knowledge, have become important to the public, such as "Pas sans toi", "Caruso" and "Relève-toi".
Your album "Papillon" is more electro. Because it's in the air or because that's what you listen to?
LF: A bit of both. Electro allows an interesting thing: to preserve my composer-songwriter-singer DNA, while enveloping it in this heavier and more hypnotic musical universe. This is what I had already done a little on "Camouflage" [her previous album, in English, ed]. I had already surrounded myself with a team that knows these sounds well, and I wanted to do it again, this time in French.
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[To know more, one has to get the actual magazine…].
Lara was also on a number of live shows; the most interesting was with Chatherine and Liliane on Channel +, “LA BOITE A QUESTIONS”, visible at
www.facebook.com/catherineetlilianeofficiel/videos/2352678471678709/
Lara stopped by for “a little promo”, and described her album as one of “contemplation, joy and lightness”. They said that fits Lara, it resembles her, the caterpillar who transforms into the butterfly and flies away, all very positive. They noted that Lara sometimes sings of things a little sad, though even then it ends giving hope– and (once again, as in one of the articles) they brought up “Tout”. They said she sings “All, all, all is finished between us”, and at the end he applauds, the whole word applauds. It leaves the man alone, but he had a good time in the song. If they had the gift to tell that story in song, to “tell the whole chilly truth”, they would take advantage. They then had Lara sing a little chorus with the (translated) words: “You are mixed up, you are mixed up, Too much of everything, you're always there, F**k the sh*t around you.” – which understandably left Lara looking shocked! Then, they had her sing the following words for “J’y crois encore” : “I believe again, In orgasm before death, I have more power to simulate rage in the belly”; and then back to Tout with “Roué, Roué, 2000 euros a Roué, you, you, you will not have me under you, going to do you again, yeah oh yeah”. Lara then improvised herself, singing “They call me, they call me, I salute you my damsels”, and walked off. They then noted that she gave them a special dedication, but that “she is barred at the same time”. And concluded with “Butterly it has vanished”. Of course, the whole thing was probably scripted…noteworthy, none the less, and set up perfectly starting with Lara’s standard description of the album, then proceeding in just the opposite direction.
If nothing else, this ‘interview’ showed Lara that ‘she was not in Quebec anymore’! She was also on “On n'est pas des pigeons – RTBF”; here’s the link:
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianetEmmanuelMoireLEduo/videos/2556802784391971/
Lara doesn’t want to give the appearance on these interviews that she’s now a permanent Quebecoise, which might have the effect of alienating her French and particularly Belgium audience. So she emphasizes the La Voix offer to her, making it a pragmatic decision to move there. We know that at this point it is much more than that.
As indicated earlier, Lara was on the show 20h30 Le Dimanche, with that acoustic presentation of ‘Par Amour’. The video of the actual program is at:
www.france.tv/france-2/20h30-le-dimanche/918639-20h30-le-dimanche.html?fbclid=IwAR0qZqVvj1Wj7IpplJPbUjkOV74drKToyw3Lcc_Xpiylc2iIZF45YcgZXjw
but can only be seen in France. Pictures of Lara with Audrey Lamay from the show can be seen at:
www.facebook.com/LaraFabianetEmmanuelMoireLEduo/photos/a.199122136821054/2201342179932363/?type=3&theater
and
www.facebook.com/larafabianweb/photos/a.839662216049315/2693249670690551/?type=3&theater
while there’s one of her with Pierre Yves Duchesne, who admired her ‘piano voice’ presentation,
www.facebook.com/larafabianweb/photos/a.839662216049315/2692208587461326/?type=3&theater
And Lara was on rtl.be. The video is available at (https://www.rtl.be/people/potins/lara-fabian-presente-son-nouvel-album-papillon-un-titre-qui-cache-une-histoire-touchante-1106940.aspx?dt=14%3A28&fbclid=IwAR39MrF9fxk7nBq9D077aPPbRXXAq5boLly2sYbP_3rlUkmJsE3ARMw9EiY); here’s a translation of the brief discussion of it:
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Lara Fabian presents her new album "Papillon", a title that hides a touching story
|
The singer answered the questions of Olivier Schoonejans for the RTLINFO 13H.
Lara Fabian was invited on the set of RTL INFO 13H on the occasion of the release of her new album "Papillon". "It's a very contemporary album, with sounds from my time, without changing the DNA of melodies that have been mine forever," she said.
After the release of an excerpt from her latest single "Par Amour ", the star stressed that this was her "favorite song". "It tells of the incredible ability to return to resilience when something makes it very, very bad for us, not to see it as a torture, but sometimes as a passage to something bigger in us." she explained.
"My grandmother called me that"
"Why 'Butterfly'?" asked Olivier Schoonejans. And the singer clarifies the choice of this title: "My grandmother called me that, to measure the urgency of being here, now because I was a little girl who worried a little and my grandmother always said "and if you only had a few days, would you worry?" she said.
Despite 30 years of career, the artist felt that she felt "still very feverish". "We are in the hands of the public, we only exist because they choose it," she said. "I never felt like I was under the obligation to do something that wasn’t me”, she concluded.
Asked about the Enfoirés tribute to Maurane, Lara Fabian expressed her willingness to continue to sing "Tu es mon autre", her duet with the Belgian star. "I do not think she wants me to stop singing her," she said, visibly moved.
The 50-year-old singer embarks on a tour that will take her to 50 cities, including Brussels: she will be visiting Forest National in January 2020.
------------------------------------
She was also on some other shows:
LCI “LA MATINALE” - Bintilly Diallo
Interview with Lara illustrated by the video clips
RTL “LAISSEZ-VOUS TENTER” - Steven Bellery:
LARA is the guest of the day with different extracts from the album
France Info “LE MONDE D’ELODIE” - Elodie Suigo:
LARA is the guest of the day with different extracts from the album
SUD RADIO “LE LOFT MUSIQUE” - Yvan Cuijous: LARA in guest talk with different extracts from the album
with the same scenario of questions and her answers being played out.
The ‘rhythm 105.7 FM interview was discussed last week, and its facebook link provided; it is now available on youtube, at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt-FUHRBxPM&fbclid=IwAR3pNq0qT4sfGfQw7Py5VKfdJjYj4VoyQ1CDfjrl09fnfqKGalLsF2PNqO0
In appearances coming up, Lara will be in the "Croissant Show" of Pablo and Nico on Friday March 15th from 7am to 8.30am, on Sud Radio; also recording Les Enfants de la Tele the same day.
Lara had her FNAC signing in Brussels over the weekend. Many pictures from there, from Alysson Juliette Lannez on the Lara Fabian Coeur de Lumiere FB site, can be found at:
www.facebook.com/larafabiancoeurdelumiere/photos/a.336468726990760/336469073657392/?type=3&theater
Lara then left the following photo on her Instragram site, at
www.instagram.com/larafabianofficial/p/Buy3UMzHLjS/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=14x98eqioaujl&fbclid=IwAR2DGathCgAT_p6OnJaUYaYh9EBWo3-ZiUenEpILIzpVip8H_F7Mo_oWzoo
with the (translated) caption, “A word to thank you all for coming to meet me at the @fnac_belgium ... always a pleasure to meet you and exchange a few words together ... The flight of "butterfly" is thanks to you ... thanks 💗 Lara”
Not to be completely left behind, there was an article about Lara in the Quebec publication “VIP Quebec” (https://vipquebec.com/a-presque-50-ans-lara-fabian-continue-de-se-demander-si-on-va-continuer-a-l-aimer-5598?fbclid=IwAR2F7PaDQNK5eLL7diUpHstDTd30a9N_WepZJPET6gZ2hUuGzkC8IBsjerg); thanks to the Lara Fabian Web site for the link. Here’s the translation:
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Lara Fabian continues to wonder if we will continue to love her
50 Years and still as magnificent. What do you think?
It is a return in force that the singer has made with the launching of her new album last February and it has been in first place in the Palmares listings since its release.
After more than 30 years of career, the singer is still so humble that she questions:
“One wonders if one is going to continue to be loved.”
But how not to love her? With her angelic voice and her immense generosity towards to audience, one cannot fail to be touched by her immense talent. She didn’t expect such success from her 14th album, but it represents a lot for her.
“This album, it is the album of my return to Quebec, then when I saw that the people opened their arms for me so wide…I was so happy, I was flying” explains the singer.
Returning recently to live in Quebec, she is very proud of this album 100% Quebecoise. The return to this province which is so precious to her has nevertheless given its colors to the final result of Papillon.
"A simple creative bubble, it moves, whether in Montreal, Belgium or Italy. But it was much more than that. When I went out for La Voix shoots, or even just went shopping, I came across people who said they were happy that I was back in Quebec. So it's certain that it has had a very, very great influence to see that people were welcoming me here again, so warmly", says Lara Fabian.
It is in next September that Lara Fabian will undertake a world tour which will begin in New York. She will thus visit 50 cities around the world where she will take advantage by celebrating her 50th birthday in January 2020.
And what does she make of crossing 50?
“50 years, it is a number, not a state of mind. I feel like a kid. So, all goes well.
50 years and still as magnificent!
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As noted, ‘Papillon’ is still #1 on the Adisq chart in Quebec for the third week in a row ((and #75 in all of Canada). In Belgium, it moved up to #11, a gain of three places, in its fourth week on the charts, while in France, it gained 9 places to #43 – perhaps the promotion is helping in these countries. BTW, in no other country is it charting; one reason may be that the CD is extremely hard to procure, even in the U.S. (where it’s continually been delayed). However, it has no presence on iTunes either, in any other country. Presumably, when the world tour finally happens, if it includes enough of the new songs, interest may pick up in the non-Francophone countries.
And, lastly, back in Quebec, here’s a report on the 4th episode of La Voix (again, the News Updates are one week behind – this past Sunday the last of the blind auditions took place).
**Once again Lara was very reticent to offer her services as coach, perhaps because she had 9 members of her team going in. As a result, she only picked up one new team member, Christine Toca. Of interest here, is that Lara was the coach of her sister the previous year (and hadn’t put the names together). We were introduced to the sister before Christine’s performance.
**Marc was the big ‘winner’, with 5 new team members. One of them, Steven Abadi, was so fixated on being in La Voix that he learned French in one year to do so. Good thing it got rewarded.
**Alex was the other coach who didn’t ‘turn his chair’ very often, but still picked up two candidates when he did.
**There were two best friends who auditioned – one of them was accepted, the other not.
**After watching the first four shows, IMHO the best candidates were auditioned in the first show, next best in the second show, and so on. Others might differ in that evaluation but it would make sense, given the desire of the program to ‘hook viewers’ right in the beginning. It would also encourage the coaches to ‘ante up’ early, if they knew the best candidates were being presented then.
As of the four shows, Lara had 10 team members, of which 7 are women. Alex had 9 members, 6 women. Marc had 11, 6 of whom were men. And Eric had 8, of whom 5 were men. While the gender split is not overwhelming, it would appear women are attracted more to Lara and Alex, while men prefer Eric and Marc (though Marc is the most gender-neutral).
Interesting photo(s) of the day: from the Paris Match article as posted on the Lara Fabian – PHQ site:
www.facebook.com/larafabianphq/photos/a.353954938084519/1677179575762042/?type=3&theater
www.facebook.com/larafabianphq/photos/a.353954938084519/1677180162428650/?type=3&theater
www.facebook.com/larafabianphq/photos/a.353954938084519/1677178549095478/?type=3&theater
and a beautiful picture of the two of them together, at
www.facebook.com/larafabianphq/photos/a.353954938084519/1677163589096974/?type=3&theater
Then Lara with another member of the household,
www.facebook.com/larafabianweb/photos/a.247913198557556/2690086791006839/?type=3&theater
As to what’s on her immediate agenda, Lara answered that associated with a picture on her Instagram site, at
www.instagram.com/larafabianofficial/p/Bu3mTONHtx7/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=tgl1e80q64ky&fbclid=IwAR3YSswEywobgI-48awCV8Mi5Kp6d5Z6HobOTkQXmgLzPx5rGohA7L9MJo8
and the caption, “On route for the interviews…the promo continues", with various other programs this week, either live or being recorded (including her FNAC signing in Paris). For La Voix, the next three weeks have the ‘Duels’ among the members of each team. Presumably these have already been recorded, leaving Lara time to continue her promotion. She’s certainly making productive use of her European media blitz; let’s hope it has a lasting impact in that market.
David
