Post by davidhr on May 7, 2013 11:06:34 GMT -5
Lara experienced a return to reality this past week in France, as her album ‘Le Secret’ dropped from first to eighth in sales for physical CDs (11th in total sales), as purchases were down some 60% (in Belgium, it has only fallen to 2nd place). On several sites and in interviews it has been reported that it has already achieved ‘gold record’ status, which in France requires sales of 50,000. Charts in France in their URL site title does seem to indicate close to that number (http://www.chartsinfrance.net/communaute/index.php?/topic/47480-les-ventes-secretes-de-lara-fabian/) although, confusingly, in their detailed breakdown they only list about ½ that. Regardless, it is a nice achievement, but worrying at the same time [in comparison, her previous number 1 entry at its release, the ‘Live’ album in 1999, stayed at number 1 for the first four weeks, and was in the top 10 for 11 straight weeks]. The rapid decrease is a sign of the shallowness of Lara’s current fan base in France, and does not bode well for the album’s future unless some new boost is found.
It won’t be through public appearances, as they are falling off rapidly, as Lara’s novelty and ‘fresh news value’ declines (including the completed passage of the Gay marriage bill). So people are looking for the next single to incite continued interest, and there have been numerous polls on the sites as to which it should be (Lara herself asked for the fans’ opinions). While there is no complete consensus, leading candidates are ‘Un Ange est tombe’ (my choice), a faster, rhythmic song; ‘Il est lune’, for its wonderful musicality; ‘Je reve d’une etoile’ for its positive message; ‘La vie est la’ for its serious message, etc. [Actually, ‘Putain de grand amour’ would really be my choice, but one would imagine Lara would have some problems getting that played
].
One wonders, however, how well any new single release will really work. If one reads the comments about Lara from more general sites, the public is willing to acknowledge her great talent, but she has gotten a reputation in France as being ‘aggressive’. Entertainers can get away with a lot if they are well-liked [witness Tony Bennett in the U.S. suffering few repercussions from saying he thought that U.S. actions had led to the 9-11 bombings [http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/tony-bennett-on-911-attacks-they-flew-the-plane-in-but-we-caused-it/]; to some extent, the ‘likability’ factor accounts for a lot of the mediocrity one finds on the airwaves. We know Lara has a strong personality and forthrightly expresses her opinion (e.g., see the article below). That may not be a good match for this country. In contrast, in Russia she gets asked less probing questions and so far seems to be a well-loved icon (a status that she helped preserve by allowing the Mlle. Zhivago videos to be released).
Meanwhile, there were a few more public appearances as well as press interviews. Lara was present for an interview shown on the program ‘Absolutement Star’ over the weekend. She gave a showcase presentation in Lyon yesterday that will be broadcast on May 19th. A few videos are already available on youtube, and while Lara apparently did a good job, she reportedly was sick; from the pictures it appears that it might also have been cold in the theatre, e.g.,
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=495150297205306&set=a.168982793155393.43222.166959643357708&type=1&theater
She continues to get very good reviews for the album, and it being number 1 last week (and already ‘gold’) led to the general comment that hers was a ‘winning’ return.
Meanwhile, Lara gave another long and revealing interview, this time for ‘Nice Premium’. Here is the translation:
--------------------------------------------------------
Interview: Lara Fabian Tells Us All Her Secrets
We met Lara Fabian in Paris for a special interview on the occasion of the release of her new album "The Secret." The singer who had recorded her previous opus in Nice is back with us on the limited success of her last two albums, her break with Universal Music and talks to us about her "Secret" which is already a gold record!
Lara Fabian, you're back with "The Secret"! Can you tell us about this new album?
LF: ‘The Secret’ is the story of the journey of every human who, impacted by life, is forced to make a choice between the way of understanding his sufferings and the way to live his life. To find the elements that allow him to become resilient, to let go and transform what hurts the most by any force.
A path of some sort?
LF: Yes, and perhaps a little less complex in his way of analyzing, of seeing things. We often think that reflecting a lot is a sign of intelligence, sometimes I think it's just absolute stupidity. The secret is letting go of what hurts us, approach happiness with a little more simplicity.
To introduce this new album you talk a lot of about happiness but [it arises in] very few of the songs in themselves which deal with hard and profound things that have happened to you ... Anorexia, for example, betrayals ... Do you struggle to raise these issues outside of your songs?
LF: No, I think that paraphrase is unnecessary. Many things are said in the album. After one can talk about the parallel meaning that they have, but I'm not a big fan of the translation of the translation. I think the strength of the music, which is the director of our emotion, is the power with a lot of elegance to translate very personal matters.
On the album, one of your songs speaks about social networks "Un ange est tombe" which echoes one of the first titles of your career "Les Amoureux de l’an 2000” ...
LF: Poor me! I always talk about the same thing (laughs).
In "Un Ange est tombe" I wanted to show that we use certain means of communication without realizing the double-edged sword that it is.
I am one of the beings who think we are a single one and the same thing, that it is in being able to be next to someone, to be useful, loving, considerate, that we exist. .. The essential nature of social network is that of going to the other and conversely, it is also a way to cut the other. It is this paradox that I do not endorse and with which I struggle. Especially it hurts me to see people hyper- alone despite having 5,000 friends on Facebook. Honestly we isolate ourselves much more than we create real friendships yet I recognize nevertheless that this is an amazing way when you do a job like mine to find a direct vehicle to the public.
Speaking of social networks, you've gotten there late!
LF: Oulala I got into it late and because they kicked my backside (laughs). It is true that today I see the enthusiasm it created and what touches me is that my audience really feels like part of the story and this is important . Now do I sit behind a screen and affiliate myself in Facebook to go and drink a beer with a friend, no and then I really prefer to sit down with him and show him my pictures on my phone. Sometimes I see people in the same room, talking to each other by interposed tweet, it's sad!
When promoting your latest albums, namely "9" and "TLFM" (Toutes Les Femmes en Moi), you are actually more scarce in the media. Is it that it was somehow a way to protect yourself from a media that would have been able to impact your privacy? One has the impression with "The Secret" you have less fear of exposing yourself?
LF: No I'm not any more or less afraid ... There was just a real welcome for "Le Secret". "TLFM" is an album that has remained much more confidential. People were not really in agreement with my approach of covers, they wanted an original album. As for the album "9", it also did not receive all the love from my audience who found that I didn’t sing out. I think there have been plenty of circumstances that justify the silence of both sides.
To talk again of "9", "9" was intended as a change in the way you sing, to be softer perhaps? You introduced the album by saying that it was the end of a cycle ....
LF: I think if you know my work well, it was discovered long before "9", that I could sing gently, that my voice is an instrument and I use it in a thousand different ways.
I think "9" wasn’t a response to anything. "9" was a place where I sat safely with someone who understood my approach and who accompanied me, in the person of Jean-Félix Lalanne. This album was concomitant to a state of my soul in which I roll myself into a little ball and wait for it to pass!
After there was"TLFM". A first version of this album was made with the Matt Herskowitz musician, but it didn’t convince Pascal Negre. Is it that you regret not having released this first version?
LF: I never regret anything I decide to do, but I sincerely ask the question of knowing whether this album would have received similar comments.
For having heard it, musically it was close to the "Secret", there would have been a real continuity between the two albums.
LF: Musically it was very interesting and at the same time at the level of my way of singing again I stayed very confidential. This is what displeased Pascal Negro (note: the director of Universal Music), who wanted me to deploy my voice a little more, and that's what we did with Simon Climie’s version which was much more pop. We will never know if TLFM1 would have sold better.
You do not think to release it on sale at the store of your concerts?
LF: One day I will offer it, as it is mastered. A little like I released "EWIM" which was the demo I made to make the same album in the United States. The advantage today is that we can through social networks afford to give much more content than before. For example, a song from "Secret" did not end up on the album and I told Manu Pitois (note: one of the composers of the album) it was absolutely necessary to finish it so as to offer it. If the album happens to be platinum, I'll post it on Facebook free for my fans to hear.
At the same time Russia has opened its doors. With the album "Mademoiselle Zhivago" you wrote with Igor Krutoy. An album that has been very successful. 800,000 copies sold in a country where illegal downloading is really very present! It made you happy to have this welcome compared to France which gave you a bit of a cold shoulder?
LF: The public has never shunned me, it is the media which snubbed me. You really get to separate the two worlds because the evidence is, we put on sale at the Théâtre de Paris and in thirty minutes all the tickets are sold. I mean, hello, it's where the truth is there. I will not dwell anymore on this, there will always be people to talk about me behind my back, to despise me, hate me, it's like that, one must track one’s path, to advance, to do what one does, forward, to be what one is and to stop protecting onself from that which one fears, fear does not avoid the danger!
The media are a little more receptive to the new album "The Secret" ...
LF: Ah, but I do not know if you have read ‘le Figaro’ but I am one of the 50 elements to become a snob: "To love Lara Fabian is in good taste." It really makes me chuckle that!
The media are as receptive as the album is transparent and honest. I think there is also such an approach in the album, that one likes it or doesn’t like it, that suddenly it arouses a certain interest beyond a kind of prerogative of not liking the look of me that I can arouse in some. Because it must be said that with some, it's really they don’t like the look of me. Most people who hate me have never met me it’s neceesary to know, I must say. Me, when I was told ‘what’s his name’ said bad things about me to you, when he never saw me, he never came to one of my concerts, and never did an interview, I do not understand . This kind of Parisianism where it is fashionable to hate, to speak evil, why!
But do you not think, Lara, you have been the cause of it?
LF: No, I think not, not really! I think I was originally a huge success and it has upset many people, it has created jealousy. After I grew up in front of the cameras, I can put my foot in my mouth from time to time, I have not always been 43 years old, the wisdom that I have and the distance, of course. But I've never done anything knowingly or intentionally to create such a wave. It was a totally unfair fury.
After "TLFM" there had been a break with Universal Music, your record company at the time, how did you feel?
LF: At the time it was a bit surprising, especially how it was done without any elegance. Then we formed a team, released a solo album and now we are number one in sales. But there's just been a turning point, where you say "yeah ok!" You know, for15 years I was used to having a system that revolved around me, then I had to recreate it, but I have not experienced greater panic than that.
But why did Universal break your contract?
Because I didn’t bring in enough money, and I cost too much, says Pascal Negro.
But you are still distributed by Universal in Belgium and Switzerland. While in France you went to Warner?
LF: Universal France wished to distribute "The Secret" but then there was a minimal elegance required when my contract was broken. And it does not matter, this guy, Pascal Negro is a figures guy, he has a boss who is above him and Fabian she had cost so much, it was reported as the economy and was more than justified. I do not blame him, I just do not understand that after 15 years of so-called friendship, he does not pick up the phone. My problem is never rational, it is still human because I can and I really do step back to understand why, I just have a problem with the form.
Speaking of disagreement, you have had one with the director of the visual variation of your last album for the Russian market "Mademoiselle Zhivago". An album that you have wanted to translate into the form of a musical. Unfortunately the Post-realization did not convince you, and the film was not distributed with the album as originally planned. And surprise, a few days ago, Alan Badoev, the director posted on YouTube a light version of this film. It seemed that a DVD release was planned ...
LF: It is available on YouTube, I do not see the point of it out on DVD. He makes me laugh Alan Badoev, if he had been able to give us the pictures when it was time and does not go for blue and he had a little understanding that this level of violence was not necessary, we would not be there.
It was truly very violent Lara?
LF: Yes, you would not understand, you would have just said but she’s going crazy. Okay there was a style that wielded the force relating to violence, because the aesthetics still remained, but of the comments that one could appropriate to me in a certain way in the sense of this violence never! There still was a difference which lasted three years!
You are happy with the result anyway?
LF: I find it very attractive but it is a pity because it does not tell the whole story of transcendence, we do not see the purpose. It's a shame, but unfortunately you'll never see it because his translation was not mine. I'm still happy that we can see the essence of my work as an actor, his work as a director and the work with a team of 300 people.
This film illustration of your Russian tale, it was also to position yourself in the role of acting, to show that you know how to do something other than singing. I know you want to play in a comedy or a movie ... Have you had any propositions in this regard?
LF: No I do not have a lot of proposals because again there is a label in this country that she is a girl who sings and vice versa. However I do know how to do it, but I think the filmmakers are a little chilly. I just made the "Unexpected Bracket" with among others Chrisitian Vadim telling me: "You're right, the stage directors are afraid to pick a singer, even if she would have all the skills it takes to be a good actress. " It's like that, it's a mindset, we are not going to remake this country anymore, we must also sometimes accept that things are what they are.
A tour is planned with "The Secret" with a lot of dates, it was a choice? Is that you already have an idea of what you offer to the public as a show? An intimate show?
LF: We start working on it with Manu but I'd rather not tell you about it as it is not set. As for the number of dates, it is a request of the promoters, and when Alain and Bernard, my producers, started to pick up the phone, there is not a guy who did not answer this. It will be a steady pace for 1 year, but we have organized it for a mom: 5 days of concerts, and 10 days at home!
Your daughter Lou is okay? It changed you becoming a mom?
LF: It has completely changed me and at the same time I can not say that! It revealed the most fundamental part of me and who I am. It has brought forth from me the best of me and Lou is the best of me.
You said a few years ago that the longevity of the couple formed by your parents was a big challenge for you?
LF: I am 43 years old so they have 47 years together! Ah you're right, yes it put the bar very high! I admire and at the same time it is a very rock and roll 47 years! It's not roses and violets all the time, I mean, it takes a lot of humility, of detachment to still make the choice to stay, even when sometimes our own evolution divides us. Me I could only hold on for seven years. They are strong, really strong, I admire them a lot.
For the first time, you made public your breakup through Facebook. Why did you?
LF: Because it was protective, it had to be done to protect Gerard (Note: Pullicino - her ex-boyfriend), protect Lou. Gerard is one of the most important people in my life today. This is someone with whom I speak with the utmost tenderness, someone I love deeply and I will love all my life. After our roads and our respective choices made us come to a rupture, it involves us and it does concern anyone, but we did manage our way out and it does not surprise me, because it is the image of who we are, him and me.
It was important to say because I absolutely did not want Lou to suffer, that she hear unpleasant things or that Gerard and me suffer from gossip and shortcuts made by the media.
Like all artists you have to deal with illegal downloading. What is your opinion on the music industry today and its new modes of distribution?
LF: I think it goes into what I call the new world. I'm sure that we were at a full turning point and that the system, the model is in the course of changing and artists who can adapt to the new economy, this new way to distribute music will survive.
Today you are # 1 in sales in France, it has not happened to you since your first album in English, which we recall sold over 2 million copies worldwide. A few years later you retry the experiment with a second English album "A Wonderful Life" but unfortunately remained very discreet.
LF: Yes, Sony did nothing! At one given moment there also I was dependent on a family that did not believe in the project, which would not do anything. What is it that you want me to do? We have limits to the margins of the maneuvres we can do. But it is a beautiful album and it's not because I want to ‘sell my drugs’ that I say that.
Do you think you will start again some day in the United States?
LF: "The Secret" is an album with songs that I have already imagined in English. There are two songs "Amourexique" and "Il est lune" that were originally written in that language and then there are others that I have in my head and that I would like to translate.
But at the same time the fact that the world is a village is a misconception of what music is, when you see at what point there are some territories which guard and drive away their cultures and languages. Each country is very protectionist and to have an international career unless it’s a mega fluke with a song that crosses the ocean, the United States via England and that shines over the world, unless you have that, you must go to a territory to work in a territory.
You are preparing a new album for the Russian market right now?
LF: Yes we have already written a dozen songs with Igor Krutoy, my Russian composer for release in 2014/2015 in the countries of the East.
Interview by Haïkel Regaieg (IKL) end of April 2013
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Many excellent questions by the interviewer, and some revealing, and some defensive, responses by Lara. In particular we learned that she will release a new song that did not make it onto ‘Le Secret’ if/when the album gets to platinum (100,000 copies), which very well may happen; that Universal Music did want to release ‘Le Secret’ in France; that she may someday release TLFM1 for sale on her website; that (as we suspected) what she found missing from the Mlle. Zhivago film was the transcendence that the harsh experiences were supposed to lead to – and that she sees no need for a DVD release; and that her next album with Igor Krutoi is fairly far advanced, and will be released in the ‘countries to the East’ in the next year or two. She is also somewhat doubtful about starting up a career in the U.S., saying, as we also thought, that to be successful in a country you have to work in that country, which Lara is apparently unwilling to do.
In other news, Lara entered the debate concerning Celine Dion, which was initiated by a poll conducted by ‘Newsring’ asking its visitors whether Celine was ‘better' before or now. The responses were split pretty much down the middle. When asked, Lara defended Celine, and the ‘Americanization’ that she has undergone, including her performances in Las Vegas. Lara repeated that she supports her unconditionally, and that there has never been a rivalry between them. Interestingly, Lara said that nobody really knows Celine, perhaps because her manager Rene Angelil over-protects her. Nobody can say that about Lara (e.g., the interview above!) (and, again, Lara may well pay a penalty with the public for her transparency). [And you may remember, Celine said that Lara probably doesn't listen to her managers enough!]
There are a few media appearances coming up in two weeks, including the MFM showcase concert, so Lara’s promo is not finished yet but it is winding down. It may well be that the sales she is getting, coming with everything in her favor, represent the best she is capable of doing in France. Undoubtedly her long concert tour will boost them some more, although that is a long way off, and hopefully the final number will be more than respectable. In terms of quality, IMHO fans have gotten all they could have wished for, regardless of how much of the general public ever gets to appreciate it. To a lesser extent, one can say the same thing for the Mlle. Zhivago movie.
David
It won’t be through public appearances, as they are falling off rapidly, as Lara’s novelty and ‘fresh news value’ declines (including the completed passage of the Gay marriage bill). So people are looking for the next single to incite continued interest, and there have been numerous polls on the sites as to which it should be (Lara herself asked for the fans’ opinions). While there is no complete consensus, leading candidates are ‘Un Ange est tombe’ (my choice), a faster, rhythmic song; ‘Il est lune’, for its wonderful musicality; ‘Je reve d’une etoile’ for its positive message; ‘La vie est la’ for its serious message, etc. [Actually, ‘Putain de grand amour’ would really be my choice, but one would imagine Lara would have some problems getting that played
]. One wonders, however, how well any new single release will really work. If one reads the comments about Lara from more general sites, the public is willing to acknowledge her great talent, but she has gotten a reputation in France as being ‘aggressive’. Entertainers can get away with a lot if they are well-liked [witness Tony Bennett in the U.S. suffering few repercussions from saying he thought that U.S. actions had led to the 9-11 bombings [http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/tony-bennett-on-911-attacks-they-flew-the-plane-in-but-we-caused-it/]; to some extent, the ‘likability’ factor accounts for a lot of the mediocrity one finds on the airwaves. We know Lara has a strong personality and forthrightly expresses her opinion (e.g., see the article below). That may not be a good match for this country. In contrast, in Russia she gets asked less probing questions and so far seems to be a well-loved icon (a status that she helped preserve by allowing the Mlle. Zhivago videos to be released).
Meanwhile, there were a few more public appearances as well as press interviews. Lara was present for an interview shown on the program ‘Absolutement Star’ over the weekend. She gave a showcase presentation in Lyon yesterday that will be broadcast on May 19th. A few videos are already available on youtube, and while Lara apparently did a good job, she reportedly was sick; from the pictures it appears that it might also have been cold in the theatre, e.g.,
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=495150297205306&set=a.168982793155393.43222.166959643357708&type=1&theater
She continues to get very good reviews for the album, and it being number 1 last week (and already ‘gold’) led to the general comment that hers was a ‘winning’ return.
Meanwhile, Lara gave another long and revealing interview, this time for ‘Nice Premium’. Here is the translation:
--------------------------------------------------------
Interview: Lara Fabian Tells Us All Her Secrets
We met Lara Fabian in Paris for a special interview on the occasion of the release of her new album "The Secret." The singer who had recorded her previous opus in Nice is back with us on the limited success of her last two albums, her break with Universal Music and talks to us about her "Secret" which is already a gold record!
Lara Fabian, you're back with "The Secret"! Can you tell us about this new album?
LF: ‘The Secret’ is the story of the journey of every human who, impacted by life, is forced to make a choice between the way of understanding his sufferings and the way to live his life. To find the elements that allow him to become resilient, to let go and transform what hurts the most by any force.
A path of some sort?
LF: Yes, and perhaps a little less complex in his way of analyzing, of seeing things. We often think that reflecting a lot is a sign of intelligence, sometimes I think it's just absolute stupidity. The secret is letting go of what hurts us, approach happiness with a little more simplicity.
To introduce this new album you talk a lot of about happiness but [it arises in] very few of the songs in themselves which deal with hard and profound things that have happened to you ... Anorexia, for example, betrayals ... Do you struggle to raise these issues outside of your songs?
LF: No, I think that paraphrase is unnecessary. Many things are said in the album. After one can talk about the parallel meaning that they have, but I'm not a big fan of the translation of the translation. I think the strength of the music, which is the director of our emotion, is the power with a lot of elegance to translate very personal matters.
On the album, one of your songs speaks about social networks "Un ange est tombe" which echoes one of the first titles of your career "Les Amoureux de l’an 2000” ...
LF: Poor me! I always talk about the same thing (laughs).
In "Un Ange est tombe" I wanted to show that we use certain means of communication without realizing the double-edged sword that it is.
I am one of the beings who think we are a single one and the same thing, that it is in being able to be next to someone, to be useful, loving, considerate, that we exist. .. The essential nature of social network is that of going to the other and conversely, it is also a way to cut the other. It is this paradox that I do not endorse and with which I struggle. Especially it hurts me to see people hyper- alone despite having 5,000 friends on Facebook. Honestly we isolate ourselves much more than we create real friendships yet I recognize nevertheless that this is an amazing way when you do a job like mine to find a direct vehicle to the public.
Speaking of social networks, you've gotten there late!
LF: Oulala I got into it late and because they kicked my backside (laughs). It is true that today I see the enthusiasm it created and what touches me is that my audience really feels like part of the story and this is important . Now do I sit behind a screen and affiliate myself in Facebook to go and drink a beer with a friend, no and then I really prefer to sit down with him and show him my pictures on my phone. Sometimes I see people in the same room, talking to each other by interposed tweet, it's sad!
When promoting your latest albums, namely "9" and "TLFM" (Toutes Les Femmes en Moi), you are actually more scarce in the media. Is it that it was somehow a way to protect yourself from a media that would have been able to impact your privacy? One has the impression with "The Secret" you have less fear of exposing yourself?
LF: No I'm not any more or less afraid ... There was just a real welcome for "Le Secret". "TLFM" is an album that has remained much more confidential. People were not really in agreement with my approach of covers, they wanted an original album. As for the album "9", it also did not receive all the love from my audience who found that I didn’t sing out. I think there have been plenty of circumstances that justify the silence of both sides.
To talk again of "9", "9" was intended as a change in the way you sing, to be softer perhaps? You introduced the album by saying that it was the end of a cycle ....
LF: I think if you know my work well, it was discovered long before "9", that I could sing gently, that my voice is an instrument and I use it in a thousand different ways.
I think "9" wasn’t a response to anything. "9" was a place where I sat safely with someone who understood my approach and who accompanied me, in the person of Jean-Félix Lalanne. This album was concomitant to a state of my soul in which I roll myself into a little ball and wait for it to pass!
After there was"TLFM". A first version of this album was made with the Matt Herskowitz musician, but it didn’t convince Pascal Negre. Is it that you regret not having released this first version?
LF: I never regret anything I decide to do, but I sincerely ask the question of knowing whether this album would have received similar comments.
For having heard it, musically it was close to the "Secret", there would have been a real continuity between the two albums.
LF: Musically it was very interesting and at the same time at the level of my way of singing again I stayed very confidential. This is what displeased Pascal Negro (note: the director of Universal Music), who wanted me to deploy my voice a little more, and that's what we did with Simon Climie’s version which was much more pop. We will never know if TLFM1 would have sold better.
You do not think to release it on sale at the store of your concerts?
LF: One day I will offer it, as it is mastered. A little like I released "EWIM" which was the demo I made to make the same album in the United States. The advantage today is that we can through social networks afford to give much more content than before. For example, a song from "Secret" did not end up on the album and I told Manu Pitois (note: one of the composers of the album) it was absolutely necessary to finish it so as to offer it. If the album happens to be platinum, I'll post it on Facebook free for my fans to hear.
At the same time Russia has opened its doors. With the album "Mademoiselle Zhivago" you wrote with Igor Krutoy. An album that has been very successful. 800,000 copies sold in a country where illegal downloading is really very present! It made you happy to have this welcome compared to France which gave you a bit of a cold shoulder?
LF: The public has never shunned me, it is the media which snubbed me. You really get to separate the two worlds because the evidence is, we put on sale at the Théâtre de Paris and in thirty minutes all the tickets are sold. I mean, hello, it's where the truth is there. I will not dwell anymore on this, there will always be people to talk about me behind my back, to despise me, hate me, it's like that, one must track one’s path, to advance, to do what one does, forward, to be what one is and to stop protecting onself from that which one fears, fear does not avoid the danger!
The media are a little more receptive to the new album "The Secret" ...
LF: Ah, but I do not know if you have read ‘le Figaro’ but I am one of the 50 elements to become a snob: "To love Lara Fabian is in good taste." It really makes me chuckle that!
The media are as receptive as the album is transparent and honest. I think there is also such an approach in the album, that one likes it or doesn’t like it, that suddenly it arouses a certain interest beyond a kind of prerogative of not liking the look of me that I can arouse in some. Because it must be said that with some, it's really they don’t like the look of me. Most people who hate me have never met me it’s neceesary to know, I must say. Me, when I was told ‘what’s his name’ said bad things about me to you, when he never saw me, he never came to one of my concerts, and never did an interview, I do not understand . This kind of Parisianism where it is fashionable to hate, to speak evil, why!
But do you not think, Lara, you have been the cause of it?
LF: No, I think not, not really! I think I was originally a huge success and it has upset many people, it has created jealousy. After I grew up in front of the cameras, I can put my foot in my mouth from time to time, I have not always been 43 years old, the wisdom that I have and the distance, of course. But I've never done anything knowingly or intentionally to create such a wave. It was a totally unfair fury.
After "TLFM" there had been a break with Universal Music, your record company at the time, how did you feel?
LF: At the time it was a bit surprising, especially how it was done without any elegance. Then we formed a team, released a solo album and now we are number one in sales. But there's just been a turning point, where you say "yeah ok!" You know, for15 years I was used to having a system that revolved around me, then I had to recreate it, but I have not experienced greater panic than that.
But why did Universal break your contract?
Because I didn’t bring in enough money, and I cost too much, says Pascal Negro.
But you are still distributed by Universal in Belgium and Switzerland. While in France you went to Warner?
LF: Universal France wished to distribute "The Secret" but then there was a minimal elegance required when my contract was broken. And it does not matter, this guy, Pascal Negro is a figures guy, he has a boss who is above him and Fabian she had cost so much, it was reported as the economy and was more than justified. I do not blame him, I just do not understand that after 15 years of so-called friendship, he does not pick up the phone. My problem is never rational, it is still human because I can and I really do step back to understand why, I just have a problem with the form.
Speaking of disagreement, you have had one with the director of the visual variation of your last album for the Russian market "Mademoiselle Zhivago". An album that you have wanted to translate into the form of a musical. Unfortunately the Post-realization did not convince you, and the film was not distributed with the album as originally planned. And surprise, a few days ago, Alan Badoev, the director posted on YouTube a light version of this film. It seemed that a DVD release was planned ...
LF: It is available on YouTube, I do not see the point of it out on DVD. He makes me laugh Alan Badoev, if he had been able to give us the pictures when it was time and does not go for blue and he had a little understanding that this level of violence was not necessary, we would not be there.
It was truly very violent Lara?
LF: Yes, you would not understand, you would have just said but she’s going crazy. Okay there was a style that wielded the force relating to violence, because the aesthetics still remained, but of the comments that one could appropriate to me in a certain way in the sense of this violence never! There still was a difference which lasted three years!
You are happy with the result anyway?
LF: I find it very attractive but it is a pity because it does not tell the whole story of transcendence, we do not see the purpose. It's a shame, but unfortunately you'll never see it because his translation was not mine. I'm still happy that we can see the essence of my work as an actor, his work as a director and the work with a team of 300 people.
This film illustration of your Russian tale, it was also to position yourself in the role of acting, to show that you know how to do something other than singing. I know you want to play in a comedy or a movie ... Have you had any propositions in this regard?
LF: No I do not have a lot of proposals because again there is a label in this country that she is a girl who sings and vice versa. However I do know how to do it, but I think the filmmakers are a little chilly. I just made the "Unexpected Bracket" with among others Chrisitian Vadim telling me: "You're right, the stage directors are afraid to pick a singer, even if she would have all the skills it takes to be a good actress. " It's like that, it's a mindset, we are not going to remake this country anymore, we must also sometimes accept that things are what they are.
A tour is planned with "The Secret" with a lot of dates, it was a choice? Is that you already have an idea of what you offer to the public as a show? An intimate show?
LF: We start working on it with Manu but I'd rather not tell you about it as it is not set. As for the number of dates, it is a request of the promoters, and when Alain and Bernard, my producers, started to pick up the phone, there is not a guy who did not answer this. It will be a steady pace for 1 year, but we have organized it for a mom: 5 days of concerts, and 10 days at home!
Your daughter Lou is okay? It changed you becoming a mom?
LF: It has completely changed me and at the same time I can not say that! It revealed the most fundamental part of me and who I am. It has brought forth from me the best of me and Lou is the best of me.
You said a few years ago that the longevity of the couple formed by your parents was a big challenge for you?
LF: I am 43 years old so they have 47 years together! Ah you're right, yes it put the bar very high! I admire and at the same time it is a very rock and roll 47 years! It's not roses and violets all the time, I mean, it takes a lot of humility, of detachment to still make the choice to stay, even when sometimes our own evolution divides us. Me I could only hold on for seven years. They are strong, really strong, I admire them a lot.
For the first time, you made public your breakup through Facebook. Why did you?
LF: Because it was protective, it had to be done to protect Gerard (Note: Pullicino - her ex-boyfriend), protect Lou. Gerard is one of the most important people in my life today. This is someone with whom I speak with the utmost tenderness, someone I love deeply and I will love all my life. After our roads and our respective choices made us come to a rupture, it involves us and it does concern anyone, but we did manage our way out and it does not surprise me, because it is the image of who we are, him and me.
It was important to say because I absolutely did not want Lou to suffer, that she hear unpleasant things or that Gerard and me suffer from gossip and shortcuts made by the media.
Like all artists you have to deal with illegal downloading. What is your opinion on the music industry today and its new modes of distribution?
LF: I think it goes into what I call the new world. I'm sure that we were at a full turning point and that the system, the model is in the course of changing and artists who can adapt to the new economy, this new way to distribute music will survive.
Today you are # 1 in sales in France, it has not happened to you since your first album in English, which we recall sold over 2 million copies worldwide. A few years later you retry the experiment with a second English album "A Wonderful Life" but unfortunately remained very discreet.
LF: Yes, Sony did nothing! At one given moment there also I was dependent on a family that did not believe in the project, which would not do anything. What is it that you want me to do? We have limits to the margins of the maneuvres we can do. But it is a beautiful album and it's not because I want to ‘sell my drugs’ that I say that.
Do you think you will start again some day in the United States?
LF: "The Secret" is an album with songs that I have already imagined in English. There are two songs "Amourexique" and "Il est lune" that were originally written in that language and then there are others that I have in my head and that I would like to translate.
But at the same time the fact that the world is a village is a misconception of what music is, when you see at what point there are some territories which guard and drive away their cultures and languages. Each country is very protectionist and to have an international career unless it’s a mega fluke with a song that crosses the ocean, the United States via England and that shines over the world, unless you have that, you must go to a territory to work in a territory.
You are preparing a new album for the Russian market right now?
LF: Yes we have already written a dozen songs with Igor Krutoy, my Russian composer for release in 2014/2015 in the countries of the East.
Interview by Haïkel Regaieg (IKL) end of April 2013
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Many excellent questions by the interviewer, and some revealing, and some defensive, responses by Lara. In particular we learned that she will release a new song that did not make it onto ‘Le Secret’ if/when the album gets to platinum (100,000 copies), which very well may happen; that Universal Music did want to release ‘Le Secret’ in France; that she may someday release TLFM1 for sale on her website; that (as we suspected) what she found missing from the Mlle. Zhivago film was the transcendence that the harsh experiences were supposed to lead to – and that she sees no need for a DVD release; and that her next album with Igor Krutoi is fairly far advanced, and will be released in the ‘countries to the East’ in the next year or two. She is also somewhat doubtful about starting up a career in the U.S., saying, as we also thought, that to be successful in a country you have to work in that country, which Lara is apparently unwilling to do.
In other news, Lara entered the debate concerning Celine Dion, which was initiated by a poll conducted by ‘Newsring’ asking its visitors whether Celine was ‘better' before or now. The responses were split pretty much down the middle. When asked, Lara defended Celine, and the ‘Americanization’ that she has undergone, including her performances in Las Vegas. Lara repeated that she supports her unconditionally, and that there has never been a rivalry between them. Interestingly, Lara said that nobody really knows Celine, perhaps because her manager Rene Angelil over-protects her. Nobody can say that about Lara (e.g., the interview above!) (and, again, Lara may well pay a penalty with the public for her transparency). [And you may remember, Celine said that Lara probably doesn't listen to her managers enough!]
There are a few media appearances coming up in two weeks, including the MFM showcase concert, so Lara’s promo is not finished yet but it is winding down. It may well be that the sales she is getting, coming with everything in her favor, represent the best she is capable of doing in France. Undoubtedly her long concert tour will boost them some more, although that is a long way off, and hopefully the final number will be more than respectable. In terms of quality, IMHO fans have gotten all they could have wished for, regardless of how much of the general public ever gets to appreciate it. To a lesser extent, one can say the same thing for the Mlle. Zhivago movie.
David
