Post by davidhr on Jun 18, 2013 9:36:26 GMT -5
The highlight this past week was Lara’s appearance on the Generation M6 Show of the 15th, was aired, with Lara performing the Jean-Jacques Goldman's song, "Comme toi" (Like You). Lara did a wonderful job; it can be seen at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-F-lXZdKCw
Some pictures have been released of Lara with others in conjunction with the event, e.g., with Karima at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=520564061324558&set=a.104315726282729.2679.103390503041918&type=1&theater
As had been suggested, Lara was not actually at the show; her performance was apparently recorded in the afternoon, and then added in. It was said she was actually singing in front of only about 20 people, which accounts for the lack of the enthusiastic applause that was heard for some of the other performers. In addition, while what was shown was the homage other singers gave to Goldman, in other segments they sang their own songs, with Lara performing ‘Deux ils, deux elles’; presumably it will appear at a later date.
Lara was also not at the celebration of Johnny Hallyday’s 70th anniversary show. She however was part of the show’s Happy Birthday video, as can be seen at:
www.programme-tv.net/news/people/40604-people-souhaitent-bon-anniversaire-johnny-hallyday/
where she once again noted the important contribution he made to her career (with their duet of "Requiem pour un fou”).
Instead, Lara’s week was occupied by the taping of the French reality series ‘The Best’ in her role as a judge, occupying a number of days in which she got to review all sorts of performances. She even left a video about it for fans, available (with English subtitles) at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLB75xE_PyE
As evident from her description, this is not just about (all types of) singing, but performers of all stripes. Her fascination with her role is such that she is bombarding her FB site with pictures from the different tapings, for example (from her Instagram site):
and another that’s gotten a lot of ‘blond’ jokes:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201308351452417&set=gm.585363498174433&type=1&theater
The shows will probably appear in September or October, although one opinion is that they may actually be broadcast this summer. If they are popular, they could do a lot to bring Lara closer to the French public, especially those segments that normally don’t pay attention to recording artists of her genre. In terms of sales for her CDs and concerts, the Fall would be much better, with a bigger audience and coincident with the start of her tour. This is all to the good, because ‘Le Secret’ is dropping on the charts, from 55th to 76th in France (55th for physical CDs), and from 10th to 15th in Belgium. Her perspective, and ours, should be that of the ‘long haul’, since Lara will be promoting the album throughout France and Belgium for many months starting in September.
Lara is continually adding dates to her concert tour schedule, but they have not been included in her concert lists, either on her URL or FB site; it is the fans who have found them, a number of which are already selling tickets. This is the usual lack of attention that one would have hoped Lara’s new PR organization would have rectified. Whoever does make it to see these concerts however is in for a visual treat. The site ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ pointed out a link to a May article that stated, “Bernard Depoorter will be occupied creating stage costumes for Lara Fabian..."
www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20130502_00304964
The Lara Fabian Romanian site has been adding subtitles to the ‘Lara Fabian Sans Secret’ series of interviews. As of this writing they have done the first two, available on youtube.
Speaking of websites, Claire Evelyne Dauge has a very informative one at: www.facebook.com/pages/Lara-Fabian-lAnge-sublime-par-Claire-Evelyne-Daug%C3%A9/103390503041918. One unique aspect is that she occasionally includes a game called “where is Lara” in which she provides a picture of many people into which she has inserted a picture or icon of Lara, and asks readers to find her. The ability to blow up photos, possession of a magnifying glass, and a good deal of imagination are necessary to succeed!
And for those of you who downloaded Lara’s Showcase concert of 4/15 posted on Evergig soon after it appeared, the way the site works is that they improve their concert videos as more people upload contributions. In particular, among other changes, their latest version includes ‘La vie est la’, which wasn’t there initially. It is available at:
www.evergig.com/player/775DC1E2-E738-43E3-9C46-5C28260912A2
Outside of additional showings of the M6 Generation program, Lara’s only remaining scheduled TV appearance is on "Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde" coming up on France 2, June 26th. If she indeed gets a rest, she will have earned it; with a great album and wonderful promotional appearances, she has tried almost everything to make this album a success. As noted previously, and on many fan sites, the one failure has been that more of the music from the album was not made available to the public. With only ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ in their minds, the audience may well conceive of this to be an advocacy album, on an issue that many in France find highly controversial. It was a double-edged sword - yes, it got her attention, but not all attention sells albums, especially for that segment that disagrees with her position. Lara has said that she doesn’t care about money, but she does want people to hear her music, and a classic rule of entertainment is to not alienate your potential audience (e.g., Mel Gibson). In her case, she was certainly within her rights to take a stand she believes in, but controversy should not be the only thing that the audience gets to hear, especially when so many of the other songs are beautiful and meaningful. The promotion ended up being more about Lara than about Le Secret, and of course she is controversial too. Despite its great start, Lara and her people cannot be overly happy with the sales: after eight weeks, the much-criticized TLFM was 43rd on the French charts, compared with Le Secret’s 76. Even “A Wonderful Life”, an album completely in English that received zero publicity and promotional appearances, was 61st in France after 8 weeks. As suggested above, Lara's in this for the long haul with her upcoming tour scheduled to last for a year, so the final commercial verdict on this album is far from written, but she should take the summer to reconsider how to better get ‘Le Secret’ out.
David
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-F-lXZdKCw
Some pictures have been released of Lara with others in conjunction with the event, e.g., with Karima at:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=520564061324558&set=a.104315726282729.2679.103390503041918&type=1&theater
As had been suggested, Lara was not actually at the show; her performance was apparently recorded in the afternoon, and then added in. It was said she was actually singing in front of only about 20 people, which accounts for the lack of the enthusiastic applause that was heard for some of the other performers. In addition, while what was shown was the homage other singers gave to Goldman, in other segments they sang their own songs, with Lara performing ‘Deux ils, deux elles’; presumably it will appear at a later date.
Lara was also not at the celebration of Johnny Hallyday’s 70th anniversary show. She however was part of the show’s Happy Birthday video, as can be seen at:
www.programme-tv.net/news/people/40604-people-souhaitent-bon-anniversaire-johnny-hallyday/
where she once again noted the important contribution he made to her career (with their duet of "Requiem pour un fou”).
Instead, Lara’s week was occupied by the taping of the French reality series ‘The Best’ in her role as a judge, occupying a number of days in which she got to review all sorts of performances. She even left a video about it for fans, available (with English subtitles) at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLB75xE_PyE
As evident from her description, this is not just about (all types of) singing, but performers of all stripes. Her fascination with her role is such that she is bombarding her FB site with pictures from the different tapings, for example (from her Instagram site):
http://instagram.com/p/aX3oU0h878#
and another that’s gotten a lot of ‘blond’ jokes:
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201308351452417&set=gm.585363498174433&type=1&theater
The shows will probably appear in September or October, although one opinion is that they may actually be broadcast this summer. If they are popular, they could do a lot to bring Lara closer to the French public, especially those segments that normally don’t pay attention to recording artists of her genre. In terms of sales for her CDs and concerts, the Fall would be much better, with a bigger audience and coincident with the start of her tour. This is all to the good, because ‘Le Secret’ is dropping on the charts, from 55th to 76th in France (55th for physical CDs), and from 10th to 15th in Belgium. Her perspective, and ours, should be that of the ‘long haul’, since Lara will be promoting the album throughout France and Belgium for many months starting in September.
Lara is continually adding dates to her concert tour schedule, but they have not been included in her concert lists, either on her URL or FB site; it is the fans who have found them, a number of which are already selling tickets. This is the usual lack of attention that one would have hoped Lara’s new PR organization would have rectified. Whoever does make it to see these concerts however is in for a visual treat. The site ‘Lara Fabian est ton autre’ pointed out a link to a May article that stated, “Bernard Depoorter will be occupied creating stage costumes for Lara Fabian..."
www.lavenir.net/article/detail.aspx?articleid=DMF20130502_00304964
The Lara Fabian Romanian site has been adding subtitles to the ‘Lara Fabian Sans Secret’ series of interviews. As of this writing they have done the first two, available on youtube.
Speaking of websites, Claire Evelyne Dauge has a very informative one at: www.facebook.com/pages/Lara-Fabian-lAnge-sublime-par-Claire-Evelyne-Daug%C3%A9/103390503041918. One unique aspect is that she occasionally includes a game called “where is Lara” in which she provides a picture of many people into which she has inserted a picture or icon of Lara, and asks readers to find her. The ability to blow up photos, possession of a magnifying glass, and a good deal of imagination are necessary to succeed!
And for those of you who downloaded Lara’s Showcase concert of 4/15 posted on Evergig soon after it appeared, the way the site works is that they improve their concert videos as more people upload contributions. In particular, among other changes, their latest version includes ‘La vie est la’, which wasn’t there initially. It is available at:
www.evergig.com/player/775DC1E2-E738-43E3-9C46-5C28260912A2
Outside of additional showings of the M6 Generation program, Lara’s only remaining scheduled TV appearance is on "Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde" coming up on France 2, June 26th. If she indeed gets a rest, she will have earned it; with a great album and wonderful promotional appearances, she has tried almost everything to make this album a success. As noted previously, and on many fan sites, the one failure has been that more of the music from the album was not made available to the public. With only ‘Deux ils, deux elles’ in their minds, the audience may well conceive of this to be an advocacy album, on an issue that many in France find highly controversial. It was a double-edged sword - yes, it got her attention, but not all attention sells albums, especially for that segment that disagrees with her position. Lara has said that she doesn’t care about money, but she does want people to hear her music, and a classic rule of entertainment is to not alienate your potential audience (e.g., Mel Gibson). In her case, she was certainly within her rights to take a stand she believes in, but controversy should not be the only thing that the audience gets to hear, especially when so many of the other songs are beautiful and meaningful. The promotion ended up being more about Lara than about Le Secret, and of course she is controversial too. Despite its great start, Lara and her people cannot be overly happy with the sales: after eight weeks, the much-criticized TLFM was 43rd on the French charts, compared with Le Secret’s 76. Even “A Wonderful Life”, an album completely in English that received zero publicity and promotional appearances, was 61st in France after 8 weeks. As suggested above, Lara's in this for the long haul with her upcoming tour scheduled to last for a year, so the final commercial verdict on this album is far from written, but she should take the summer to reconsider how to better get ‘Le Secret’ out.
David
