Les Inrockuptibles - 30 april 2013 - Cover

[Deleted]

Hahiiiii can't wait to have this mag between my hands !!

[Deleted]

thanks, that picture is seriously stunning

[Deleted]

Here the scans



Really nice interview! I love the pic with the white shirt <3

[kapri1224]

She looks a little like Keira in the white top and her hair a little wild! So beautiful! Vanessa is looking good!

[cat]

Beautiful cover and pics.

[Krista]

She looks great. I've always loved her Mondino photoshoots. Hopefully we can get a translation of the interview.

[Deleted]

magnifique! thanks meixang

[nounours13]

I've tried to translate the beginning of the interview...
Sorry for the mistakes (again...)



Your last studio album, Divinidylle, was released six years ago. When did you begin to think about the next one ?
When I was working on my Best-of, 3 or 4 years ago, I wanted to have an eccentric song, and a lot of authors sent songs to me. I chose the Gaëtan Roussel's song. The other songs I liked, I kept them for later. And one year ago, I received many other songs, and especially B.Biolay's songs. He sent to me songs already arranged that he has written when he was recording his album. The first one, it was "Prends garde à moi". I listened to the arrangements and I was astounded. So, the idea that he could produce my album came at the same time.

The music of the album is very varied. Did you want that ?
The "éclectisme" is due to the songs that I received. I often want to make a "purified" album, I'd really want to make an album with guitar, bass, drum. And I never manage 'cause I also like the "strings" and the brass, I can't stop myself with the arrangements. And I worked with a director who really like that. These are the songs that make me want to make an album. I choose the songs that speak to me the most, and after, we make arrangements in order to create a link between them.

The album is very fluid, liquid, we feel like going to swim...
I like this idea, it means sun, holiday. That's right. There are a lot of texts which relate to the sea, the ocean. And there is an italian song, another a little bit british, another which is a little african... It's like a trip, we go to many different cultures, many languages. That's the variety. We succeed in doing an album when we want to listen it in vacancy, an album to feel good. At the beginning, I had all these strong texts, but I didn't want to make an album that we could just listen when we are not in the mood. It does exist sublime albums that I cannot listen some days. I wanted this album could be listened whatever the mood.

So B.Biolay has produced the album, and you sing together "The pink roses". It sounds like a "Gainsbourg's style", right ?
I didn't see that like this. Indeed, there are some words, when he speaks in his songs, which sometimes can have "Gainsbourg intonations". It must be painful for him to always be comparative with Gainsbourg all the time. But the comparison could be worse ! In France, we miss so much this Gainsbourg who was a part of our everyday life, for music or for "the daily commentary (??)"... We cling to him, we are proud of him. I understand that we want to evoke this heritage. Biolay makes very good melodies, texts, arrangements, and he knows how to direct musicians. In addition to his studies in music college, he is a self-taught person for piano and guitar. So he doesn't get this kind of "classical music yoke" (??). That gives to him a huge freedom as a composer, and this ease in studio.

[MarieClaire]

Thanks nounours! Excellent translation!

[Krista]

Thanks, nounours! Interesting...it seems like a great Summer album.

[Deleted]

Thanks so much!!!

[nounours13]

You're all welcome ! Merci !
Here is another part of the interview...



B.Biolay has already worked with a lot of women singers. Did you feel confident with that ?
I didn't think about that. It was essential to work with a clever, nice and respectful person. If I felt another thing, in spite of talent, I would have said no. I'm very lucky with my job 'cause I can choose people with I want to work. When there are talent and kindness, it's wonderful.
Benjamin wanted me to love this album. But there were surprises too, in details which make the subtlety of the arrangements. We have both similar musical tastes. We like soul arrangements, the brass, the strings, this Marvin Gaye side. We listened to many different things in studio in order to feel inspired.

Why a double album ?
It came because there were too many beautiful songs. I prefer albums with ten songs, but I really wanted to keep some of them and I didn't want to keep them for later. I take things as they come. Maybe I won't be able to grab the chance to make another double album. And I like this idea to come back to an old-style when real albums were made, as a book in which you can immerse...

Why an album about love songs ?
The authors and composers sent to me just that. it's good 'cause those are my favorite songs. Even when I was 14 years-old I sang love songs, that's not a new thing for me. And there are not only nice songs between a man and a woman. There are songs about friendship and disillusion. Singing texts that I was given, it was as shooting a movie or being on stage, it's a real escape for spirit and body.
With songs, I have this feeling, as if I could escape in their stories. They tell different emotions, and it allows me to feel good, it takes out ... (??)

"La chanson des vieux cons" is very touching, it seems to correspond to the life you have now, since you are 40 years)old...
At the beginning, I was not able to sing it without crying. I practised, but I barely finished the song intact. but now, it's OK, but if I don't pay attention, it's difficult to sing it. i have to free myself from it, and I must sing this song for everyone of us, not just for myself.

Without speaking about your private life ; at this time of your life, did you use this album in order to feel better ?
Every albums make me feel good, 'cause I enjoy singing, it puts oxygen in my brain and it slackens my solar plexus. Everybody should sing even those who sing badly, it's like a therapy. It's difficult to say if this album made me feel good more than the others. It's like eating a chocolate cake : the last one often is the best, it's difficult to remember if the cake made five years ago was better or not.

Was it an "easy-to-eat" album ?
Really easy to eat. I adored the ICP Studio in Brussels, even if I didn't have the time to visit the city. We often were 3 or 4 persons in the studio, I was far from my friends, my family, there weren't any distractions. We have recorded 25 songs in one and half months. Benjamin is not only nice and talented but also efficient and rapid. It was a place just for creation and freedom, a marvelous bubble where we are not judged. At the end, I didn't want it to stop.

You always work with a lot of men. All the persons who have written songs for this album are men...
I recorded my first album when I was 15 years-old with men only, I get used to work with men so I don't ask myself questions anymore. But I need to have women around me too, female musicians came to the studio, but I feel good with men. They make me laugh.
I've received songs written by women, but I didn't keep them, it's like that, perhaps it's just by chance. But on the album, there is a text written by Ruth Ellsworth Carter.

This song is also written by Lily-Rose / Johnny Depp / Vanessa Paradis. How did it go ?
This song was composed a long time ago, 8 years ago. I had the chords but I was looking for a melody that I didn't find. My daughter who was 6 years-old sang something that I've found sublime. So I kept the melody and the first song of the text as she sang it when she was 6. And the rest of the text was written one year ago.

You wrote by yourself one song "Doorway". Would you like to write an entire album ?
It's a very deep desire, but I feel that I won't be able to do that. It's very difficult for me to write and compose one, two or three songs. There is nothing more beautiful than seeing an artist who sings his own songs. I admire Feist or Melody Gardot for that. But I'm not able to write a lot of songs. I play the guitar and piano very badly - enough to write songs, but not enough for accompaniments. After, there also is a great freedom when you interpret the others' words, like in movies, you don't know where you are anymore, in reality or fiction. There is the same with the songs brought by the others, you can hide behind them...

What is your first "musical memory" ?
"Pierre et le loup" (Pierre and the wolf), the Gérard Philippe's version. I spent a lot of time with my grand-mother during my childhood, and there was this vinyl... I listened to it a lot. I wanted my children to listen to it, but it was not the good time. They were too young, I remember that one of them was scared, so I stopped it.

How did this italian track come, "Tu si na grande", that you sing on the album ?
Last autumn, John Turturro asked me to sing this song for his movie. So I recorded it when I was making my album. Benjamin has made a very nice version of it. It's an italian classic song, a lot of people have already sung it, but we've made something softer, far from this impassioned side.


The rest of the interview is coming soon...

[Deleted]

thanks nounours

[shellysmom]

Thanks Nounours!! I really appreciate your translations.

[Deleted]

Thanks so much!!!

[gavrilova1993]

Thank you very much!

[bitak]

The pictures are stunning!! and I love her interview,specially the part about singing being a therapy. She's absolutely right.
Thanks all!

[nounours13]

I thought I had finished the translation, but no, sorry... So here is the end of the interview...



What did you learn from your acoustic tour, 3 years ago ?
I felt more powerful things than for my electric concerts. I make tours since my third album. When I was 15, I didn't feel ready for that. My first experiences on stage were violent. It was the time of "Joe le taxi". So, the first time I gave concerts, I wanted to make a real show. And on stage, I'm just a performer, and not a performer with a strong voice. I often had the feeling that just my voice, it was not enough for a Zénith. I had to dance or being more feminine. It was violent. For the acoustic tour, it was the contrary. I began my show, sat on a stool, everything was just for music. The texts were "different", and in particular, those I sang when I was 15 years-old. Now, I'll give electric concerts, but I hope I could be able to find these sensations again. But I also like big shows. I'd like to see Beyonce on stage, I really liked Prince too.

Your first song "Joe le taxi" became a hit, and after, "a classic". What does this song mean for you 25 years later ?
The day I was very surprised, is when Afrika Bambaataa told me that he made a remix of it in New-York. This song is a kind of symbol to me. First of all, it's a good song, with a very "cheeky" arrangement for the eighties, it wasn't a song made in order to make a hit for a 14-years-old-girl. I still sing it today, it creates a link between I and its authors. I still feel connected to the Vanessa I was, I cannot be detached from who I was. This has built the life I have today, so I don't want to deny her.

Do you think your name, Paradis, has determined something ?
My name sounds like a "stage-name", even though I would have never dare to choose a name like this one... I often think about my grand-father who was a worker, and he had a very difficult life. And his name, Paradis, had not changed a lot of things for him...

You're now 40 years-old. How is your life today, and how do you imagine your life in future, in twenty years ?
Being 40 years-old, it's an inevitability (fate ?). We look back, we imagine what it comes after... I try not to think about future. I wonder how I could live without singing, but at the same time, singing on stage when you are 60 years-old, I don't know... Days are too short, I have so many things to do in the present. And I like not knowing it. I could improve myself or I could write songs for the others, or make a movie. Or I could live with simplicity, doing manual work all day long, clay, paintings, drawings, etc... Some things that my father who was a craftsman, made me learn. It's so good where you're able to make something with your own hands. During this time, the mind rests.



Voilà !

[Deleted]

thankyou very much nounours you are lovely

[flo116]

Thank you nounours you are wonderful to do this for us.
The translations always remind me of how adorable Vanessa is.