Christine and the queens: "I decided not to excuse myself anymore"

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AFP

There are not many pop shows like Christine + The Queens at European festivals this summer.

Scattered and theatrical, he sees the French singer tangling with her dance troupe, while she brings to life songs of nonconformity and badual arousal.

In the midst of spartan lighting and plumes of smoke, muscular and fluid performers sometimes resemble a Caravaggio painting – which, it seems, is everything.

"I wanted to work the show like a painting," says Chris. "Fireworks create smoke, it's almost like an explosion paint."

"When I suggested it for the first time, my technicians wanted to kill me, but maybe the fireworks will kill me," she laughs. "It would be a fantastic concert: she died! She burned in a spontaneous fire!"

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She's joking, of course, but Chris's shows generate enough heat to power a small village. At one point, a dancer even begins to smoke – not with a cigarette on her lips, but with smoke that escapes from their clothes.

There are also moments of intense sadness. On her face, a song about how Letissier always carries the loneliness of the schoolyard wherever she goes, she removes her shirt and turns her back on the public, isolated and vulnerable among a crowd of adoring fans .

But the star emerges liberated and shameless, comfortable in his skin, ignoring his expectations.

"It's a safe, judgment-free space," she announced by starring Other Stage from Glastonbury in June. "Because there is no judgment, then anything can happen".

BBC News met the singer, whose real name is Heloise Letissier, before the show to discuss her "brutally honest" lyrics, and why she "stopped apologizing" for making music on her own terms.

It is eight o'clock until you titrate this step. How will you fill the time?

It's a good question because what's strange as an artist is that you spend the whole day waiting for the night to go on.

I would like to be someone cool who can simply enjoy other concerts and walk around and have a good time. but I will just stay in my locker room, sit, listen to music and concentrate on the show.

And after?

After the show, in fact, I gave everything, so I'm just taking an herbal tea. I must be honest with you, the performance is so important that before and after do not really matter.

You go to dark places. Are drained by the end?

Yes, but it is also cathartic. When I was younger, I always tried to hide the fact that I was very sensitive or fragile and it was exhausting to hide it. But now that I'm joining, I feel really empowered.

A song like Don's Matter addresses topics like anorexia and self-loathing that are atypical for pop music. What has pushed you in this direction?

Since I started writing my first song, she is non-negotiable: I will be brutally honest.

Christine and the Queens was born from a crazy desire to accept everything and possess everything about myself, including dark thoughts, including sadness, including the impossibility of integrating it. And I would not want to run away from it … which creates a strange balance.

And honestly, you know, Christine and the queens are also born of something that happened between me and the drag queens [she was nursed out of depression by a troupe of drag artists after a catastrophic break-up in her early 20s]. Christine is a drag-c character – really generous and fun and entertaining, but born of wounds.

Drag queens always have stories about their sadness – but they make it something that can be shared, and I think it's something that can be really powerful.

You have been called a spokesperson for the LGBT community. Is it a label with which you are comfortable?

I think it's healthier not to think of itself as a spokesperson. As an artist, I believe in visibility, in speaking out. I believe a lot there. But it's good not to think of yourself as a model, because it can become so solemn. and a little pretentious too.

And restrictive, I suppose?

I think so. This is the end of the brutal honesty we were talking about.

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Jamie Morgan

Glastonbury has made great strides in favor of gender equality this year, but you're the only female star on both main stages. What can be done to get women further in the bill?

I recently played at Primavera and this festival was at 50/50. It was really an important moment when the training came out and we realized. It seems that the further we go, the easier it is to look back and see how much we lacked equality before.

This is not yet natural. This is not yet reflex. We must talk about it, think about it, pay attention to it; and I think we are going in the right direction. The pop landscape is now filled with different representations of femininity, which I greatly appreciate. You have Solange, you have Billie Eilish, you have Beyoncé. There are many ways to be a woman in the industry and I think it's really cool.

You have named three women in the lead here.

Absolutely. Beyoncé was already featured at Glastonbury, is not it?

Yes, and Billie Eilish is playing right in front of you today.

It represents something rougher on the edges, less polished. It's a form of femininity that I like very much.

The next step would be to get more women into technical jobs – like sound engineers, producers.

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Jamie Morgan / Getty Images

You have actually self-produced your two albums. Is it just because the music is so personal?

It's just natural. When I write a song, I always start with production: create a rhythm, an aesthetic. I do not have a demo with piano chords and a melody, it's already a song in great shape. So I just have to finish the production as it is.

In fact, at one point, because I was becoming aware of myself, I thought, "OK, I will try to produce with other people," but it did not work. I kept losing the essence of the track as it had already been produced with clear vision. At one point, I decided to stop apologizing for it. I like to produce. I like to think about sounds and textures.

Tell me about making $ 5. How did you get such a unique sound?

I was obsessed with Bruce Springsteen when I was writing the second album. I was like: "Oh, he knows how to write so tender and catchy melodies" and when I wrote 5 dollars, I was looking for that type of melody that could be uplifting and sad at the same time.

And then for the production, I thought a lot about Arthur Russell – whose music is really rare and fragile, but also really fierce. So it was like Bruce Springsteen and Arthur Russell. Not much.

You have tasted Janet Jackson's Nasty during your show. Did Minneapolis also have a great influence?

In fact, I watched it playing on Glastonbury on BBC iPlayer while I was drinking my coffee this morning! But you're right, on my second album, the production of Control and The Velvet Rope by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – has inspired me a lot.

I do not think many people realize how the Velvet Rope was a pioneer – Janet talked about the fluidity of gender and LGBT rights, long before it became an accepted part of pop music.

This album is a masterpiece. As you say, it's about fluidity between the bades but also depression, empowerment. You meet an entire woman in all its facets. This is not an easy listening because it does not give an easy answer.

At one point, she is empowered and at another time she is badaulted by a partner – but it is the same woman who is trying to make her way in life.

It's an extremely feminist album and the production is amazing, so that really inspired me. I also wanted to make an album that could be complex. I did not want to give easy answers on who I was, because I do not have any.

And that's the key, is not it? No one is the same person overnight.

Not exactly. And I mean, I love cheese pop. I love pop it's just [sings] "Be the best person you can be!"But I want to use the pop ship to tell stories that could be deeply relatable, sometimes these stories are not clear or easy – but life is like that.

Christine and the Queens participates in festivals all over Europe this summer and is currently appearing with Charli XCX on the single Gone.

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