With Psychedelices, Alizee lets the winds of freedom blow upon her third album! Four years after the extraordinary adventure of Moi...Lolita orchestrated by the Mylene Farmer/Laurent Boutonnat team, the ex-lolita is from now on a freed artist who knew how to work with talented authors like Bertrand Bergalat, Oxmo Puccino, or even Jeremy Chatelain who give a sound that is much more rock to her new work.
Interview by Tony GOMEZ

Alizee: The new flight

Alizee, first of all bravo, because your album is like something from the eighties and is very interesting to listen to...

Thank you! I don't know if it will be the same in three or four years but today, I can't make an album that resembles me more than this one!

It shows. This album, is one of freedom but also of artistic colloboration with Jeremy Chatelain...

Jeremy directed the album with Sylvain Carpentier. They kind of linked everybody together because there are several small teams that participated on this album and Jeremy and Sylvain allowed, despite the different worlds, everything to be coherent. Each song has its world and tells its own story, musically or in texts, but there is always a common thread. We go from one song to another with distinct thoughts but we are not lost because the songs form a group.

Effectively there are lots of different authors who worked on this album like Oxmo Puccino, Jean Fauque, Daniel Darc, Bertrand Bergalat...

These are authors who have a lot of talent. Those are the only authors that I have loved so much! They have a certain way of writing which is not the same but that mix well and I was truly seduced. Notably by Jean Fauque who plays with words and plays on double meanings. I do a bit of that because Mylene Farmer used a lot of word plays, on the confusing side, notably on sexuality. Jean Fauque is more subtle and more mature, he corresponds more to my current age.

"If somebody makes me happy, I decided to work with him/her. I think thats what expresses my sincerity"

The musical philosophy, even artistic of this album is much like the eighties, no?

Yes, I like this sound! That of the eighties, notably Madonna who I have always adored, more particularly when she was just starting out. I have listened to lots of different things so that it doesn't get cheap and that it is contemporary but effectively with several references to the sound of the eighties. I think that even then, you can instantly recognize which songs Daniel Darc wrote. And without any pretense on my part, there are some sounds that makes one think about what Blondie did, another artist that I love...

We recognize you in all these songs, there is a real sincerity...

I work on the human level and this album was based on that. I have a hard time working with people when guys tell you it would be nice to work with them. I don't work like that. I am quite direct and honest. If somebody makes me happy, I decide to work with them, if not I will move on to something else. I think that expresses my honesty. I took the time to be able to make an album that makes me happy, and that I hope will make other people happy. The time to do things the way I want them has come. I don't want to hide myself behind something that doesn't work for me. Through all the songs, I rarely talk in the first person. First of all, I have a hard time talking about myself, even with my closest friends, and I find it more interesting to open up to others. It is like projecting oneself into roles that one could do in cinema. I think its important to tell stories, to take people on journeys. We are not forced to make an album that speaks about difficulties. I don't think about music that way...

I really like the 80's sound, notably Madonna that I have adored since her start

This album is also quite a piece of poetry...

Yes that's true, with other things like the title Psychedelices. A very beautiful song that really reflects what there is in this album, according to me. I like Bjork a lot. At my humble level, I wanted to have a song that would be in his world... Psychedelices I think is a beautiful word. When I was given this word, I thought it was very fine, subtle, and very beautiful. As the title of the album, it sums up its world very well. Psyche for all the sounds that are a bit closed off, a bit like in the 80s and the psychedelic current. Delice for the tangy pop side of the the album!

A song that I think is very beautiful is the one that is at the end and that talks about being a mother...

That is the song that is the closest to me. It is the one that tells the story of a mother's life. With it, I open up to the public and talk about myself. There, I can't lie and I assume that role completely. It is one of my favourites because its a song about my family. My daughter was born just when I started to work on the album. Jean Fauque described all that: the birth of my daughter and her first steps. He saw her grow up so he was in a good position! It closes the album well because now I am a mother with responsibilities and I jumped into the adult world.