Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Christine And The Queens, Caroline International 2018.
Chris is the follow up to Christine And The Queens’ highly regarded debut release Chaleur Humaine which was released to near universal acclaim in France in 2014.
The androgynous cover photo provides an interesting insight to the lyric content of the album.
With the release of Chris, Christine And The Queens, AKA Heloise Letissier, has taken a step away from the teenage pop of her debut release to explore a tougher, more minimalist, sound and crucially to do it with macho swagger.
It was with this in mind that the character of Chris was born.
She says; “I initially set out to smash against macho culture and macho men. I became obsessed with the idea of the macho man, and still being a woman. What does it mean if I’m this figure, and I’m a woman? Does it make me an aberration? is it joyful?”
She credits the new-found musical muscle in the album to the maleness of her alter-ego Chris.
It fuelled a shift in mood towards a more provocative exhilaration of confidence, sex, anger, lust, and of course the previously mentioned male machismo.
The album certainly has a sparseness and percussiveness to it and the lyrics are often quite direct.
The first single, Girlfriend, debuted this month to instant critical acclaim from the likes of Billboard and The Guardian and it is trending on Spotify and Apple Music playlists world-wide.
It also cracked the A-list at BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music as well as the B-list on BBC 1.
In addition to this exposure Christine And The Queens performed the track on three major TV outlets; The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Later With Jools Holland and Chanson de L’Annee (French Channel 1).
Chris is a long album, running for over 90 minutes. Most songs are in English however Heloise sings some in French and some are a combination of the two languages.
The approach she’s taken to devise the album is certainly interesting.
It’s musically a mix of soul with funk rhythms and it sounds quite different from most other new releases I’ve received.
How much her alter-ego Chris helped the process is open for debate.
