GIRLFRIEND
“Peak Janet and pure lust… feels like a fluid generation’s mantra-in-waiting” – The Guardian
“The French pop sensation returns with an ultra-smooth, funk driven tune” – V Magazine
“Her take on funk is fluid in every sense, but it also finds her sounding utterly dominant” – NME
“An extremely fucking good mission statement” - Noisey
“Christine and the Queens, is, thank god, back” – i-D
Christine and the Queens today debuts the stunning video for her acclaimed comeback single Girlfriend.
With the original concept being developed by Christine herself, director Jordan Bahat describes how she came to him with “Charles Ebbets’ photos from the 1930’s of builders relaxing on girders 60 stories up in the air and said, “these are the sorts of scenes I want to create for this video”. Along with those pictures, there were colour references from Tarsem and choreography references from West Side Story and Michael Jackson’s Bad.”
The film draws inspiration from these hyper stylised American musicals but pulls them upside-down and inside-out for a song that is revisiting radical concepts of masculinity and gender.
“The message is both simple and radical,” says Christine and the Queens. “Simple because the video relies on energy and an effective use of choreography: more physical, sensual and assertive. Radical in terms of its aesthetics: here, the gang concept blurs the lines between ballerina and thug, as was often the case in American musicals such as West Side Story.”
The video also delivers us a more detailed unveiling of the Chris character; bigger, prouder, funnier, and damned horny whilst also illustrating the narrative of the original song beautifully.
Christine explains; “The song is like a story you tell to your friends” she continues. “Chris is the gang leader, the kind of person you look for and listen to; he does what he wants, perched up high somewhere, dangling above the emptiness…”
Girlfriend debuted as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record In The World’ on BBC Radio 1 last Thursday and was released to instant critical acclaim from The Guardian to Vice, and i-D to V Magazine; landing on radio, Spotify and Apple Music playlists worldwide, clocking up more than a million streams over the weekend. The song is available in English and French language versions, the latter titled Damn, Dis Moi.
Girlfriend is Christine and the Queens’ first new song since her already iconic debut record Chaleur Humaine, released to near-universal acclaim in France in 2014 and the UK in 2016, and selling more than 1.3 million copies to date. If Chaleur Humaine was an introduction to Christine and the Queens AKA Héloïse Letissier, then ‘Girlfriend’ is a bold declaration of the next chapter in her story. She’s stepping away from her debut album towards a tougher, more minimalist, and more upbeat sound, which finds its most direct expression on ‘Girlfriend’. The track – written and produced by Letissier- pays tribute to her long-time love of the G-funk sound, and in order to get it exactly right, she tracked down one of its pioneers, Dâm-Funk, and asked him to sing and play on it.
Christine and the Queens will perform at Radio 1’s Biggest Weekend in Swansea, UK, this Sunday 27 May. She has announced a full tour of Europe, Canada and the United States for the Autumn. See below for the full list of dates. See christineandthequeens.com for ticket information.
17 November – BOURNEMOUTH – BIC
20 November – LONDON – EVENTIM APOLLO – SOLD OUT
21 November – LONDON – EVENTIM APOLLO – SOLD OUT
23 November – GLASGOW – ROYAL CONCERT HALL
24 November – EDINBURGH – USHER HALL
26 November – BIRMINGHAM – O2 ACADEMY
27 November – MANCHESTER – O2 APOLLO
30 November – DUBLIN – RDS
For more information please contact thom@sonicpr.co.uk