Christine and the Queens it is difficult to pinpoint, and that’s the beauty of it. The French pop phenom rose to fame with their self-titled debut album in 2015 — a more-English re-edition of his French debut, Chaleur Humaine (“Human warmth”), which became the biggest selling uk debut of 2016.
Then came a new, more aggressive era in 2018 — described as “hot, hungry and ambitious” in The New York Times. Christine did Chris, and their fiery second album, Chrisborn: another self-titled debut album, of sorts, under a new mononym.
The fire roars in its new five-song EP, The Vita Nuova (“The New Life”), and the 13-minute short film that accompanies it. Shot in Paris the famous Palais Garnier by Colin Solal Cardo (of Robyn’s “Never again” and Charli XCX’s “White Mercedes”), the film sums up some of the best of its peculiar power of the stars: the bass-driven track Chris in “Je Disparais dans Tes Bras” (“I disappear in Your Arms”) with the downtempo embers of Chaleur Humaine in “the Mountains (We find).”
Choreographed by Ryan Heffington (Sia’s “Chandelier”) and costarring the delight that is Felix Maritaud (of 120 Beats Per Minute and Sauvage), is a witty send up to a “very difficult time”, as she described it to POPSUGAR.
Now, Chris is adjusting to the life in something, reopened its doors in Paris. But life goes on, also, in the self-isolation: is called at home, presentations of Lady Gaga, One World: Together in the Home, The Graham Norton Showand The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, in addition to almost daily Instagram Lives. “It’s the end of strict blocking of here,” he said, “so it’s just a little more calm.”
For the fans, calming, also, it is Chris, an artist who always resists labels and is based on the work of individual liberté: “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority.”
These restrictions may not be written into law for some of us, but they are almost always written between the lines. It takes courage to be yourself in a world that resists complexity, and queer people are, by definition, complex. Or, we can be if we work hard enough. So, what better time to consider what we stand to gain by the growth of the shame, and the pride of the Pride Month? The love of self is an act of rebellion, after all, and Stonewall was a riot.
More Zoom at the end of May, POPSUGAR sat down with Chris for a tête-à-tête in honor of Pride … so to speak The Vita Nuova and the new freedom — within and outside of the self-isolation.
