Album review

Vanessa Paradis

Blissfully Happy.

Paris 

27/10/2000 - 

Vanessa Paradis has been absent from the French music scene for several years, so the former pop Lolita's new album Bliss has been eagerly awaited by fans and critics alike. An intensely personal album, written for the most part by Vanessa herself, Bliss is an upbeat pop manifesto celebrating happiness in motherhood and love. The new, more mature - and obviously blissfully happy - Vanessa, will be sharing her new-found felicity with fans when she performs in Paris at the legendary Olympia (20 - 25 March 2001).

Interestingly enough, Ms. Paradis has chosen an English title for her new album, feeling perhaps that there is no real French equivalent of the word "bliss". Bliss defines a kind of spiritual happiness which transcends everyday things, a state approaching ecstasy where the material world falls away. In short, true bliss is a state which is difficult to attain – you don't generally reach spiritual nirvana after eating a pizza, passing your finals or making love for ten minutes!
So when Vanessa calls her new album Bliss it's a clear statement of principle, an effort to break away from empty little ditties about taxis and elevate the happiness of everyday life to a state of grace. There are no mystic halos of light on Vanessa's new album, however, no mysterious clouds of incense wafting through gardens of paradise. On songs like L’Eau et le Vin, Vanessa celebrates the wonders of earthly existence – loving gestures, the feel of the sun on her face, light glinting on a garden or a fine cup of coffee on a café terrace. France's erstwhile pop Lolita has grown up and discovered happiness can be found in simple things.

Vanessa has attained a state of beatitude and Bliss is an album that is completely drunk on life, love and motherhood. If this article were being published in a "Life at home with the stars" kind of magazine, we'd even go so far as to say that Vanessa has emerged from a long dark tunnel of despair – oh, and throw in a few clichés such as "only those who have been truly, deeply unhappy can ever know real happiness"!
The booklet accompanying Vanessa's new CD is highly significant when it comes to understanding the singer's new-found felicity. Studded with photos of Vanessa at various stages of her life (young blonde cherub, innocently beautiful young mother etc.), the sleeve notes also include examples of Vanessa's artwork (miniature watercolours, drawings and various doodles of hearts and stars). Vanessa also expresses her domestic happiness on two contemplative pop ballads which she penned herself: Firmaman and La Ballade de Lily Rose (songs which, incidentally, both feature Vanessa's baby daughter gurgling away happily in the background).

In short, Vanessa is happy in her relationship, happy in motherhood, happy with life in general – and she's not afraid to say so! The saving grace of Bliss is that Vanessa has not gone totally overboard on saccharine lyrics and syrupy pop ditties. Instead, the singer has shown unerring good taste, surrounding herself with a team of sensitive and intelligent songwriters including Mathieu "M" Chédid, Franck Monnet, Didier Golemanas, her partner Johnny Depp and Alain Bashung. What's more, Vanessa has been closely involved in the production of her new album herself, contributing many of the lyrics and melodies. While Vanessa's attempts at English are not always successful – just what does "around your wounds begin your peace of mind" mean anyway? – the French songs on the album are radiant and serene.
The charm of Vanessa's new album lies in beautifully-penned pieces such as Les Acrobates, a song celebrating the daily miracle of dawn, or in the fragile, vulnerable emotions on La la la song and Dans mon café. Vanessa floats through these songs with all the skill of a Dutronc (stripped of his virility), the Beatles (at their most unearthly) or French pop group Les Innocents (without their irritating puns). Apart from a few heavy moments (on L’Air du temps, for instance), the musical arrangements and production on Bliss (largely the work of M and Ms. Paradis), adopt a wonderfully light and airy approach. In short, Bliss is a supremely well-crafted pop treatise on happiness – and Vanessa proves that yes, you can have it all and be blissfully happy!

 

 

Vanessa Paradis Bliss (Barclay-Universal) 2000

Bertrand  Dicale

Translation : Julie  Street