Album review

Carla Bruni

Not just a pretty face!

Paris 

14/08/2003 - 

Top model Carla Bruni, who dominated the catwalks throughout the 90s, recently reinvented herself as a singer-songwriter – and her career move has paid off in style! Carla’s debut album, Quelqu'un m'a dit (produced by Louis Bertignac) has been enjoying phenomenal success since its release a few months back, selling a staggering 1 million copies in France and 500,000 copies abroad. RFI Musique catches up with the Franco-Italian talent who has proved she is much, much more than a pretty face!

Carla Bruni Quelqu'un m'a dit (Naïve) 2003

"I didn't want my album to be too sophisticated – or too off-the-wall either!" proclaims former catwalk supremo Carla, "In fact, I didn't want to take any particular stance whatsoever. I wanted my album to be completely natural, like a girl who gets out of bed in the morning and looks exactly how she is. I wanted the songs to be a bit naked, you know, not too over-dressed with layers of make-up – after all, that's exactly the life I've lived for the past twelve years!" Rising to fame in an era when the media obsession with 'top models' was at its height, Carla became an icon of her generation, her face gracing the cover of fashion magazines while her personal life filled the columns of celebrity gossip reviews. Long before she retired from the catwalks in '98 (after amassing a considerable pension!), we knew that the Italian belle's father was a dodecaphonic composer, her mother a concert pianist and her sister a well-known actress. But Carla has revealed very little of her own heart or soul to date.

Ms. Bruni's debut album now sets matters to rights, however. And for those who would dismiss it as a case of another model jumping on the music bandwagon, let us just say that Quelqu'un m'a dit features some highly accomplished lyrics and music by Carla Bruni and superb production and arrangements by Louis Bertignac (whom, we have to admit, we would never have thought capable of such a soft, tender touch!) Partway between Joni Mitchell-style folk and French 'chanson' à la Gainsbourg-Rezvani, Carla's album includes some real musical gems such as Le toi du moi (the most witty and danceable declaration of love we've heard in a long time!) the single Quelqu’un m’a dit (all husky vocals and tender guitar chords) and a fabulous cover of a rare Gainsbourg song, La Noyée. As for Tout le monde, it's a wonderfully poignant song about the value of living life to the full and not being swept along on the tide of destiny. RFI/Musique caught up with the charming Ms. Bruni, who seems intent on proving that her personal destiny is to be much, much more than a pretty face!

Eleven songs with a running time of 37 minutes. Your new album seems to fit into the standard mould of old 33rpm LPs!
Well, that's the format of albums I've always listened to. What I really love are albums that tell a story, like Ziggy Stardust or Melody Nelson, for instance. But, as this is my first album, I decided what was important this time round was to try and get to the essence of things, to present a series of songs that are as honest as possible, that resemble who I really am. I know it sounds stupid, but I really wanted to be completely open and honest on this album. I didn't want to present a false image or end up feeling betrayed in any way. And that's why the songs are all so personal.

Have you always written songs or is this a completely new thing for you?
No, I've always written. What I was into to begin with wasn't songs but poetry – well, I don't know if you could really call my first efforts poems, but that's what I was aiming for! I can't write prose at all. I'd be incapable of writing an article or a profile and I certainly couldn't work on a collection of essays or a novel. My writing revolves around songs and poems – basically, short phrases that I jot down the moment they come into my mind, not necessarily rhyming couplets or anything. And I can honestly say my songwriting comes first. I wouldn't get behind a mike and sing if I didn't write songs!

Was the idea of becoming a singer a bit of a childhood dream for you?
Yes, I dreamt of singing songs – and writing them, too!

Did you have any female role models in terms of other singers?
Just about every woman who's ever got up behind a mike and sung has inspired me. I love Jeanne Moreau, Françoise Hardy, Suzanne Vega, Rickie Lee Jones, Barbara, Mina and Ornella Vanoni and opera singers and country'n'western singers sitting on the steps of their caravans strumming guitar – I love women who sing! It's always more or less the same thing, in fact. Women tend to sing about falling in and out of love a lot. But I have to say my real inspiration has been female songwriters rather than female singers. I love women's songwriting, there's something very fragile, delicate, tender and distinctive about it.

Do you see songwriting as a separate profession?
I'd say it's more a question of form. Songwriting's not about technique, it's about structure. After all, the thing that differentiates it from poetry is the verse-chorus structure. I know there are some people who manage to write songs outside that structure. Someone like Bashung makes absolutely wonderful records without verses and chorus - his albums are like music and poetry at the same time. But I have very classical tastes when it comes to songwriting!

When you're writing songs do you listen to other people's records while you're working or do you avoid that sort of thing altogether?
No, I make a policy of not listening to anything when I'm writing my own material. And I have to admit I haven't listened to anything since finishing the album either – I'm crying out for a bit of musical nourishment! When I sat down to write my songs I wrote about everything I'd listened to and pondered about over the years, but I didn't go back and dig out all my old records or anything.
Besides, it can be totally discouraging to listen to the work of truly great songwriters like Ferré, Gainsbourg, Brassens, Barbara or Dylan. If I put on an album by any of them while I'm working I'd get the feeling I should give up before I'd even started! There's a moment when I need to have an illusion about myself – not that what I'm doing is good or bad or anything, but the illusion that I'm getting somewhere with what I'm doing. And if I sit down and listen to a truly great song someone else has written that illusion is dead in the water!

Why did you choose Louis Bertignac as producer?
Well, Louis's not really a producer, he's first and foremost a musician. But he's someone I've had this amazingly strong friendship with for a long, long time. I've known Louis since I was 15 years old – and I'm 34 now, so that means our friendship has lasted almost 20 years!
What happened was I sent Louis the demo tapes for the album to ask him his opinion as a friend. And you know what? He didn't even call me to tell me whether he liked what I'd done or not. He just sat down and started writing the arrangements straightaway! He started with the song Tout le monde, where he kept my vocals and guitar and simply cut out a passage in the middle, inserting a solo to give the song room to breathe. Anyway, he sent that off to me on his computer and when I opened the file I was like,"Yes, that's exactly what I want!"

Do you have any plans to go out and perform your album live on stage?
Yes, I'd like to try. It's amazing when you hear all these top singers talking about their concerts, saying things like "I feel so incredible when I'm up on stage. That's what my whole life's about!" I think that's a beautiful thing to say, but it's not really an expression I'd use myself. I wouldn't ever turn round and say that I've done everything just to be able to get up on stage, that that's what my whole life's about! It's simply a question that if people would like to come and see me in concert, then I'd like to try and do something live. I'd like to get up on stage and perform songs from the album, and other stuff too, just to see what it's like! If people are interested then I'm happy to do it, but I've got absolutely no intention of getting up and performing in front of an empty room!

If your singing career takes off as you're hoping, can you see yourself singing in thirty years' time?
I'd happily do thirty years in this profession! That would be absolutely wonderful!

Bertrand  Dicale

Translation : Julie  Street