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Apr 11, 2019 By Christopher Roberts Christine and the Queens

Christine and the Queens (aka Héloïse Letissier) released her sophomore album, Chris, back in September 2018 via Because Music. Now, ahead of her Coachella performances, she has shared a video for the album’s “Comme si.” David Wilson directed the video, based on an idea by Letissier. In it she sings and Krumps by a waterfall in Thailand (let’s hope the water was warm). A press release says the video was “inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet” and that it “sees Chris use the expressive and exaggerated street dance style of Krump to subvert the tale of the doomed Ophelia.” Watch it below, followed by her upcoming tour dates.

Letissier had this to say about the video in a press release: “For me, the whole idea of the video is to twist the terrible ending of Ophelia, as a myth, an idea. In Hamlet, Ophelia is, of course, the unlucky lover, the rejected one; but her madness and the suicide that ensues is also symptomatic of a whole era: the young girl, unwanted, unloved, simply cannot live. She’s doomed, she disappears, she melts with nature. Insanity is also really interesting in this play, for it is the sign of a mind deranged by rejection, as if she couldn’t remain in the world after being unwanted by Hamlet. Looking at Millais’ painting, and thinking of ‘Comme si’ as this erotic reverie of subverting rejection with self-empowerment, I started to dream of giving that myth a welcomed, witty twist. Let’s undo that tragic ending; let’s cheat death, if you will.

“Let’s bring Ophelia back from the dead, to express her desire and madness with exhilaration, as something that elevates her, instead of pushing her to the shores of death. With that fantastic what if, everything became possible; what if Ophelia is oozing with a strange power, her own? What if we brought something extremely modern like Krump to express lust, to bring humor and creepiness, to make Ophelia our own hero? What if it was time to tell a new story, one that brings us more ecstasy than the one we’re used to being told?

“The choreography uses the idea of unrequited love, like in the song’s lyrics, but since it’s Krump, we can add dark humor to it, cartoonish vibes if we want. Krump is perfect to me because it’s wild, sometimes with the childish energy of mime, sometimes with the pure stamina of jabs, and it can tell all the nuances of crazy love, use darkness as something contagious. Ophelia, raised from the water, battles furiously with it, and the original painting is suddenly shattered by a powerful feminine figure who finds another way to be unforgettable.”

Read our 2018 interview with Christine and the Queens on Chris.

There are both English language and French language versions of Chris, with the French one having an extra track. Back in May 2018 Christine and the Queens shared a new song, “Girlfriend” (which features Dâm-Funk), as well as a French version of the song, titled “Damn, dis-moi.” She got a lot of mileage out of that song. It was one of our Songs of the Week, there was also a video for the song, she performed the song on Later... with Jools Holland, and also performed it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (with The Roots and Dâm-Funk). Then she shared a video for a new song, “Doesn’t Matter,” as well as a video for a French version of the song, “Doesn’t Matter (voleur de soleil).” Then she shared a video for “5 Dollars” (which was also one of our Songs of the Week). Then she shared another new song from the album, “La Marcheuse,” via a video for the song. “La Marcheuse” is from the French version of the album (the English version of the song is “The Walker,” and there was later also a video for that version).

She also stopped by the BBC Live Lounge to do a session where she covered Maroon 5’s “What Lovers Do,” as well as performing “Girlfriend.” In July she shared a remix EP for “Girlfriend” (the funky seven-and-a-half-minute remix of the song by Dâm-Funk was one of our Songs of the Week). She also stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform the album’s “Comme si.” Then she did a session for Spotify where she covered Sade’s 1992 classic “No Ordinary Love” and also performed Chris’ “The Walker.”

Christine and the Queens made waves in her native France with her 2014 debut album, Chaleur Humaine. A more English language version of the album, simply titled Christine and the Queens, was released in America (and other English speaking countries) in 2015 via Because Music.

In a previous press release Letissier compared her first and second albums: “Chaleur Humaine was about teenage years, most of it. Loneliness, really true feelings, and there is a softness in the way I wrote as well, because I was properly introducing myself.” With Chris, she says “it gets to be a bit more exhilarating, because I get to say, ‘Okay, I’ve been introduced now.’ I get to be more confident, and it matches what happened in my life as a woman.”

Letissier added: “The second album could have been me finding a fancy producer in LA and doing the pop shit, but actually, no. I wanted to make it even more personal, if it’s possible.”

Christine and the Queens Tour Dates:

Sat 4.13 - Indio, CA @ Coachella - 7:45pm pst
Thu 4.18 - Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl ^
Sat 4.20 - Indio, CA @ Coachella - 7:45pm pst
Sat 5.11 - Mexico, MEX @ Corona Capital Guadalajara
Wed 5.15 - Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion *
Fri 5.17 - Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena *
Mon 5.20 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
Fri 5.24 - Boston, MA @ Boston Calling
Sun 5.26 - London, UK @ All Points East Festival (headline)
Thu 5.30 Barcelona, SP @ Primavera Sound Festival
Sat 6.01 - Paris, FR @ We Love Green Festival (headline)
Sun 6.02 - Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival
Sat 6.08 - Manchester, UK @ Parklife Festival
Thu 6.13 - Reims, FR @ La Magnifique Society
Fri 6.21 - Neuhausen Ob Eck, GER @ Southside Festival
Sun 6.23 - Scheeßel, GER @ Hurricane Festival
6.26-30 - Glastonbury, UK @ Glastonbury Festival
Fri 6.28 - Marmande, FR @ Garorock Experience
Wed 7.03 - Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival
Fri 7.05 - Arras, FR @ Mainsquare Festival
Sun 7.07 - Belfort, FR @ Eurockéennes de Belfort
Thu 7.11 - La Rochelle, FR @ Francofolies
Fri 7.12 - Aix Les Bains, FR @ Musilac
Sun 7.14 - Escalarre, SP @ Doctor Music Festival
Tue 7.16 - Carcasonne, FR @ Festival de Carcassone
Fri 7.19 - Lisbon, POR @ Super Bock Super Rock Festival
Sun 7.21 - Carhaix-Plouguer, FR @ Le Vieilles Charrues
Tue 7.23 - Nyon, CH @ Paleo Festival
Wed 8.07 - Lokeren, BE @ Lokerse Feesten
Fri 8.09 - Sentrum, NOR @ Øyafestivalen AS
Sat 8.10 - Gothenburg, SWE @ Way Out West
Wed 8.14 - Brussels, BE @ Brussels Summer Festival
Sat 8.31 - Stradbally, IR @ Electric Picnic

^ co-headline w Blood Orange
* with Florence + the Machine

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