美国国家公共电台 NPR--Christine and the Queens' new album is an operatic exploration of grief and angels

Christine and the Queens' new album is an operatic exploration of grief and angels

Transcript¹

Editor's note on June 12, 2023: This piece has been updated to remove Chris' deadname.

Christine and the Queens is fascinated by angels.

They appear throughout the shape-shifting French pop artist's fourth album, a sprawling² 20-track LP called Parano?a, Angels, True Love.

The creative force behind Christine and the Queens is just one guy, Chris, who describes himself as "a very tiny French man."

When Chris spoke³ to NPR's Morning Edition, he was about to celebrate his 35th birthday. He sees the day as an opportunity to be both "introspective and festive⁴."

"But what is time?" Chris asks. "What is 35? What is 70? What if I just forget my age as I grow older and then I become 12 again? That'd be fire. I would love that."

He says this album is, essentially⁵, an opera. "It's kind of the best-fitting word in the sense that I wrote this record very fast, like a series of visions, and the whole day was resonating weirdly⁶. Like life became the opera. And the music was just a distillation⁷ of that crazy journey."

Parano?a, Angels, True Love — a co-production with American record producer Mike Dean — features appearances by Madonna and 070 Shake. Unlike his last album, Redcar les Adorables étoiles, this one is written almost entirely⁸ in English.

Drawing inspiration from Tony Kushner's play Angels in America, which examines the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, Chris presents his own "conversations with the invisible."

The singer-songwriter lost his mother in 2019, and much of the album is about living through that grief — and finding communion with the dead.

In True Love, he sings: "Angel of light/ Take me higher/ Make me forget my mother/ With your dark brown eyes staring at me/ With your dark eyes staring at me."

Chris spoke with A Martinez about what it means to mourn, heal and move forward.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

A: What do angels represent to you, considering what you went through with your mom?

Chris: The shift of energy, losing someone in this physical plane and losing your mom, depending on the relationship you have, but I actually happen to adore my mom. So that experience of love through grief was very impressive because something was gone. For sure, she was gone. But the crazy thing is, I never felt she was truly, absolutely gone. Like my soul always felt still linked to her. And there was dignity in the grief I was having. I think also grief is just another expression of the love you have for someone... So then it can become a celebration of everything, by you staying brave inside of this world for the ones who left it as well. I think angels are also this. She probably finally turned into one angel for me, because she's immaterial. But I feel her.

A: We have to talk about Madonna. I mean, she's kind of like this angel voice on this. How did she end up on this record?

Chris: Very ambivalent⁹ voice. Her character is called Big Eye. So it could be this dystopian, almost computer voice of the simulation, because that's what she says. But it might be a trap, because she also might be the angel. She might be my mom. She basically might be everyone. That's what I said to her, because I had to explain the pitch of the whole shenanigan on FaceTime. And I pitched this idea very, very softly and fast. And she said, "You're insane. I'll do it." I felt anointed at that.

A: What does reinvention mean to you in your art and life?

Chris: Yeah, interestingly, the intricacy with me is actually my layers on stage, as I go further in time, actually feel more like me, precising myself, sharpening my blade, arriving. It's a slow Shakespearean arrival, it's a very tiny French man with lots of crazy ideas moving toward you with his masks falling off slowly. And actually, my many names, I often say. It's almost like a poet's way to figure the intricacy of yourself out from the inside. And when I was young, I was always saying, "oh, the stage is the performance." I was lying. I was a bit of a coward. The stage has always been my truth. And the rest of my life was the lie, the performance, the hiding out.

A: I wanted to ask you about your song, "Flowery Days." It's just you, a piano, a bass¹⁰ and drums. You sing: "When I die of love/ All seeds will scatter¹¹ 'round/ In yellow dusty sounds into the flowery days." What does it mean to "die of love?"

Chris: My heart is so passionate¹². And then, I fall in love so hard that sometimes I feel I would probably die of that feeling, of heartbreak, of loving someone so hard that it's impossible to just move on. I wrote that song in a very precise moment. I was just sitting at my desk. And I was feeling the pain of heartbreak, which is also one of the losses of this record. There was some dignity there in just imagining myself into the flowers. Into the forest like a knight¹³ who decided¹⁴ to die for his love. It's a very literal song. It's a very exposing one.

A: Have you ever come close to dying of love or feeling like you wanted to die of love?

Chris: Yes, yes. I'm very romantic, I guess. But I'm still alive. So, onwards.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 festive   

adj.欢宴的，节日的

参考例句：

• It was Christmas and everyone was in festive mood.当时是圣诞节，每个人都沉浸在节日的欢乐中。
• We all wore festive costumes to the ball.我们都穿着节日的盛装前去参加舞会。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 weirdly   

古怪地

参考例句：

• Another special characteristic of Kweilin is its weirdly-shaped mountain grottoes. 桂林的另一特点是其形态怪异的岩洞。
• The country was weirdly transformed. 地势古怪地变了样。

7 distillation   

n.蒸馏，蒸馏法

参考例句：

• The discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs of the 11th century.通常认为，蒸馏法是阿拉伯人在11世纪发明的。
• The oil is distilled from the berries of this small tree.油是从这种小树的浆果中提炼出来的。

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

9 ambivalent   

adj.含糊不定的；(态度等)矛盾的

参考例句：

• She remained ambivalent about her marriage.她对于自己的婚事仍然拿不定主意。
• Although she professed fear of the Russians,she seemed to have ambivalent feelings toward Philby himself.虽然她承认害怕俄国人，然而她似乎对菲尔比本人有一种矛盾的感情。

10 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

11 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

12 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

13 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。