Christine and the Queens new video: True Love

A new video drops from Christine and the Queens ahead of the release of a new album in June.

The track True Love features a collaboration with American rapper and singer 070 Shake, one of two tracks on the forthcoming collection she appears on. The new video follows the release of To be honest last month.

If Christine's last album Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue) didn't perhaps have the same impact as the 2014 Chaleur Humaine debut or the Chris follow-up, the tracks that have so far surfaced for Christine's forthcoming album Paranoïa, Angels, True Love shows an artist at the peak of their abilities, presenting work that is both immediately accessible and innovative at the same time.

The haunting To be honest probably ranks as one of his finest works so far, True Love suggests that Paranoïa, Angels, True Love might be one of the year's strongest releases by any artist. The new album is expected on June 9 and it includes three tracks featuring Madonna. 

Ditching his Redcar alter-ego and returning to the 'Christine and the Queens' name, not even the 'Chris' identity of his second album, it seems Héloïse Letissier is back to using the name that established his position as one of the most interesting musicians to emerge in recent years.

The new album Paranoïa, Angels, True Love takes its inspiration from the award-winning play Angels in America by Tony Kushner, a work from the early 90s that was set in 80s New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic. It's a complex piece with intersecting storylines and some characters representing angels and ghosts as well as others in communities affected by the unfolding tragedy.

Christine and the Queens are touring extensively with a show at the weekend at the second round of Coachella in California, and are in the UK for dates in August and September including a show at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh on September 8.

Christine and the Queens: Bedtime Story on CBeebies

Maybe the Redcar album didn't trouble the list of bestselling albums in France in 2022, but there are other measures of success.

Who would have expected Chris to be reading a bedtime story on CBeebies - the BBC TV channel for young children? 

Chris does a great job entertaining the pre-school audience here, and while it might be a million miles from the kind of performance they'd normally be associated with, it's a significant one in that it shows an artist who some might view as edgy can be accepted into the mainstream without any issue. 

That she performs a lengthy spoken word piece in a second language is something that very few anglophone artists would be able to make a success,

Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue) was released in November 2022. Christine and the Queens have 2023 live dates ahead, with the artist curating this year's Meltdown festival at the South Bank in London in June. Details of who will be on the bill are expected this Spring.

Meanwhile, France 4 broadcasts a special programme dedicated to the Redcar experience this evening. Whatever is in store is likely to be a bit different from her CBeebies performance.