Olympe: Zombie

A new video for the song Zombie by Olympe, a singer who shot to fame in France as the  favourite in the
latest series of the French version of The Voice.

The song is a cover of a track by the Cranberries, a regular on  student union jukeboxes in the 1990s. Like the Olympe  video, much of the original was in black and white.

The original  song, released in 1994 on their No Need to Argue album, reached number one in the singles chart in France. It was a far more aggressive song than the Cranberries were previously known for and embraced difficult themes with an appropriately angry sound.

The song was written in protest at the deaths of two children in a IRA bombing in Warrington in England 1993, and makes reference back to the Easter Rising in Ireland, the 1916 insurrection that eventually led to Irish independence from the UK.

There have been previous covers of the song, including a Eurodance version by Italian act ADAM  that reached number 16 in the UK charts in 1995, almost as high as the Cranberries original which only reached number 14.

Olympe may have lost out to Yoann Fréget in the final of The Voice in May, but certainly won the hearts, minds and ears of a huge audience.

The song Zombie was one of the songs he performed during  the show, and it comes from his debut album, entitled Olympe and released in July, which features new versions  of the songs he performed during series.

It follows a video for his cover of Lana Del Rey's Born To Die, another song that cemented his reputation on the series.

A second album by Olympe is expected early next year.