Mylène Farmer: Diabolique mon ange (Timeless 2013)

Mylène Farmer has released the track Diabolique mon ange as a single to promote her new live album
Timeless 2013.

The track comes ahead of the new album which is due to be released on Monday December the ninth.

The song originally featured in its studio version on her 2010 Bleu Noir album, which preceded her Monkey Me album that came out in 2012.

A few (very short) teaser clips have been released ahead of the new album, which chronicles her tour this year that kicked off with ten nights at Bercy in Paris in September.

The live album was recorded at her shows at the Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon on September  24, 25, 27 and  28.

A DVD of the tour is likley to emerge next year, and she still has a couple of shows before the tour ends on December 6 in Nice.

Mylene Farmer tour dates: False hopes

An announcement on Twitter this morning from the @farmermylene account that there are to be a series of  concerts by Mylene Farmer next year sparked a huge amount of speculation among fans, but it seems that the much-awaited announcement was a misleading one.  News sites that ran it as a news report have since issued denials.

The tweets claimed the shows were to get under way on June the first 2013 in Nice, followed by two shows  in Montpellier on June 6 and 7. June 8 would sees the tour in Marseilles, the 11th and 12th in Bordeaux.

June 13 and 14 were said to be in Nantes, the 15th in Lyon. The 17th and 18th in Rouen, the 20th and 21st in Strasbourg.

There was a show apparently in Geneva on June 22, and back in France for two shows in Clerment Ferrand on June 26 and 27. This was to be followed by Lille on June 29, Amneville on July 3 and 4, and a show in Brussels on July the sixth. The final dates were apparently on September 13 and 14 at the Stade de France, in Paris.

Needless to say, there were no details of when tickets would be available.

But the dates were little more than an internet hoax. The fact that it made legit news sites before it was checked suggests that there was a real demand for the information to be released as quickly as possible, even if that meant cutting corners like checking whether or not it was actually true.

A Mylene Farmer tour is a huge deal in France, she's one of the biggest selling artists in the country ever, and holds the record for number one hits, having racked up 12 over her career so far. Her shows are big budget spectacles, and this tour sees both indoors arena shows as well as stadium gigs.

She last toured in 2009, before the release of 2010's Bleu Noir album that saw her collaborating with Moby in what was to these ears at least her best work. Her 2009 tour was recorded and released in the No5 on Tour live collection in 2009, as a double CD and DVD/Blu ray of her Stade de France shows.

There's a huge impatience for the return of Mylene Farmer to the live stage, and with a new album apparently due later this year, live dates next year would not be outwith the realms of possibility. Although there's no official confirmation of a 2012 album, she's rumoured to be working with long-term collaborator Laurent Boutonnat.


There are rumours of shows in 2013, and even if true, any planning would still be at an early stage, although given the size of her live shows, they would certainly take enough organising that work would probably take over a year to put everything together.

So no shows at the moment, but who knows if there's something more accurate announced before too long.

Charts: Mylène Farmer - Lonely Lisa

As I thought it might have done in an earlier post, the new single by Mylène Farmer - Lonely Lisa - has gone to number one in France.

In doing it becomes the third song from 2010's Bleu Noir album to top the charts, following Oui Mais Non and the album's title track.

It becomes Farmer's 12th number one in France, her eighth in a row. Every single from her previous album reached number one, as has every single so far from Bleu Noir. Quite an extraordinary achievement by any measure.

Sales of the song seem to have been particularly in the physical single release as although it sold strongly as a download, being released as this before a physical singles were available, it immediately went to number one following the release of the physical versions of the single.



This week's top five

1) Mylène Farmer - Lonely Lisa
2) M Pokora - A Nos Actes Manques
3) Collectif Metisse - Laisse Tomber tes Problemes
4) Magic Systeme - Chérie Coco
5) Pitbull - Give me Eveything

New: Mylène Farmer - Lonely Lisa video

A new video from Mylène Farmer, with Lonely Lisa becoming the third song from 2010's Bleu Noir to be released as a single.

The album seems to have surpassed even Farmer's standards of success. Despite being released in December it was one of the top ten biggest sellers of the year, and the formula of Mylène Farmer collaborating with big hitters Moby and RedOne seems to be a winning combination.

Lonely Lisa is one of the album's two RedOne collaborations, the other, Oui mais...non, coming out ahead of the album's release and setting the tone the album in both success and style.

The video - directed by Roy Raz - will no doubt spark the Lady Gaga comparisons. While the debate will rage, some no doubt saying Gaga was influenced by Farmer and borrowed her ideas, or that Farmer is borrowing some of Gaga's style to boost her career, what's certain is that Gaga's international success has probably made it easier for female artists to be heard, and ones with ideas like Mylène Farmer can certainly make the most of the opportunity.

The video certainly keeps up Farmer's reputation for making videos that are an essential element of her art.

A batch of remixes of the track has already emerged.

With a record 11 number one singles in France so far, and the two previous songs from Bleu Noir - Oui mais...non and the title track - both reaching the top spot, it will be interesting to see if this makes it 12.

Personally I'd be surprised if it doesn't.

New: Mylène Farmer - Bleu Noir Video

Mylène Farmer's eagerly-awaited new video for the song Bleu Noir has been released.

I've already featured the song, co-written by Moby, from the album Bleu Noir that was released in December 2010. It's one of seven songs co-written with Moby on the album, who wrote the music while Mylène wrote all the lyrics.

The album was a number one in France and set a record for the number of downloads. Her eighth album has certainly secured her position as France's most significant female artist in recent years.

Oui Mais...Non, which was the last single released from the album, was at number one in France for most of December. Unlike Bleu Noir it was co-written by RedOne, who despite having worker with a huge number of artists is probably best know for his collaborations with Lady Gaga.

While comparisons with Gaga were made with both the song Oui Mais...Non and the video, Bleu Noir is certainly very different. I've always liked Moby, and Mylène's voice and lyrics sit perfectly with his music. My favourite song on the album, no doubt about that.

The video for Bleu Noir was directed by Olivier Dahan, the director best known for the film La Vie En Rose, the Oscar-winning movie about the life of Edith Piaf. It's a tasteful and cinematic video, that not only looks incredibly polished and classy but keeps an edge that makes it seem very natural and almost spontaneous.

Mylène Farmer's record company has set up a website for the video here >

You can watch the video and tweet a link to it so your Twitter message will be included in a montage of Twitter users who have passed on the link. Nice idea and clever bit of new media marketing!

New: Mylène Farmer - Bleu Noir

I'm always amazed how little known Mylène Farmer is outside France, and what an immensely big figure she is in France.

Any time she does pop up in the media in the UK, she's usually referred to as 'The French Madonna'. Hardly a just comparison, they couldn't be further removed from each other than the fact that both are female and hugely successful artists.

To be honest I've always appreciated Farmer's work more than I've liked it. While I could appreciate the songs and the lyrics, I found the arrangements and production let them down.

My ears, atuned as they are to a more rock background, found the music lacking, a rather tame take on dance music at a time the genre was expanding and innovating hugely.

But hearing some of her new material from her 2010 album Bleue Noir seriously impressed me. Perhaps its because she's working with Moby - is one of the main innovative figures in music over the last few years - but this is for my money Mylene Farmer at her best.

I've been listening to the title track of the album heavily over the last few days and it's one of those songs that just grabs you and doesn't let go. The music and voice are just perfect together. It makes me want to listen to it in a club, at a huge volume, and dance very badly. It makes me want to raise my hands in the air while sitting at my desk listening on headphones.

So is she the French Lady Gaga? The French Kate Bush? Make your own comparisons. Any way its great.