Chris is the second studio album by French singer Christine and the Queens, released on 21 September 2018 in both English and French versions through Because Music. It was preceded by the release of two singles, each of which were released in both English and French versions: "Girlfriend" / "Damn, dis-moi", featuring Dâm-Funk, and "Doesn't Matter" / "Doesn't Matter (Voleur de soleil)". An English-language single, "5 Dollars", was also released alongside an S&M-inspired video, followed by the French version of "La Marcheuse".On iTunes and other online streaming and download services, the album includes 23 tracks, with 11 in English and 12 in French, most of which are versions of the same song. The album is available physically in individual French and English versions and sets including both.
I struggled with eighties pop throughout, and this [albeit more sophisticated] reincarnation of the genre is no exception. Only that it lacks the romantic perspective we can now afford eighties pop. Also, this album is way too long.
i feel kind of conflicted here I liked the french version more than the english because I could enjoy the vocals and production, for that the french version gets a 6/10 but that was a really cringey message in english it felt like some kind of left wing circlejerk, like I’m just picturing excited soyjack looking at this album saying “holy shit! a queer, androgynous woman singing about how stupid god is! slay the patriarchy my queen!” it was just so lame and cringey hearing these lyrics, I’ll give the overall album a 4/10
Of course an incredible record. Christine and the Queens nails a balance between pop formula and experimentation within a synth framework that really blasts past her competitors in the pop scene. When listening to her, you feel very trendy but not douchey.
Like many other albums that are on this list I’m struggling to see why? But that’s the beauty of a list like this, variety and diversity. I didn’t dislike it, I just felt that I had heard the tunes before but with a different artist singing
Now this is how you make a pop album up my alley. Full of bops and bangers, solid variety of sound and approach without sacrificing a clear identity, and just a damn good time.
I heard nothing in this album that made me think that it belongs on this list. 2/5
This album has a cultural importance that shouldn't be ignored, but musically, this brand of pop does less than nothing for me. Best track: Girlfriend
no
Do you hate pop music? Do you hate french pop music? Do you hate french pop music that contains features ok k-pop, such as singing chorus in a foreign language? Then this is the perfect album to hate!
English and French language versions of, quite frankly, my favorite album of the year that it was released. Chris found Christine and the Queens (and its focal point, Héloïse Letissier) at peak form, bending pop music to its absolute will with sheer technical ability and unmistakable brilliance in cultivating emotions from within. I love this album, I have great memories attached to this. It's nice to once again come across such wonderful sounds that stick to you and endears you to the point to going back to it again and again. Long may Chris reign!
so amazing
Great french pop! Worth putting in my heavy rotation!
I discovered Christine and the Queens a few years back on spotify and fell in love. She has become an absolute favourite of mine and it was a delight to have to listen to this album again. I'm really looking forward to see where her career takes her.
This is a really nice album. I love the music, love Chris’ voice, love the French and English. Love it all! Wonderful discovery.
Very fun in English and in French.
I really found this pleasant to listen to, but I really could not follow the meaning of the lyrics even when reading along. Definitely something lost in translation for me.
Goya Soda was a favorite
I honestly cannot day why, precisely, this album landed so well with me. Maybe it was my mood. Bit the poppy, sultry, dark, multilingual qualities all sorta worked t9gether to make me really dig this. Another day, another time, it may have fared worse.
Fuck it that was really fun
I love him
Would listen again
Brilliant stuff, engaging and poppy. 5 stars
Amazing find. Great French pop.
fuck yea gay shit on this list. mint.
All killer no filler!
ici ça kiffe
This hits right in the Tegan and Sara spot for me. I'd be shocked if Tegan and Sara weren't aware of and fans of Chris. I think I prefer the french versions, but the English versions are great too. Makes me want to smoke a cigarette.
Competently executed but sorta soulless and glossy and generic late 2010s global pop … music for an airport lounge when wait is hopefully not too long.
Not bussin
This album is deeply boring. Bland vocals. Uninspired arrangements. Flat, tinny beats. Respect to Letissier/Chris for living her truth, but this album is like a clone of the most boring, formulaic aspects of pop music in the 80s. Fave Songs: Don't have one. Doesn't Matter and Girlfriend are probably the least annoying to me.
One of my favorite albums, a great summer listen.
fun bilingual dreamy pop-esque album with all the best tracks weighted in the 1st half. Somehow reminds me of shopping at Old Navy.
Excellent pop music. The first half is very Michael Jackson influenced, especially his earlier work. The second half is a bit slower and contemplative sounding. Overall, this album is very heavy on 80s pop motifs with a bit of contemporary hip hop influence thrown in (though non-obtrusively). The lyrics are deliberately dense which I really like as it allows the music to create a mood around a song to get an emotional meaning across that's not as dependent on the musical content. This is not my usual genre but I found it well executed and enjoyable.
Great pop album. Catchy motives and interesting textures all around. Super original sound, very own to CatQ.
guter Pop, pseudo 80er. Die französischen Versionen sind besser. Gegen Ende wirds etwas schwacher.
An album from 2018, looks like maybe we're going outside of the 1001 albums book since it only went to 2010, not that that's a bad thing. Wasn't sure what to expect, turned out to be a French pop album with some 80s influences. Kind of reminded me of Robin in a way, but also more focused on religion and LGBTQ+ topics. Found it to be pretty good musically, I don't go out of my way to listen to pop but you sort of have to if you ever go in public so it was nice to hear something different and it was very well performed.
This band reminds me a bit of Tegan and Sarah but also I think they are french? Never heard of them before this but this is one of the more current releases we have heard. I found Goya Soda to be very interesting in terms of content. It was as if they were trying to sing about anything they could.
Great production and music to back up the surpurb vocals. It was a pretty interesting experience to listen to both the English and French versions of Chris. Listening to the English one first was like a 3/5 as only a few songs were great to me (Girlfriend, Doesn't matter). But after a few hours break and then listening to the French one, it's definitely a 4.5/5. The songs just breathe a bit better and the vocals sound more natural. It also made songs like Goya Soda and The Stranger which were ok in English make more sense. Maybe it was also just better on the second listen. Recommend highly though regardless.
Another excellent relisten. I appreciate that it is aggressively bilingual.
Very good synth pop. Enjoyed the bi lingual bits, even though my french is not up to scratch!
very french, this guy has listnd to a lot of MJ
Enjoyed this album more than I thought I would. Had some great 80s vibes and such and variety of instruments throughout. Had a retro feel but sounds very modern. Songs get a little weaker later on In the album. Fav track is 'Doesn't Matter'
Every song here was a hit. Sometimes I preferred the French versions, sometimes I preferred the English versions. But I could put this on repeat and not tire of it. Sounds super fresh.
Pretty great tbh, someone said Tegan and Sara are probably fans and i definitely see it. Same vibes. 4
I used to have a playlist with cool French pop on it and one day "Girlfriend" mysteriously changed to the French version which soured things somewhat. For me, that's the standout track on the album (either version) but the rest of the album is good. I feel like it might need a few more listens to fully appreciate it but tracks like "What's-her-face" have a searing emotion that deserves further listening.
Rather an energetic album! Quite fond of the rhythm.
way too long
Decently entertaining French pop. 7/10
8/10. Definitely better in French. Started out sounding like French Taylor Swift, but had some more diverse sounds to it later on.
diversity win! A butch lesbian made slightly generic but solid sounding pop record! 7/10
Quite enjoyed this.
Listened to on 3/9/22 4/5 Favorite song: 5 dollars, the walker, comme si This album was the best change of pace! I loved how Christine integrated French and English into her lyrics. It was fun, edgy and all in all great to listen to
4, great pop album
More interesting then I thought. Later tracks better
Great voice and songs. I also loved the 80s synth-pop ascetics.
This surprised me. Not exactly my genre of choice, but I really enjoyed it. Good beats and great voice.
I liked this. Not sure how much, and not sure whether I preferred the French or English versions.
Think I love this. Didn't realise this was who "Girlfriend" came from. Sophisticated pop.
Really fun pop album, well produced and very funky. I really like the idea of a bilingual album, very unique. I definitely preferred the french versions though.
Yes — I love 80’s throwback pop like this. Albums like this are a goldmine for party playlists. 😁 Her voice is perfect for this style and the production is packed with fun details. Some of the lyrics surprised me. Like the chorus of “Doesn’t Matter,” where she sings about not knowing if God is real. Most songs in this genre are about about hooking up in the club. I love the willingness to go for deeper subject matter in dance music. Highlights: “Comme Si,” “The Walker,” “Doesn’t Matter,” “Goya Soda,” “Feel So Good,” “The Stranger” On streaming you can also listen to the French version of the album. Very cool to hear the French versions of these songs!
4.3
Christine starts Chris firmly in her comfort zone, moving gradually into some new and sparser territory. Her voice remains incredibly compelling for me, especially on the French side, the set of tracks to listen to as far as I'm concerned. I think of Chris as a companion to the much-loved debut, incremental rather than revolutionary, still real real good.
Way more fun as a pop album than I was expecting. Real cool sound, and listening in French and English was great. Didn't think I'd listen to both in full, but I did.
Some serious in your face music. I had hear the hits but not the album. I think I'm a new fan. The beats, the singing, the synths, they all hit really freakin hard.
I normally don't like the french, but I can handle this
My kind of stuff
Gave me Caroline polachek vibes and a little bit of panic? Specifically too weird to live album. Definitely gonna relisten
Fris!
Really great album. Michael Jackson, HAIM, Teegan and Sara sound to it. I will definitely relisten this
I enjoyed this so much more than i thought i would. Shades of MJ in parts. Great pop banter. Some say Italians do it better. The french aren't too far behind
Fun stuff
Kind of sounds like Chvrches. Pop 80s vibe but with modern sound engineering. Good underrated album
(S)he has great tone. The tone is that electro pop rock sound. a couple tracks in and im intrigued but not blown away yet.
Me da gusto escuchar pop bueno y que no sea gringo. Creo que la calidad de la producción y de las rolas es muy alta y casi del nivel de los nombres angloparlantes que dominan los charts. La voz de esta chica es realmente linda y le da puntos extra las rolas que canta en francés. Mi pequeño "pero" es que no hace falta hacer el disco completo en los dos idiomas, porque eso obviamente lo hace muy largo. Sería interesante, con más calma (y sabiendo francés), tratar de quedarse con solo una versión de cada rola.
Quizá si no conociera a HAIM, este disco me hubiera encantado. Aún así, el estilo es muy bueno y las canciones variadas. Las letras también están bien. 3.5 que subo a 4 porque sí lo podría volver a escuchar.
Gallic disco pop is going to be a pretty easy sell to me. The passion, subject matter and general groove of the thing are all very enjoyable, and she seems a smart and intelligent lyricist. The songs didn't quite jump from enjoyment to love for me but it's still a VERY strong album. And getting the entire thing in English and French is an act of generosity I can get behind. Merci!
Great album! It took some time to really appreciate, but it's just a really fun album to listen to. Favourites are Comme Si, Goya Soda, Damn and What's-her-Face. Only listened to the English version though.
I really like Christine & The Queens and I enjoyed this album. A maybe overly generous 4*
I love that she sings in multiple languages. Really enjoyed this album.
Venia d'una estrena sorprenent, i aquí encara es va superar més. 'Comme Si', '5 Dollars', 'Girlfriend' són temes que podrien passar per genèrics, però que mitjançant la seva veu i la seva peculiar forma d'interpretar-los, agafen cotes de brillantor molt altes. Sense arribar al mateix nivell, la resta del disc és gairebé igualment colpidor. La confirmació d'una estrella
Electronica for people who don't like electronica. I enjoyed hearing more rock and funk elements here, it added a certain edge to the "synthetic" sound of the electro-pop music. It's really catchy too, although I feel like the French version would be better for this list. Standout tracks were Girlfriend, Goya Soda, Damn (what must a woman do), and Feel so good.
I need to brush up on my french!
Perfectly enjoyable but not particularly memorable
Yes, I think I’m a fan. Punchy contemporary euro pop. Solid production. The multilingual release is a nice idea. Personal pronouns aside all very good.
Крис я слышала раньше! она хорошая, но возможно просто потому что мне нравится звучание французских голосов, так особо не зацепила. но хорошая!
When reading reviews I had to laugh at how the reviewers' pronoun confusion led to almost exclusive use of non gender specific pronouns - for example, "I love Chris' singing." Better safe than sorry - lol. When you change your moniker from Christine and the Queens to Chris you have to expect some confusion to result. He changes his moniker to "Redcar" on his next album so the confusion is staying. Do I like this synth pop? In the early / mid 80s - yeah but not recently. Do I like this album? Yeah. He makes some bopping tunes. A lot of reviews point out Michael Jackson influences but I think Eurythmics influence is more accurate. He's a good singer, made a decent album and has a personality that keeps things interesting.
Pop, dance, a veces chill out. Me ha gustado. Las canciones en francés le dan un plus. Un 4.
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would—great voice, great synth sounds, and the bonus duplicate album in French!
Interesting that this album has the songs both in English and French. The English wasn’t too bad, the French was the best version of the two even though I don’t speak it. Decent music from a band I had never heard of before. Cool!
Strong 80's vibe. I hate the 80's, but really enjoyed this album. A little plastic, but was happy to listen to it.
Moderne fransk/engelsk elektronisk pop
I really enjoyed this. I remember this act performing at Glastonbury and there being a big buzz around them, but had never listened. It’s very eclectic but very accessible.
I was a huge fan of their first album, and this album is a new favourite. I don't know what it is about her music that just sucks me in.
Awesome synth pop dance. Love the sound of 80s brought bang up to date. Great.
Kova! Gillar esketiten
Pretty cool album.
Fínasta popp. Fíla röddina mjög vel.
Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Comme si, 5 dollars
Not bad for a band I’d never heard
Love this album.