Chris

Not memorable.

I really like this! If it were as strong in the back half as itis the first half, it would be a point higher!

pretty fun and good representation of the most important force in culture (french people singing english lyrics)

1.9 For a gay pop album, there sure weren't very many hooks.

chocante que adorei esse! bem dançante, com várias músicas catchy. adorei!

not my thing at all also the album cover is ugly as hell reminds me of solo panic! at the disco :-/ didn't realise the two discs were the same songs but in diff languages until i was about halfway thru the english version of the album, at which point i switched to french.

I actually didn't mind this for what it is. It's a modernist take on the glossy styles of the late 80s to early 90s – like a fusion of dance pop, R&B, disco and funk, with a very current sheen and clarity to it. Vocally there are some pleasant melodies on offer here, even if few of them really stick in your mind, and I think that's ultimately where the main problem lies. It's a pandora's box of pastiches without offering anything particularly unique or memorable.

Some nice stuff but a little too same-sounding for me

S'arlight, not many standout tracks though

I'm pretty familiar with the sophisticated Euro-synth pop of Rahim Redcar. My wife's a big fan and we recently saw him in concert. This album has a warm 80s feel to it and it's packed full of lyrical and melodic hooks. There are pretty heavy nods to the musical style of Eurythmics and you can spot the influence of Prince in some of the songs, notably Girlfriend. The first half of the album outshines the second half, with 5 Dollars and it's chiming chorus a particular highlight. Even though the standard drops slightly in the second half, Make Some Sense is a gorgeous portrait of the confusion of some young minds. It's all really rather good, and fully deserving of a high 4 stars.

Why was this included

I just did not connect with this one at all. Singer can sing but otherwise just a bore. Beats and music were not particularly interesting or danceable. I felt essentially nothing for the whole listen other than disinterest and slight frustration…not quite sure what it is to see here

What slick peckerness is this man talking about in the video of the guy who is the most popular in the world and who is the most famous in the world who is the most influential in the world in the world he is the most successful person in the world I don’t know what to say about him but I don’t know what to say to him I don’t know what to say to him but I don’t know what to say to him because I don’t know what to say to him and I don’t know what to say to him so I don’t know what to say to him he is a very good person and I don’t know how to say that he has a owiywuooowwb And he is overy good otwiwywo I am a petty and a little more intelligent person that he ooowooey

Voy a puntuar sin haber terminado de escuchar en frances. la musica me gusta, algunas cosas que me gustan me hacen acordar a caroline polachek, no digo que sean iguales pero me tira a esa palo es el genero similar, supongo es un 3.5

Didn't leave a major impression

At first, I thought this was going to be cool. I can't believe that this is a biological man singing, incredible voice and even more incredible to learn that its coming from a man. But after a few songs I kind of lost interest and didn't finish the album. Catchy enough tunes, sure. But I don't think this one really belongs on a list of albums that I need to hear before I leave this earth.

Gar-bage! Taylor swift wannabe that comes nowhere close. No understanding on this at all

good background music 4/5

Like it

If I hadn't heard cvrches before this album I think I'd have liked it a lot more, as it was I had a direct comparison that blows it out the water. Some of the songs weren't bad but were missing a few more ideas to make them stand out. A pleasant enough listen still, I think this is 3.5 but closer to a 3.

Had heard of the front person/group before, but never listened. Reminded me of Santogold. I quite liked the pulsatingness of it all - 5 Dollars and Damn were my favourite tracks. Didn't listen to the second CD, which is, as I understand, just french language versions of the first.

What Christine and the queens I've heard, I've enjoyed.... Kinda surprised none of the big ones were on this album though. Interesting to do both English and French versions, I actually think I prefer the French versions. La marcheuse is the best of the bunch for me. I did enjoy this, but thought I might enjoy it more given how much I've liked the big hits I've heard. Still 3

Pop isn’t my favorite genre, but I liked this album. It’s fun and catchy, and bonus points for being queer!

I didn’t love this. I felt like a lot got lost in translation

I listened to the French half of the album (which I believe is the language the songs were originally written in) but I do love the bilingual nature of Side A English / côté b français of the album. I knew a few of these songs (have been a long time fan of Doesn't Matter (voleur de soleil) but I really enjoyed delving deeper into these tracks, which I think sound great but also have fascinating subject matter. I remember listening to an episode of Song Exploder about Doesn't Matter and there was a lot of discussion about existentialism. Also I love that the French title for Girlfriend is Damn, dis-moi. La marcheuse (je vais marcher, tout le temps - I think?) is quite inspiring to me and I also loved machin-chose. Inspiring for me to now go back through some other Chris records to delve deeper (obviously I am a HUGE fan of the Charli XCX Gone and New Shapes features, as well as Tilted and some great work on one of the 070 Shake albums)

Pretty standard electro pop thing going on here. I didnt get that much from it but i dont hate it. Its nice enough to listen to. Just let me pretty bored. No saves. No real excitement. Just a bog standard affair. Pretty men all around. Im through it and on to the next one. Thats the main thought I got here.

Meh. A little better than the average electro-pop dance music, but not enough to turn me around. There’s a couple of “bangers” here, but I lost interest quickly and started watching a Harry Potter movie. 2.3

I really enjoyed Side 1 but it really turns into something special with the French versions.

Glad I stuck around to finish this one because I wanted to shut it off after about 4 songs. But it did grow on me a bit. Still, not an album I think I will be revisiting.

Buen electro pop, muy pegadizo. Me hizo acordar a Miranda, y también a Adicta en algunos sonidos. 6/10

About as basic as pop music gets. I opted for the English language version but this music just fades into the background so I don't think it even matters what she's saying.

Ain't running out to buy this album or anything else by Christine.

Like I said at six years old after trying orange soda, “That’s good pop.”

I did not care for this in the least.

Cold electronic with a little emotions. Didn't need 2 albums.

I sort of want to like this, but find much of it grating at the same time. It's just too clean, too much current pop influece, not enough of the good bits of 80s pop, and just generally not interesting enough. Girlfriend/Damn, dis-moi is admittedly catchy, though. Chris!

Nope. Not for me. Especially hated the idea of the same album in English and French. Choose one please. The French version, imo, was better. But not sure if that's mostly only because I don't speak much French.

1. comme - 0 2. girlfriend - 0 3. uualker - 0 4. matter - 0 5. dollarz - 0 6. zoda - 0 7. damn - 0 8. face - 0 9. feel - 0 10. zenze - 1 11. ztranger - 0 CD 1 - MERDE CD 2 - PLUZ MERDE

This was a pleasant album.

Liked it

Great for like trying on clothes at JCPenny or Kohl's. Fine for casual listening. The French version might be better, but I wouldn't know, I didn't listen to that (5/10, 2/5 on this scale)

Teen pop

Nice

(1/5) I can literally see the age gap in front of me like a huge canyon. I'm so far on the other side of this music, I can barely see the other side.. This is music for an H&M, and I barely know what an H&M is and have never been in one.. I'm now (officially) an old man and this is not my music. I was never intended as an audience, I don't understand the aesthetic, and I guess I don't appreciate the work(?). To my ears, it's all cookie cutter pop -- just stock in trade music for a high end mall or in the background of a boba tea place. The artist's sexuality and fashion sense seems to be the big draw because while their singing is .. fine .. it's nothing special. The music is certainly and emphatically NOT special. The music is tired, recycled 80s electronica/pop which is THE ONLY MUSIC THAT EXISTS OR IS IMPORTANT, according to Dimery and this god-awful list of which I'm now inching up on 200 albums listened to.. I listened to this on the YouTube music app with the accompanying videos that were featured and the comments gushed on the fashion, for instance. A good album this does not make. It's music for a YouTube generation where the visual aesthetics and presentation (i.e. sexuality) supersedes the actual music. The packaging seems more important than the product. Any French language versions of these songs I encountered didn't improve them one bit. I'm old, tired, and entropy is creeping up on me. If this is important to younger listeners... Ok (deep, deep sigh)... Fine. I won't and don't like it and probably never will. Have we plumbed the depths of what this art form (pop) can offer or do the totalizing forces of capitalism and the corporate music industry just dictate that this is all that's ok to offer? If it's the later, the cynical use of the packaging of this music is just deeply depressing..

Absolutely no frame of reference on this one, so it got the preliminary eyeroll based on the cover alone. Almost immediately reminiscent of 80s pop, with fairly generic progressions and heavy synth. Unfolds with shades of Prince and the Eurythmics at times, heavily seasoned with seemingly K-Pop sensibilities, and the vocals are sufficient and smooth without resorting to audacious autotune or gymnastics. The sum of the parts is catchy if not memorable, and I didn't hate it like I expected to. I let the double album play on after the English version, and actually found that I like the French version more. Nothing here to set the world on fire, but it's a middle 3/5 that I don't mind to round up.

170. Chris - Christine and the Queens (2018) 8.11.26 Variety: 3 Adequacy: 5 Listenability: 5 Uniqueness: 2 Emotionality: 3 = 3.6 rounded up to a 4 "Blood on my cheeks, birds come by/ One of my stomps and they fly/ People politely smile to make sure I won't come any closer" Going in 100% bind on this one as I'm fairly sure I've never heard of the artist before. Given how internationally huge and acclaimed they appear to be based on a glance, makes me question how culturally insulated we are in the U.S. when it comes to outside influences. And in turn my own prejudices towards new music in general. I would not say I'm any sort of aficionado when it comes to pop music of the world, and fact I would say I am quite resistant to it for a number of reasons, chief among them being language barriers. I do enjoy a lot of what has been termed "world music" but so much of that is instrumental focused that language barley matters. No matter the outcome, this will be a nice excuse to briefly sample some of that international pop music, and also something relatively recent. The host of 70-something ( or dead) white rockers that make up the majority of the list will be there when I get back. THE TRACKS "Comme si" - This is not what I was expecting. I did expect the English lyrics as I saw there was a targeted release, and decided to go that route to make things a bit less difficult to parse, and was pleasantly surprised to find a very polished and catchy bit of electro funk pop ( heavy on the pop) that opens with some nods to Prince, and reminds me a lot of some Robyn stuff I've heard. "Girlfriend" - The retro 80s vibes continue in this slower, but still very bouncy and catchy number. Their vocals on here are just as sooth and confident, with an almost Michael Jacksonesque delivery, and there is a lot of cool stuff going on instrumentally. The funky guitar licks mixed with the big synths put me in mind of "Music Sounds Better with You" that one half of Daft Punk did with a couple of other guys under the Stardust moniker. "The Walker" - Hard to stop from making all these comparison, but this track reminds me a bit of La Roux. A very pretty song about some violent and self destructive urges, the 80s influence is definitely still there no doubt, but this is more than pastiche and feels more like a nod instrumentally than an overall attempt at recreating that sound. "Doesn't Matter"- We start with a beat right out of Toni Basil's "Mickey" but the song itself is anything but the lively, exuberant track that is. There's a lot less melodicism in this one that the first three, but where it lacks in catchiness, it makes up in an interesting repetitiveness in which layers and layers are added until the end, resulting in a bright neon bit of dance pop. To keep the comparisons coming, this one had shades of Ladyhawke with the layered elements and the build 'em up and knock 'em down song structure. "5 Dollars" - The first one that didn't entirely hit for me. The vocal melody gets lost I think in the pronunciation, and the beat beings the mid 90s super clean, characterless electronic music more so than any of the 80s vibes I've been digging before. And the chorus has the stink of post-"All That You Can't Leave Behind" era U2 BIG swinging too hard for the fences clumsiness about it. "Goya Soda" - The fat, liquidy electronic bass and some reverb heavy vocals on this do work for me though. There's very sharp early 90s Rhythm Nation-era Janet Jackson production that's been smeared all over this, mixed with some Dead Can Dance or Enya-esque layered vocals. Two great tastes that taste great together. "Damn (What Must a Woman Do)" - More Prince vibes on this one, and a more straightforward and aggressive beat, with some heavy R&B elements mixed with a shot of 90s club sounds thrown in for good measure. Very danceable, and some of the most passionate vocals yet. "What's-Her-Face" - An awesome driving synth bass beat, some sad catchy vocals, and some keyboard embellishments make this one a very low key banger of a track. They seem to be taking queues from Robyn here, but without sounding like a clone. Perfect for dancing by on your own. "Feel So Good" - A STRONG dive back into the 80s sound, with some more fat bass synth and break beats that sounds much closer to a love letter to that specific Janet Jackson Rhythm Nation sound than anything else on here. We even get a glass break effect! This was cool as shit. Put your wrap around shades, don some parachute pants and get the fuck down. "Make Some Sense" - Low and deliberate with some reverbed finger snap beats, we get an interesting take on a slow jam on this one. There's some real vocal range on here as well with the layered choral backing vocals paired against their sincere, and not too sentimental lead vocals. "The Stranger" - Of all things I didn't expect to hear anything that put me in mind of Shakira on here. The breathy, athletic delivery probably had something to do with it, but the instrumentation was much more world music rhythmic cadence doesn't not help. This went down a lot smoother than I thought it would given how big it is. HIGHLIGHTS - "Comme si" - "Girlfriend" - "The Walker" - "Doesn't Matter" - "Goya Soda" - "Damn (What Must a Woman Do)" - "Feel So Good" - "Make Some Sense" - "The Stranger" MIDLIGHTS - "5 Dollars" LOWLIGHTS - FINAL THOUGHTS Going in blind I was not sure what to expect, but ended up really liking the left of center electronic, but still very radio friendly sound. Barely a track went by that I wasn't reminded of other artists that I really liked who have all tread similar 80s-tinged synth poppy ground. It was pretty uniformly catchy and full of great hooks. The vocals, while difficult to understand at times ( even in English) were full of emotion without being too over performative and self impressed. This artist seems like someone wholly concerned with crafting unique songs with each go, and not with showing their ability to perform annoying and pointless vocal gymnastics. Also impressive was the lack of 10-20 other writers and producers on any given track. This certainly felt as if it was all from the same voice. That seems rare in this day and age, especially for this type of music. As far as I can tell by the credits, they write their own material and did most of the arrangements, drum programming, keyboards and other synths. I was impressed enough to give the whole thing a second listen, this time in French, and have to say even though it didn't strike me as that much different, there were enough little changes and smoother vocal deliveries in some parts ( especially on "5 Dollars" - which worked much better for me) that made me reconsider some of my thoughts. But the review of the English version still stands. And I was definitely impressed enough to seek out more stuff by this artist. A fun listen, and a pleasant surprise. I could easily see this rising in esteem with more listens. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - Nah FURTHER LISTENING - La Roux by La Roux - Ladyhawke by Ladyhawke - Body Talk Pt. 1 by Robyn - "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust - Santogold by Santogold

Imagine Celine Dion and Boy George did the fusion dance from Dragonball Z, but messed it up so they got the low energy version. Then have that act sing over a leftover reheated Eurythmics sound. That is what Christina and the Queens sound like. It’s uninspired 80s pop rehash. No thanks. 2/5

Got thrown off by first disc being english and second french but think i listened to most of it. Kinda cool. Goya Soda kinda bops.

Some totally fine French synth pop. Nothing really grabbed me in here. 2.5 stars, rounding down.

Favorite Track: The Walker

couldn't get through it ngl

Grocery store music. I completely blocked it out for fifteen minutes. Faded into the fabric of the world, not in a good way. I liked 5 dols but that was it.

Great. We have conclusive proof that in 2018 the French could produce music just as bad as the Americans could in the 1980s.

This was awful. A Lorde wanna, we definitely have better music coming out of 2018. Leave it off the list

Rahim Redcar is so damn cool. French excellence !

This is another album that I want to understand the inclusion. It’s pretty generic sounding pop that’s outside of its time. I also don’t understand the choice to release it in two languages. It either feels like there wasn’t enough confidence that it would do well in French, or greed that they wanted to try and be in two markets. And for what it’s worth, her French accent makes the English versions difficult to understand. I just don’t really see what makes this remarkable enough to need to hear, even if it’s not intolerable to listen to.

Enjoyed it; went really quickly, just a shame I didn't know what the hell she's on about for most of it.

Sounded like an 80s throwback. Didn't like it much. I listened in English mainly, also listened to a few songs in French. It's possible it could have been better in French.

Je suis très étonné de le retrouver ici, il me semblait que c'était surtout une référence francophone. Mais il semblerait qu'il ait aussi un vrai succès aux États-Unis, ce qui explique pourquoi cet album contient des chansons en français et leurs versions en anglais (à part deux chansons non traduites et une chanson supplémentaire en anglais). Il va de soi que je n'ai écouté que la version française plus la chanson uniquement en anglais. C'était plutôt sympathique ! Je ne connaissais que de nom. C'est étiqueté synthpop et c'est effectivement une bonne description. Très souvent, ça rappelle les années 80. Je suis pas mécontent de mon écoute.

Pretty fun

Leuke muziek. Lekker rustig. ***

I know nothing of modern French music that isn't like, Justice or Gojira and a couple of other artists. I also chose to review this with the French version of the album over the English because I can't really hear the lyrics anyways in music and it'll help the review's rating. Genderqueer identity and expression is something I read about in college (in a place that was more left wing than traditionally liberal college towns) and have friends that identify as such who are definitely more about this subject to talk about it. As close as I can get to that is to talk about synthesizers. There's always a connection from Queer/LGBTQ+ identity to synthesizers from Wendy Carlos to Disco music and Chicago House, and so on and so forth to the present. Well, as close to the present on this list as most albums are in 2018: a decade of strong synth resurgence as synthesizers got more affordable thanks to better mass produced chips BLAH BLAH BLAH I AM A FUCKING NERD. I was kind of shocked that of all synths used for this album, including "Moog" and the E-Mu (80s) synths, Rahim Redcar used a Hartmann Neuron for this album. There's like, maybe 1,000 of them that were ever created from a German company that would later go bankrupt when the synthesizer flopped in sales. Check this link and learn more about that: https://www.vintagesynth.com/hartmann/neuron Okay, okay, I'll talk about the album even though the synth stuff is infinitely more interesting to me to ramble on about. It's................cromulent. I'm not a pop person to really get this album nor gay or queer to connect with it better, but I don't think it was bad or unwarranted in importance to say it was anything horrible or atrocious. It has some good highs and what I didn't like was the more cliche pop compositions of most of the drums and some of the beats. The Neuron is such a fascinating ahead-of-its-time synth for the early 2000s that I think hearing it being used alone was the funnest part of all of this. And that's not an easy feat either. Needless to say, it's still follows the pop structure and such that doesn't really grasp me. I'd probably very much dislike it if I heard the English version. Can we get Arca on this list? That would be super cool and she deserves it. I don't know too much about French music culture aside some of the bigger names (I forgot to say Daft Punk earlier so I will bring them up now: Daft Punk.). From what I can tell Christine & The Queens is fairly popular in France and since that's not English or American music, I give it more of a pass.

Favorite track(s): Damn, dis-moi, Goya ! Soda !

Sinth pop anos 1980 feito em 2018. É legal. As faixas em francês são mais legais. Celest Phoenixcall.

Synth pop, and not of the better kind. Some strange decisions in production (the sound effects????), plus the sometimes really badly worded English (I didn't listen to the French versions) let me wonder why on earth he decided not to use a professional English songwriter to help with the lyrics. His accent and the strange pronunciation were distracting.

Pretty boring pop

Well sung technically from what I can tell, and nice voice color. I didn't mind the English singing tbh, tho I also do not like French too much to begin with. :D Instruments and melodies didn't really wow me or get me grooving. I can certainly tell the supposed MJ influences in places, sometimes perhaps very unsubtly. I don't mind this as a whole, but just not too exciting for me personally, especially in an office setting as I work. I suppose the rating would go anywhere from a 2 to 4 depending on my mood, and the context in which I am listening to these songs; case in point that I wanted to write a short yet scathing review when this started, but am now just kinda fine with it. Good overall, and since I never heard of this singer/band before, I'd say underrated? Perhaps too derivative of the work of the greats.

An okay bit of radio ready pop. My time went by fairly quickly listening to both the English and French versions, though I definitely prefer the latter since I can't understand the lyrics for the most part anyway- something about the accentuation on the English side doesn't transfer over from the singing as cleanly. Background beats for the most part were nice, but sometimes teetered a bit too close to being generic "human music" with the way it leaned on synths and drum machines. The vocal harmonics are also something I highly appreciate when done as well and as measured as they were here.

Absolutely pristine french pop. Really stupid that there was consensus to include this and not more foundational, early french stuff from the 60s-80s that led to this. Absolutely don’t go for the English version.

Good

That first side is one of the best pop albums of the 2010s, doesn't stick the landing, but that's not to say this is any less than a great record

Favourite Songs: The Walker What's Her Face

Yeah this just isn't for me. 1/5

A perfect modern pop album. Proof that you can make a record that’s fun, danceable, deep, and intensely personal all at once. Immensely cool. Love it.

Music with no distinguishing elements.

I can handle gay albums. I can handle French albums. But both? No sir I just can't.

I was not optimistic about a French pop album. But I really enjoyed this. I pleasant voice, catchy beats, not over produced. People complaining can go back and listen to the 50th British post punk bullshit that all sounds the same. I will enjoy something different for once.

great album, listened twice and loved it. Going to be on my radar this summer.

Not too bad of an album as just leaving in the background, but nothing too exciting. Weirdly enough, it is REALLY recent, but if this was released 30 years prior, it would've been a lot more revolutionary. Overall, a bit meh, nothing really too great, but it's okay having it playing while you're doing other things.

A perfectly average pop music album.. Undistinguished, other than the use of French language. Would suit a trendy soho bistro.

Crap

Clever pop! Great beats and interesting lyrics.

I like it but too many songs are too similar. Would give a 3.5 if poss

Decided to listen in French since all the previous music I had heard from this artist had just horrible lyricism...did it help?? I guess? The music still felt like less good Michael Jackson or Carly Rae worship but just in a different language. Which reminds me that she is not on this list. WTF? Oh well. This wasn't awful like I was expecting when it showed up on "next."

Enjoyed this one as a good modern synth pop album, didn't make much of an impact, won't listen again. Next.

Well-crafted French pop. I dont really care about it personally, didnt connect with me at all, but didnt dislike it either.

I was somewhat pleasantly surprised by this one. The music is catchy, the production is slick without becoming completely sterile, and Rahim Redcar (from what I understand, he changed names since the released of this album) is a very talented vocalist. There’s a confidence in the delivery that gives these songs more personality than I expected going in. A lot of the album sits in that polished synth-pop lane, which I usually rate pretty poorly, but it was easy enough to listen to. The problem is that after a while, several of the songs started running together. Good hooks, good voice, plenty of style, but not my genre and I have no plans to listen to it again. Still, I expected to be bored and wasn’t. That counts for something.

3.5

This really leans into what I like about some modern female indie pop such as Kacy Hill and Kieza. I can't say this is my favorite of that style but I think i enjoyed what they had to offer (7.65) ★★★½

Okay synthpop. 3 stars

This started off pretty good, but it kind of turned into pretty boring synthpop after a few tracks. By the end, I was ready for it to be over. Favorite tracks were "Comme Si" and "The Walker". 2.5 stars.

3.5

Very strong dayglo 80s feels to begin with. Almost like Scritti Politti (Chritti Politti? Or perhaps Crispin Politti because the singer’s got hair like Crispin Glover’s George McFly from Back To The Future. Album does become more boring and generic modern dance pop around the half way point though. Really bad cover art as well with its golden crayon shower.

There were some certified bops on this. Honestly so pleasantly surprised! Had a great time with this one and you will too! If you're a little gay

Oh dear I can’t recognize your…oh idk how to describe. And I don’t understand the eng lyrics, what are those words used for?

this may be the worst album cover i’ve ever seen. this is a rough stretch of albums to start with idk my ears are clogged but it just kind of seems like soulless radio pop trying to pretend it’s not the rap drums/bass with elctronic production is a tough task and they failed they tried to be funky at times and it just felt out of place, sounds like someshit i’d overhear at sephora

Should have only listened to the French version. Production was nice

Verdorie een dubbelalbum... Christine and the Queens is wel een band die ik ken, nooit een album van heb gehoord maar ik weet dat ze wel een beetje een indie darling zijn. Ben hier wel erg benieuwd naar! Wat me al snel opvalt is dat het aan de ene kant hele dramatische, grote nummers zijn maar dat de productie erg sterk is met veel elektronische en soms zelfs beetje clubby invloeden. Het werkt ook wel voor me dat er veel geswitched word tussen verschillende talen. Ik meen Frans te herkennen, maar moet eerlijk toegeven dat mijn 6 jaar Frans toch grotendeels voor de bühne waren... Oh ben wel heeeeel blij dat het geen dubbelalbum blijkt te zijn! Dit was een lekker album, maar om nu nog eens 3 kwartier te luisteren daar had ik toch weinig zin in. Disc 2 is het album nog eens, maar dan volledig in het Frans. Moet zeggen; ik vond dit best wel een prettig album, poppy op de juiste manier maar wel ook veel elektronische invloeden en vooral ook hele sterke vocal van Christine. Ok, holy shit. Niet verwacht, maar ik wilde een paar nummers van de Franse versie luisteren en dat is echt 10000% de betere versie. De Franse vocals werken gewoon een stuk beter met de dromerige productie. Dusja, als je dit album luistert: Disc 2. Ne regrette rien. Ofzoiets. FAVO: Comme si, Doesn't matter, Goya Soda, La marcheuse, Doesn't matter(Voleur de soleil)

I think it's really beautiful what Christine is doing for representation of her community (the French). Showing young girls that it's ok to be yourself (French) even when you're surrounded by people who will judge you for who you are (French). I like to think of myself as elevated and cosmopolitan but even I catch myself in judgment of those in certain alternative lifestyles (being French). But when I listen to this pretty boring album I think - you know what? It's ok to be French! I give the French 2 stars. Love wins.

I love French pop thank you christen and her queens. Finding it hard to fault this. It’s just great energy, sounds so fresh even 8 years later. I listened to this a lot when it came out and this has reminded me how good this was. Will be listening to this again and again.

Really liked this, some great pop tunes on here. I’m a fan of their work but hadn’t heard this in full before so it was nice to have the opportunity. Could be a little tighter to get full marks

ts is ass gang I'm sorry, and I'm not being homophobe 🥀💔

Está en francés. No está mal para tenerlo de fondo, pero no me encantó

This record was fun for a few tracks. Favourite Track(s): 5 Dols Least Favourite Track(s): Les yeux mouillés

Half of the songs were in French, so that wasn’t great. It was very dance pop. I’m not a big fan of that genre. I like slow songs. Wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t something I ever want to hear again.

- just could not ..... 2.5 for competency, -.5 for being so completely generic. -

Doppelalbum: die gleichen Songs einmal auf englisch, einmal auf französisch ...

Bland, gewoon beetje saaie muziek eig

This is adequate 80s revival that didn't need to be done. If you're gonna borrow Prince's schtick and do 80's tunes, you better be at least as good as good 80's bands. There's are no hooks here, nothing sticks. It goes in one ear and out the other. If you're gonna borrow k.d. Lang's schtick and do genderbent, be good. This doesn't make me think she's performing as a man. This feels like cosplay layered over average synth-pop. This is not good, no matter what the critics think. My rating: 2/5

this is like pop but so underground that if you play this around other people they will just have 0 idea what they are listening to. Ruining the music by not hyping people up. Felt like I really didnt need to listen to this before I died.

Not for me

Could never get into them, but with this album it totally clicked. Very much Prince-influenced in the sense that there is this thick and abstract electronic funk foundation with a peculiar sense of melody on top that is different from Anglo-Saxon pop and has a somewhat unmistakeable French 80s pop vibe.

Not For Me

A: 1h 32 min av tystnad jag aldrig kommer få tillbaka. Skulle min ångest existera i form av musik skulle den manifesteras i detta skräp som jag blint skulle ha lyssnat på 2018 innan jag förstod att det också finns bra musik. Inte illa nog att jag inte gillade låtarna, varje låt spelades TVÅ GÅNGER (med möjliga variationer som jag nog inte märkte av). 1/5 blockar artisten på Spotify efter detta :) D: 2 gånger var lite tough men hon hade ju helt bra vibes och experiment going on. Lowkey en modernare version av dendö fake Ethel Cain. Skulle nog kunna lyssna på den., tror att Agnes hat har sin grund i något djupare än artisten. Coping. 3/5.

En francais!

what must a woman do para joderse para follarse... are we so deadass??????? this fried me so bad. overall: fun, upbeat, i liked the french version better because i didn't know what was being said. also a bit of a jarring listen after the alice cooper record, and-- why is it so long??? 1.5 hours of on the nose lyrics and overly intentional 80s pop styling led me to cheat and skip around a little. i think its a 2.5/5 for me, not great but a fun listen to turn my brain off to.

A very strong 3

1,5/5

I couldn't bear to listen to it in English - weird because I think the earlier single Tilted is an amazing song. In French I really enjoyed it. Pure pop, 80s vibe. Nothing that grabs me like Tilted, though.

Got an excellent sound to it, whether that's in French or English. 4.5 bumped down to 4.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4. Rahim Redcar, formerly known by “Christine and the Queens” when recording this album, is our main man here. He’s mostly displaying a more aggressively masculine side to his work here; one that, at the time, I imagine felt pretty liberating, at least from a gender-driven perspective. Given that Rahim now treats his old pseudonym as sort of a deadname (he has released some current projects as “Christine and the Queens”) & a different persona from who he is now, I think it’s a little fair to say this album might’ve jumped the gun with being put on the list, at least in terms of gender identity / comfortability. However, I think it earned its place on the list, as listening to the actual album itself reveals a pretty solidly textured project – this is an ‘80s throwback style akin to The Weeknd, and Rahim’s voice reminded me a LOT of The Weeknd throughout most of these tracks, especially on some layered / higher notes. That ‘80s throwback style is generally good, though there are points here where some of the more creative soundscapes give way to somewhat repetitive pulses that leave a track in a slight limbo. It’s not too often, but it’s often enough that the entire album does sort of blend together as a result – there’s very few definitively memorable riffs, choruses or hooks here from a pop standpoint. That said, the album generally picks up that slack in its storytelling. Since Rahim’s first language isn’t English, there are some clunkier songs here that don’t quite grasp the storytelling with the precision he’s looking for, but I think the intent of exploring gender dynamics in a more neutrally-driven way & coping with the events in his past that have led him to this exploration of “Chris” as an identity are done well. I think the most affirming tracks here are tied between “The walker” & “5 dollars”. The former is a message saying that fighting through your pain to validate yourself is a lot more fruitful than backing away from it. The latter, to me, feels like a statement of empowerment. The money is material & the sex work is a means to an end; the part that feels empowering entirely comes in being seen & recognized without prejudice that lies behind it. The track that got me the hardest was probably “What’s-her-face”, if only because the idea of being so forgettable that your name (or some botched form of it) becomes a shorthand slur for being that forgettable is utterly brutal. This album’s modus operandi is finding the balance between that affirmation & that brutality, and yet finding ways to use both as a strength. So, why a 4.5 bumped down to a 4 then? Admittedly, it’s just a pile of little things that build up; some tracks feel a bit harder to parse (namely “Goya Soda”), some tracks linger a bit long, and a few of them feel like slight retreads (namely “Feel so good”). Past that, I found “Make some sense” to be a little lacking in execution, & I’m not super sold on “The stranger” as a closing track. It’s got a great message, don’t get me wrong, but I think it doesn’t end the album with quite the right bombast for someone trying to make a statement about needing to continue the fight so that complacency doesn’t let the sludge of the world end a movement. It could’ve been punchier, basically. That lack of an extra punch just applies to a lot of the album for me. Make no mistake though; I did like this one a lot. I think it’s a very welcome addition to the list, and if nothing else, I might just need to add a bit of pansexual pop into my musical diet to begin with, as I can only assume Rahim’s stuff has evolved more since this album came out & as he’s evolved in terms of exploring his own identity. I do wish it had a little more conviction overall behind it, and a catchier kick to cling onto, but it’s a pretty well envisioned 44 minutes. It’s a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4, but one I’d recommend regardless.

Not what I was expecting per se.

Beeps, boops, and autotune. What's not to loathe?

I think I’m going to need to have another go on this, because it created an atmosphere that I liked a lot but the hooks didn’t quite sink in first time round. Potential to improve on this score though.

very nice but not enough to do it encore en français

man, i am not jealous of trans people who have to do their name-shopping phase in the public eye. I did not listen to the french language half of the album bc i did not enjoy it enough for seconds (i like their other albums better and this would not have been my choice)

I would have picked self-titled for sure

A bit boring innit?

Its good. Probably doesn't belong on a list of essential listening though.

Well, I found the exact album that should have been replaced by Robyn's Body Talk. This is middle of the road electropap, forgettable and generic above and beyond being awful. It's the sound of an increasingly puritanical and risk averse youth, which is ironic since it's very very queer coded. The way modern kids mix acceptance of all manner of identities (as they should) with a stay-at-home, I don't know what a good time is personal politic (something their forebears fought against to get the world to the place where they CAN embrace their truest self) is disturbing. Which also is a cautionary tale of why representation matters. If we are not accepting and embracing the contributions of queer or nonbinary or any other group of folks, at some point all you get as representation is Christine and the Queens. That doesn't really say much about Chris, because there's nothing TO say. Without the gender-bending cover and title, there is exactly one thing that separates this from a hundred identical modern pop albums: it repeats itself in French. This is, admittedly, better, because pop music always sounds better when you don't have to confront the lyrics. Still, the musical ideas are such incredibly by-the-books ones, who wants to hear it twice? The first 45 minutes is hard enough to pay attention to. ⭐️⭐️

Sorry couldn't make it through this one without having to stop and move on to another album. For me this is unlistenable.

this was honestly more of a four for me - it was almost *too* slick. but after seeing the borderline homophobic and xenophobic reviews here, fuckit, i'm going full 5. french gay electropop forever. did i need to hear it before i died? probably not but i'm glad i did!

It’s not very good. But… I have definitely heard worse. It uses the “pop 89% chance of making a Next Big Hit” formula and doesn’t really bring anything else to the table. It’s not egregious but I find myself disliking the album because it wants to sing about “controversial” topics with such a cut-and-paste, uninspired musical style.

Not for me.

Gostei mais da versão em francês, mas mesmo assim, um 2.5

Estava pessimista pela capa. Ate gostei. Fez me lembrar Caroline Polachek

there’s something special about this i think

I’ll be listening to this again. Enjoyed listening in both language versions.

Not in my edition of the book! 2018. 3 stars. Quality French electro pop. She's got a gorgeous voice, and there are some decent tunes here - it's just let down by suspect lyrics. Not sure it is essential listening though.

As músicas são boas pra ouvir tranquilo, mas queria ter ouvido só as versões francesas, parece ter mais sentimento. Mas não me imagino ouvindo novamente.

Actually quite enjoyed this, had never listened to him other than catching the tail end of his set at Primavera few years ago. It’s like MJ + Nilufer Yanya. This type of indie synth pop is totally up my street, went through a huge phase of this style of music a few years ago and would have loved it then. Listened to English side. Retro but simultaneously fresh

Pretty solid pop album that does me no harm with the french version being more authentic (three stars) compared to the English version (two stars). 2,5

Pretty good, just not quiiiite my jam

Great voice just not my choice of songs.

Some good songs that even went onto mynplaylisr, but in the end the album didn't really stand out to me.

Lekker plaatje! Weird, funky, electric en een sound. De ambiance is wel chill, niet alle nummers waren bangers. Wel intens om een doordeweekse plaat te luisteren van 1 1/2 uur Beter dan gemiddeld, maar ook weer niet het einde.

Deze heb ik live gezien! Fantastische plaat met veel hits. Ook leuk dat er een nieuwer album weer te beluisteren valt daar was ik aan toe. De muziek is goed het wisselen van Frans en Engels is een keer goed gedaan. Normaal ben ik daar niet zo van. Het is alleen een album die niet altijd bij mij blijft. Ik weet dat ik deze artiest live heb gezien bij best kept en het album al wel eens geluisterd had. Alleen het is niet een album of een optreden dat is blijven hangen.! Het is goed niet fantastisch.

Heb het een keer live gezien op een festival. Het was prima, niks negatiefs. Daarna ook nooit meer opgezocht. Veel nummers ken je wel een beetje. De productie is goed en het is wel een interessante verschijning die wat te vertellen heeft. Toch blijft het niet bij, ik vergeet het weer en maakt geen impact op mij. Misschien is alles te glad gestreken en glij je er doorheen zonder dat het je ergens vasthoud. Ik kan het niet goed verklaren. Er valt best wel veel over die artiest te zeggen maar laat het aan de mensen de er wat meer passie voor hebben. Tis prima

Heerlijk verfrissend om af en toe een nieuw album te luisteren in deze lijst. Wat dat betreft vind ik het ook niet erg dat het album wat aan de lange kant is. Christine and the queens pakken een aantal sounds van de jaren 80 en maken daar iets hedendaags van, its slaps ze doen dat erg goed. Ik kan niet anders zeggen dat ik het lekker vind om naar te luisteren. Ook de afwisseling van Engels naar Frans vind ik een goede keuze om het interessant te houden. Daarbij hebben ze leuke hooks en heeft ze een fijne stem om naar te luisteren.

It's cool to have two versions of the same album packaged together like this, it makes me consider how different languages sound and how it effects me when I understand the words of a song versus when I don't. These are some very fun songs, and I think I actually prefer the French versions to their English counterparts. Its interesting how the structure of this album serves kind of like a mirror for the artist's identity. I was going to give this one 4 stars, but I think I like this a lot more then some of the albums that I've recently rated that way. Favorite track: "Goya ! Soda !" (as opposed to "Goya Soda")

Does anyone remember the How I Met Your Mother with Robin Sparkles? The crew found out when she was 16ish Robin was a teen pop star in Canada. They are watching the music video and Ted says "Wait, if this is the mid 90s why does it look like 1986?" Robin says "the 80s didn't hit Canada until 1993" Well, I guess the 80s didn't hit France until 2018. Crazy that something so new sounds so dated. It's not awful but it's not that good. It's Vanilla. Been there, done that. Not breaking any ground while other pop stars in 2018 were reaching new places. Meh. Good enough to give a 2.5 but I'll round down this time. 2 stars

Ahahahah nom d'un cul

Solid dance/pop album. They have a good voice and the songs are engaging musically and rhythmically. I was thinking 3.5, but I feel good about a 4.

Honestly it was fine..!! Enjoyed it quite a lot!

It’s a fun synth pop album. Can’t complain.

I support this album

Look, it’s a fine album, just not original, there are other artists who have done it better, and nothing memorable to make you want to go back. You didn’t even really dance to it, and you were dancing to everything then.

H: this album took inspiration from a lot of different genres and artists. This is easily the best album we’ve listened to this far. The production and mixing of the album was incredible. 9/10 H fav song: doesn’t matter Z: banger album filled with sexy production and great vocals. Timeless grooves. 8.2/10 For fans of: Justin Timberlake, clubbing in the 80’s, taking your shirt off Z fav song: Damn (what must a woman do)

06/16 HOLY SHIT! What a banger! Like a mix between Chvrches, Michael Jackson, and Daft Punk! Awesome!

This was interesting but probably not something I would call essential. The synths and drums are punchy and her vocals are good in both English and French. It’s just not really my kind of music. What’s-Her-Face reminds me of Wandering Star by Portishead and I like that.

Trash

Poor man's Michael Jackson. Pretty meh.

Some decent jams and I had fun with some of the tracks but also pretty run of the mill.

This is decent pop but it didn't blow me away or anything.

I saw someone mention that this is way too 80s or something and that’s just nonsense. Just because there’s some crappy VSTs of old synths here and there doesn’t make it 80s yet. More than anything this sounds like that certain type of quiet and minimalistic pop with whispered vocals that was vastly popular in 2010s, which I've never been much of a fan of. Regardless, it wasn’t too bad. I listened to the French version, of course, because I always prefer, if not the non-English version, at least the version with the singer's native language. And that worked quite nicely here. Pretty for the type of music it is. Won't listen to it again, but I'll give it a good three stars; one extra for not being (solely) in English.

A good voice, but I am not a big fan of the music. 3 stars or C+.

thought i was gonna like this one more than i actually do. i don’t hate it or anything, but nothing really stood out about it. sort of felt like i was supposed to be impressed simply because she was singing in different languages

Electronica, 84 eme album =>1/5

This was a journey. And it began on the wrongest of foots. A double album? Really?? Its a damn hour& 1/2 to get thru this thing ONCE. And then the needle dropped, and the stock went in freefall. As a wise man once said: "No." But it kept playing & before long there was a tune that caught my attention. &then another one & another & there'd be a stinker here & there, but this thing came back & snatched a 3 from the jaws of a 1. Its definitely outside the range of my natural habitat, but it's absolutely going into the giant mix

I quite liked it. I'm English at least I didn't listen to the French half

I enjoyed this. It's a perfectly acceptable pop album.

Nice pop

>Rahim Redcar Pfffffffffffffffffff

Danse, danse, et puis la révolution ! Pas terrible, mais ce n'est pas pour moi. Oui, j'ai bien écouté la version française. Pourquoi cette question ? 2,5 étoiles

Perfectly adequate pop music with a strong 80s vibe, but nothing special

The word that kept coming to mind listening to this was ‘safe’. Some nice musical bits but I found the vocals annoying. The French half was the better half.

New to me - enjoyed a lot, reminded me of CHVRCHES which is no bad thing.

92 minutes is a long time but this wasn’t too bad at all, above the middle of the two stars for “The Walker” alone. Tom.

For nostalgia's sake

What are we doing? How can this be on the list?

God damn is this terrible. It’s like I’m stuck in a trendy mall fitting room in 1987. Bailed after a few songs.

Quite a few catchy tunes here. I was a little worried when I saw the genre was pop and they did the album in different languages, but I was pleasantly surprised. 2.5 rounding up.

Dwie godziny popu po francusku.

Un as o absoluto

Meh

Another lovely surprise. Some proper good songs on here. Great chord changes, decent attitude and a kind of happy/sad feeling to a lot of the music. I imagine this would sound great on a European car journey. The sun's shining and Christine is singing her bittersweet pop songs.

Not anti-pop, anti-80s pop, or (god forbid) anti-gay, but I can't help but agree with the mostly middling reviews here. Soulless is the wrong word, but it doesn't evoke much in me personally. There are good lines in the wash of average (to below average) modern pop instrumentals, and authentic enough writing about the queer experience to not feel up opportunistic or hollow. It's just pretty enough to wash over you while you listen, but not lush enough to make you think about it the next day. With that said, if it made it easier for some gay french kids to get through high school, who am I to begrudge that?

Not my cup of tea, but its decent for what it is! Mostly unrelated, but the album cover pisses me off SO MUCH. Best Song: Doesn't Matter Rating: 5.0/10 Stars: 3

Boring and overrated…

This is really good actually, much better than I expected. There are retro vibes but the production adds a modern feel. Love a bit of enjoyable pop. Will be coming back to this one I think

Ça sonne mieux en français. Definite Bjork vibes, even though Bjork is, famously, not French. A generous trois étoiles.

Pleasant but not memorable, Production gets a shout for it's smoothness - but aside from that I don't see myself rushing back.

In looking at the reviews, I kind of understand why this is below three stars. That said, I actually thought this album was maybe a bit better than that. The fact that there is a French and an English version of the album it’s pretty unique, even if I didn’t have time to listen to the French version. Meanwhile, focusing solely on the English disc, to me this holds up. It’s not amazing, but there are some songs on here that are pretty good, Doesn’t Matter and The Walker in particular. There’s elements of some of that 90s electronic music in here, mixed in with a bit of Katy Perry. All in all, a decent listen. 3 stars

I only listened to the French part. Pleasant pop music.

Lovely record

I think this rules. Very well produced queer pop dance music. I don't love all of it but it sure does all sound good. Definitely deserving of the list.

First time I heard of this artist or listen to this album. Loved being turned onto something new, but I didn’t really do that much for me.

Will listen to more.

Слушать приятно, но у меня как-то ухо не зацепилось особенно, как будто одна и та же песня играет.

Album #169 Christine and the Queens: Chris This is the first time this list has truly baffled me. There have been some inclusions that I thought were both culturally insignificant and mediocre; however, I was able to write them off as being from a time when the list curator was actively in the music scene. 10 different average electronic albums from the 90s? I guess the guy was just big into the scene at the time. However, you can’t tell me the same guy who thought that a Red Snapper album was essential, also stuck around listening to random shit for 20 more years until this came out and decided it must make his list. Is this the worst thing I’ve ever heard? No. However, I just can’t see any convincing argument for why this would be an essential album. Essential albums from the 2010s are already rarer than those from past decades, just by the nature of not having time to become as influential. But an album which largely passed everyone by, and doesn’t even seem to be that cherished in the LGBTQ community (of which there are infinitely better candidates for albums), just seems like an absolute waste. I listened to the French version since I figured that was how it was intended, and truthfully, I didn’t want to listen to the cringy lyrics, but honestly, the album was still just absolutely unnecessary. So for that reason, I have to dish out a pretty abysmal score. Best Song: 5 Dols Worst Song: Le G Score out of 10: 3

I couldn’t like a single song. The entire album was fun

Very enjoyable

Good lawd

Not something I'd ever really enjoy...

Previously unknown. I feel like it needs more listens to connect with it.

I thought it was a decent pop album. Enjoyed it a lot. Low 4. 3.6/5

Androgynous French Taylor Swift with a British accent. 1.5 hour album. Get the fuck outta here.

After an intense 24 hour listen, I gotta say this album has quite a bit of variety. I like that it switches between French and English (not a new concept but for this it’s quite refreshing). 3/5

This was ok pop. I didn't mind it at all, but it has french on it so, instead of a 3, I give it a 2.

It was fine. If they made the list now it wouldn’t be on it

I didn't see what the fuss was when it come out and I still don't. It's one of the more tepid example of French electro pop out there

bracie co to jest mocno slabe ona wuglada jak les

It was fine. There was no element of this album that justified it's inclusion on this list IMO. 2.5.

An ethereal pop album- reminded me a lot of other 2010s singers like Borns. Interesting in some parts but overall just average.

Boring.

Boring

You know what they call pop music in France? Le Pop with cheese.

This is pretty good. I will let my far more qualified friend Alan speak knowledgeably on it.

What?! How? Long time adoring listener, but first time genuinely surprised by this list. This artist is very very to my taste but I thought it obscure. And didn't think these blokes would pay attention to this bluesymoodsygold....And as an adoring fan I was surprised I didn't know this album (it's like earlier releases but more consistent and polished, so no protest except my all time favourite track "Christine" is one of love more people to know. Note: much has happened since 2014. The track is since renamed Tilt. The artist changed gender identity and name. And I am doing a lot of catching up here! Ah, but of course a 5 - bien sûr, naturellement What surprised me is how well known this artist is. I thought I was alone adoring these warm enveloping stylish and crazy uplifting refrains. So, David, I now learn frisson is not mine alone. What else do I love that is even like this? It's a broad school. Vocally there is Louane. Tonally maybe "the Avenir" or "Jain" - you'll probably like this if Hooverphonic and Portishead work for you, but so many ethereal dreamlike artists don't pack the punch and warm beat and mysterious heat of this. What surprised me is she is now a he or they, stage names have been changed, and there is a whole album - this one + I didn't know as I'd been distracted by collaboration projects. And I hadn't 'subscribed' in my streaming service, but have now and won't miss further releases I hope. I now have this odd feeling. I didn't know I had to share this artist with anyone. But sharing is caring. And here is a salute to french culture and her chanteuses.

Got to her like gazilions of other members of my species via Chaleur Humaine and this is just as good. A real smooth feel and groove, and she has a beautiful voice that draws you in. C'est magnifique.

Hardly a must-hear album, but a pretty smart pop record. I often complain about the lack of diversity on this list, so an album grasping with the complexities of identity (ethnicity, language, gender identity, resulting in a fluid identity down to the artist's very name) makes a welcome change of perspective from the overwhelming sausage-fest of 1001 albums. Unlike the reviewer who automatically rates anything by a man as 5 and with a woman in front as 1, I am interested in what different and diverse points of view can offer. I want art to surprise and challenge me, not just echo back my own experiences. And this album certainly presented me with fresh perspectives and insights. As a listening experience, I like the crisp and spacious electronic sound, and their voice is terrific. Some great tunes with good hooks. I listened to both the English and French versions; both were enjoyable listening. 3.5 stars, rounding up.

Cool

This wasn’t for me. Saying it’s “80s R&B” is a stretch, but I understand the importance of the material, just not my vibe.

You can pick your poison — lyrics in English or French. I tried both, but the only thing the experience underscored for me was how terrible I found the backing music. The producers of Chris want you to be pulled along by the lyrics, but I wish more time was spent on breaking out of the formulaic pop constructions. They feel dated but not ironically so. There's a lifelessness to many of them that honestly saddens me. The most challenging decision to make in this review is whether or not to give them a second star because they tried twice as hard to lay bare more interesting themes than typical pop lyrics, or should they get a single star because, outside of Doesn't Matter, this record so clearly misses the mark for this listener?

An album with its writing and sound very much in the world of Jam and Lewis and Michael Jackson's classic period. I think it runs out of stream come the end but it opens with much promise and his/her voice has a decent range. I think the 'Girlfriend' track dwarfs the record and is one of my favourite tracks of this century. It's a shame it it not full matched by any others, but it was a perfectly fine listen.

This was a good album! It was pretty damn poppy but not the way you .ight think about, overall solid album

It’s modern pop. It’s catchy, it’s repetitive, and it’s harmless.

I had a headache deciding how to review this album, due to it containing two different versions, the English and the French one. On top of changing the language, each version also has additional songs, with the English one having "Feel so good" and the french one having "Bruce est dans le brouillard" and "Le G". Ultimately, I decided to only focus on the french version with the addition of "Feel so good". The reason why is decided to choose this side is due to it feeling more natural, thanks to the singer singing in her mother tongue instead of the very accented English that comes across as a bit artificial. This along could be considered a reason to lower the score. However, I see this project as a "choose your own adventure", and by listening to only half of it is enough to get the full experience, so I ended up not considering it as something bad. With that being said, this album is just decent synth pop revival. Its strongest aspects are the clear production combined with its intimacy and sensible tone that come from the lyrics and the singer sweet and serious voice. But other than that, the album its a bit tame. Seeing as a pop album, there is nothing really catchy nor memorable, and the sentimentalism I don't think is that impactful, maybe beautiful, but not that remarkable, at least for me. In conclusion, it is a decent synth pop album. I just don't think it is very interesting.

Musica que te acompaña mientras estás en un probador sacandote selfies

Really fun groovely music!

Très bon

I really liked this album. I should note that there are 2 disks the first english the second spanish. It's poppy for sure but the recording quality etc is really good.

Don't waste your time listening to the bad anglicized versions, skip to the French half of the album which is way better

Cool vibes in a number of songs (Machin-chose my top song; got 'Doesnt Matter' stuck in my head). Nice production, good voice. Considered a 4 as I do think I'll come back to it, but didn't feel right musically giving it 4.

Liked it more than I thought I would

Imagine a liberal arts school's acapella group made an album but they had to use instruments. That's what this album sounds like. 3/5 disclaimer i didnt listen to the second half because i assume its just the same thing but in french.

Pretty good, but for the really recent albums my expectations are always very high. There's so much great music coming out and this list rarely delivers with the newer picks. This is solid, but there's a lot I'd put on the list over it

Chill but not something I would want to listen to again

It's fine and enjoyable at times. 2.8.

This album is really cute. It's not mind-blowing but it's cute and relatively upbeat and easy to listen to. I wouldn't turn it off but I wouldn't rush to listen to it again.

Purely mid, and definitely not important enough to listen to before you die.

This is not an album I must listen to before I die. This is the participation trophy of albums. Crappy, boring, soleless, vapid pop. Something the streaming age allowed to become popular. I think I started liking it more when it repeated into the French only version of the songs.

Fun and poppy, she’s got a great voice

Good.

Mostly harmless.

Może nie do końca potrzebowałam słuchać tego w dwóch językach, ale to nadal jedna z moich ulubionych płyt ostatnich lat. Alternatywny pop z nieziemskim wokalem. 8/10.

it's fine. poppy, catchy enough. good production, vocals. i do wonder about its inclusion in the list tho (and this is not a comment only about this album, it's just the most recently released album i've received from this list). clearly with older albums, most were liked when they came out and have stood the test of time as people still like them to this day. with something as recent as this, i wonder why it was included and who was pushing for its inclusion. it's not particularly groundbreaking or anything. there were some solid 2018 releases that i think will stand the time more: sons of kemet (never heard an album like this before), father john misty, boygenius (similar lgbtq+ appeal, themes, musicians) for example. ymmv, this might boil down to personal preference as i am not typically a poptimist.

couldnt even get thru it, bland pop music, why is it on the list?

big 3

I like my synthpop best when it's a lil Quirked Up(tm), and this album definitely achieves that! Delightfully strange synthpop in a style straight out of the 80s, but with some undeniable modern influences.

Pretty cool! Also cool that they made French and English versions, and that both were pretty good. Not something I’d listen to again, but I was vibing.

Loved the disco-funk elements on this! I was personally a fan of that recent period of 80s synthpop revival, and it seems like Christine and the Queens were right at the start of it with this album. Had I discovered them at the same period as I was listening heavily to L'Impératrice and modern The Weeknd, this could have been an insta-5. As fun as it is to have some French music on the list though, I just don't think anything stands out as an essential listen. Standouts: Damn, dis-moi • Doesn't matter (voleur de soleil) • Goya ! Soda ! • Le G

There were points where I thought this album was almost getting great, but then we went back to the boring downtempo stuff again.

Bro? Are you... mewing? Pretty good. Not really my style. But pretty good for what it is.

boring

Decently fun slice of throwback synthpop. The production on this was uniformly excellent, filled with so much detail and utterly pristine. There's a variety of moods being explored in the music, all of which sounded great, but the more dance oriented cuts stood out the most to me. Chris is an excellent, very theatrical performer, sometimes reminding me of Michael Jackson at his wildest. The real draw for me was the lyrics, focusing on themes of queer love and exploration of identity. The writing can feel a bit clunky in the English language version of the album, but given that English is his second language I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I listened to both the English and French version, and while both are good, the French version is definitely better. His voice just sounds so much more natural in his native language. If there's one thing that holds this album back for me, it's how beholden to pastiche it is, but when the pastiche is this well done, it's hard to complain.

Hemskt

Will have to come back to this and listen to the French versions.

Сара 3,5 Марко 4

Bland bland bland. Everything that is wrong with pop music today. Playing at a local clothes shop near you now.

This is lame. And so is this list

Chris is a funky and confident synthpop record. I initially thought I’d be deleting the French ones but they’re all so good and there’s really no weak track. It’s a gorgeous well produced pop album with a simmering pulsing queer horn radiating throughout. This record is crisp, clean and awfully fun to dance to, as most great pop albums should be.

This is soulless, 80's wanna-be synth-pop drivel. I have no clue how it made this list.

I haven’t heard this before. I have not even heard of Christine and the Queens, so this will be very interesting. Unfortunately it is not very interesting. This sounds exactly like it could have been on top 40 radio in 1987 or 88, which is my least favorite era of pop music besides the stomp-clap-hey era of the early 2010s. There are a few songs that sound more modern, but in a rejected from the last Taylor Swift album kind of way. I could appreciate it if it expanded on that late 80s sound in any way or pulled in some new jack swing instead of rehashing a dated aesthetic. This shows up as a double album on streaming which it really doesn’t need to be, but apparently she released both an english and a french version of the album and only shows up double on streaming and special collector’s editions. So I won’t hold that against her. Although not enough to raise the score here.

60

Pretty good stuff!

Sounds like the music to a teenage romance/coming of age movie.

2 good songs, kinda repetitive

This is something I would expect to see on a Spotify discover weekly, not on a list of the most important albums ever made

Je n'ai pas aimé. Felt repetitive and a bit boring. Not for me!

Fine

I wasn’t sure what to expect on this but honestly it was great. Great compositions and catchy hooks.

Really, really not my thing at. Disliked this.

Surprised how much I liked that, very Florence and the Machine coded.

musica de bolleras, 1/5

I find it very hard to believe that this deserves to be in the top 1001 albums.

Offensively bland

Pop music from France with a frosting of good LGBTQ plus messaging. Good... if you enjoy pop music. Reminds me a lot of music by Michael and Janet Jackson and of similar quality. Lacks edge, most sharp corners have been rounded off. Maybe the creators thought that the fact that this is very LGBTQ plus positive was enough edge, I could have used some more. It feels processed and I suspect Autotune was in use, which makes everything feel flat to me.

This sounds like Haim, if Haim were French.

Nope

passeerde zonder echt te registreren

Why is this on the list? It sounds like background music that I hear when entering a generic store – and this is not a quality sign. Some songs remind me of Michael Jackson but without any soul (in both senses of the word). So I ask why the producer of the album did not spot it and either made something out of it or changed the songs on this record.

I don’t know how else to describe this, but I know in my heart of hearts that if Bjork was French, she would make this exact album.

Ужас, звучи като деведесетарско, само дето е и по-тъпо

Way too frenchy for me. 2

1/2

no for me

Straight-up boring.

Not my vibe and also too long.

production is very good, writing is pretty nothing, i can't tell what basically any of the lyrics are. pop album bingo achieved, i spose.

Cool album! Never heard of them before, but I like the sound

Not bad, but didn't need to hear it before I died tbh. Plus points for the queer rep tho

Listened to this twice, or maybe four times, depending how you count the French/English cuts. I think I prefer the French versions, as the delivery in the English ones is sometimes a bit stilted. Synthpop doesn't really do it for me, generally speaking, and this isn't an exception. I really like Damn, dis-moi and especially Doesn't matter, which is transcendent. Reminds me of Perfume Genius's On the Floor; self-loathing giving way to catharsis. Much of the rest just doesn't differentiate for me, unfortunately.

Smooth, cool, interesting. A pleasant surprise as I haven't heard of this artist before.

I definitely grooved to this and admire the bilingual release. Would probably put on again. Maybe a 3.5?

Honestly a solid and delightful pop album. This was released on my actual 35th birthday, so I'm old enough to remember the music some on here are comparing it to and this is honestly nothing like the glossy synth pop of the 80s. There might be some familiar-ish sounds, but hardly.

Kinda whatever, not really my thing

Not my usual style, but this was really good. I listened to both the English and French version. The French version sounds amazing, the vocals go so well with the music. 4/5

Really enjoyed this one, and yet I don't know what draws me to this one vs other pop music. My friend said it's like Prince but not too much like Prince. Prince is hit or miss with me, so I'm not sure about that. I listened through the english version and then the french version. I think the french version is perhaps a bit better because it feels more natural. 3.75/5

stick to french mate