Mes Courants Électriques

Mes Courants Électriques
Studio album by Alizée
Released 18 March 2003
Recorded 2002
Studio Guillaume Tell
Calliphora Studio
Studio Davout
(Paris, Ile-de-France)
Genre Pop, French pop
Length 48:21
Label Polydor
Producer Mylène Farmer
Laurent Boutonnat
Alizée chronology
Gourmandises
(2000)		 Mes Courants Électriques
(2003)		 Alizée En Concert
(2004)
Alternative cover
Asian edition
Singles from Mes Courants Électriques
  1. "J'en ai marre !"
    Released: February 2003
  2. "I'm Fed Up !"
    Released: April 2003
  3. "J'ai pas vingt ans"
    Released: June 2003
  4. "I'm Not Twenty"
    Released: 2003
  5. "À contre-courant"
    Released: October 2003

Mes Courants Électriques (English: My Electric Currents) is the second studio album by the French singer Alizée. It was released on 18 March 2003. Though not as successful as her previous album, Gourmandises, this album still sold more than 400,000 copies in the first three months of its release. Unlike her previous album, which was entirely in French, this album has English versions of four of its songs. As with Alizée's first album, the entire production was the work of Mylène Farmer (Lyrics) and Laurent Boutonnat (Music), but this would be the pair's last work with Alizée.[1]

Unlike Alizée's earlier album, this album was customised for different markets, with slightly different contents. The French version did not contain any English versions of any of the tracks, whereas the international version included four English language renditions. The Japan version refers to "J'en ai marre !" as "Mon bain de mousse". In Taiwan and Hong Kong, and other traditional Chinese spoken parts of Asia, this album was launched as a 2-CD set, along with an Enhanced CD, not playable on DVD/VCD players, featuring videos of "Moi... Lolita" and "I'm Fed Up !".[2]

Following Alizée's decline in popularity in the past few years, the physical version of the album is now out of print, with new unused copies retailing at around 40 Euros from online marketplace sellers.[3][4]

Background

Mes Courants Electriques was released on 18 March 2003 two years after her previous album Gourmandises. Released on the Universal Distribution label this was the last album recorded on this label, and was seen as the album to reinforce Alizée's international career, being a guest star on many TV shows around the world, but it wasy focussed on the Asian market, as she visited Japan in 2003 and was the spokesperson for many Japanese products. In this album Alizee was showing she is growing. Mes Courants Electriques tones down some of the overt sexual themes of her debut album, but retains the energy. Mes Courants Electriques was digitally mastered using 24-bits technology and follows the libertine philosophy of her mentor, Mylène Farmer.

Promotion

For the promotion of the album, Alizée traveled around the world performing in different places. After the Gourmandises success, the singer returned to France to promote her second studio album. The first single extracted from the album was "J'en ai marre!", officially released on February 2003. The single was made available in music stores as well as radio stations. To promote the single, Alizée appeared on the French radio station, NRJ, the video for the single was released for broadcast on March, though it was made available on MTV and many other TV channels. It was released on physical media, both CD and vinyl, on the same month.[1] After the release of the single came in total success playing in all radio stations and in TV shows, ranking in the top charts of many countries.

Another track from the album, "Im fed up!", the English version of the first single, in Asia was released with the name "Mon bain de mousse" was leaked one months before the album was released. Though the song was not mentioned by name, the leak was confirmed in a press release which revealed the title and release schedule of the album. For that moment, Alizée was preparing her trip to Japan where the album was more focused in the Asian market. In Japan, she performed in many TV shows for the promotion of album, gave many interviews to the press of the country, and was the spokeswoman of many Japanese brands. After her return to France, she arranged the release of the second single of album J'ai pas vingt ans and I'm Not Twenty (English version of the single). The music video was released for the single, and for the promotion of the single and the album she performed at the Tour de France 2003 in the official event show in Paris.

Following the success of the album, Alizée continued performing around Europe, kept promoting her album, and released her seventh single and the third and last of the album called À contre-courant. She then announced her first tour called the En Concert Tour. Alizée keep promoting her tour and her last two album, which stayed on top of the charts.

Singles

"J'en ai marre!" is the first single of the album. Released in February 2003, it had the single version of the song followed by an instrumental version. Later on three remixes were made available in special editions of the single. Internationally, it was released as "I'm Fed Up!". In Japan, it was released as "Mon bain de mousse" ("My Foam Bath") along with a music video and a remix version of the song. "J'ai pas vingt ans" is the second extract of the album, released in June 2003. The single featured, in addition to the solo version of the song, an instrumental version as well as "I'm Fed Up!", which is the English version of "J'en ai marre!". The English version of "J'ai pas vingt ans" is "I'm Not Twenty". "J'ai pas vingt ans" was remixed by Benny Benassi. "À contre-courant" is the third and last single of the album, was released on 7 October 2003. It featured the single version of the song as well as the English version of "J'ai pas vingt ans", "I'm Not Twenty". Maxi CD of the single, released on 12 November 2003, included 3 remixes and the radio edit of the single.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
SACEM/SNEPPositive[5]
Swiss Hitparade[6]

Mes courants électriques was generally well received by the contemporary critic reviews. The critics argued that they saw what she meant in an interview when the conductor of the program asked her -What is the meaning of the cover of your album?- she was on that way like on the cover of her album between the child growing in to a woman.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Mylène Farmer with the help of Alizée, the music was composed by Laurent Boutonnat. 

No. Title Length
1. "J'en ai marre!"   5:12
2. "À contre-courant"   4:32
3. "Toc de Mac"   4:29
4. "Amélie m'a dit"   3:51
5. "C'est trop tard"   4:43
6. "Tempête"   4:42
7. "J'ai pas vingt ans"   4:23
8. "Hey ! Amigo !"   3:54
9. "L'e-mail a des ailes"   4:10
10. "Youpidou"   4:09
11. "Cœur déjà pris"   4:16

Personnel

Charts and sales

Chart (2003) Peak
position
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[7] 9
Chinese Albums Chart[8] 9
Finnish Albums Chart[7] 90
French Albums Chart[7][9] 2
German Albums Chart[10] 26
Hong Kong Albums Chart[11] 5
Italian Albums Chart[12] 29
Israeli Albums Chart[12] 4
Japanese Albums Chart[13] 128
Polish Albums Chart[14] 32
Russian Albums Chart[15] 10
South Korean Albums Chart[15] 3
Spanish Albums Chart[15] 7
Swiss Albums Chart[7] 27

Certifications

Region Certification
France 2x Gold[9][16]
South Korea Silver[17]

Release history

Region Date Label Format
France18 March 2003PolydorCD
United KingdomCD
France15 April 2003CD
CD/DVD
Vinyl
SwitzerlandCD
Belgium
Europe 5 June 2003
Germany20 June 2003 CD
Asia10 July 2003 CD
Canada25 August 2003Universal RepublicCD/DVD

References

External links

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