Christophe Willem : double je

In androgyny, there is not only the physical appearance which can carry in confusion: as we have already seen it with the example of the castratoes, the voice of a person can also show itself asexual. It is the case of numerous Black singers of gospel, but also the French revelation of year 2007, Christophe Willem.

Discovered in the broadcast of TV  "Nouvelle Star" (based on the concept of "Pop-Idol"), Christophe fooled the jury and the televiewers from his first entrances on stage by an improbable charisma: the boy is shy and has the back arched, where from affectionate nickname of "Turtle", but becomes extravagant and very professional as soon as he begins to sing. He passes on an incredible energy and has his own musical universe, in the tendencies blues or jazzy: his remake of Bobby Hebb's title " Sunny " made a hit, and will moreover be edited in CD-single. But what makes especially the charm and the characteristic of this singer, it is the voice: he sings nevertheless in a tessitura of baritone and can easily go to the pointed, so people compare him with singers like Mika and Freddie Mercury. His voice is however naturally androgynous: during the release of its single " Double je", which was the biggest success of the year in France, we believed at first in a new song of the female singer Zazie, with whom he co-wrote his first album. This song processes exactly from his androgen part ; this is a translation :

"When I shall be older I shall be Bee Gees
Or pilote of Formula One
In the meantime I disguise
It is true that all the suits are well to me
The red, the black, the blues, the hope, And I, of all the colors I like seeing it
It is like that, what is what I can there?
(You would need to know what you want)
Yes, when I shall be older it will be easy
Finally I shall know who I am
Yes, but by waiting I run away
It's true, I shy away and I run away
I cry, I laugh, I am afraid (...)
I know all the colors, I am going to see it
To whom the fault?
I am both, double I
To who the fault?
I am both
(...)
When I shall be older, I shall be in the show biz...".

The album "Inventory" is very well welcomed by the public and becomes double disk of platinum in France and golden disk in Switzerland and Belgium with more than 700 000 sold copies. Christophe Willem is became a safe value of the French song. According to the newspaper Le Figaro, Christophe Willem been a part of the "10 singers the best paid of the year in France in 2007".

 
This is the videoclip of "Double je" :

And to finish one acoustics improvised between Christophe and Zazie on the magnificent single " Jacques a dit ". Close your eyes, the voices are almost the same.


(469 words)