Christine and The Queens today announces her eagerly anticipated second album. Titled ‘Chris’, the record will be released by Because Music in digital and physical formats, including double CD and vinyl versions, as well as limited edition boxsets, on 21 September. A second new song from the record, ‘Doesn’t matter’, is available from today, premiered by Zane Lowe as his World Record on Beats 1 and accompanied by a unique, gripping performance video, directed by Colin Solal Cardo, known for his work with French collective La Blogotheque, including collaborations with Jack White, Alicia Keys and Phoenix.
‘Doesn’t matter’ follows Christine and The Queens’ acclaimed comeback single ‘Girlfriend’ – a fixture on the BBC Radio 1, 2 and 6 Music A lists in recent weeks – and like that song, and the complete album even, it is available in both English and French language versions, the latter titled ’Doesn’t matter (voleur de soleil)’. The song wrestles with a higher power in order to reach a driving and powerful incantation of soothing hope against mounting misery. “It’s a crisis song that I wrote late one night”, explains Christine. “This song is a cathedral, with a rhythm as unalterable as white stone. The bass line, I remember playing it for hours, as if to rock myself.”
Chris was written, arranged and performed by Christine and the Queens. It is the follow up to her already-iconic debut record Chaleur Humaine, released to near-universal acclaim in France in 2014 and the UK in 2016, and selling more than 1.3 million copies to date.
“Chaleur Humaine was about teenage years, most of it,” says Christine. “Loneliness, really true feelings, and there is a softness in the way I wrote as well, because I was properly introducing myself.”
Chris arrives on different terms. “It gets to be a bit more exhilarating, because I get to say, okay, I’ve been introduced now. I get to be more confident, and it matches what happened in my life as a woman.”
She says the first record turned her from a reclusive, bookish young woman writing for herself into “an athlete performer, which is something I always wanted to live, but it happened. Then suddenly I’m out in the open and I’m having more experiences, meeting people, having relationships, and stories are happening to me. All of a sudden, you’re a real grownass woman.”
“The second album could have been me finding a fancy producer in LA and doing the pop shit,” she laughs, “but actually, no. I wanted to make it even more personal, if it’s possible.” Alongside songs that explore unabashed female desire and complex sexuality that defies categorisation, there are songs which find a new intimacy in emotions and personal turmoil, making explicit the kind of themes that were hinted at on Chaleur Humaine.
Christine and the Queens has announced a full tour of Europe, Canada and the United States for the Autumn. See below for the full list of dates. See christineandthequeens.com for ticket information.
ALBUM TRACKLISTING
English language version:
1. Comme si
2. Girlfriend (feat. Dâm-Funk)
3. The walker
4. Doesn’t matter
5. 5 dollars
6. Goya Soda
7. Damn (what must a woman do)
8. What’s-her-face
9. Feel so good
10. Make some sense
11. The stranger
