"Carmen" is a song by Belgian singer Stromae, the sixth single from his second album Racine carrée.
| "Carmen" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Stromae | ||||
| from the album Racine carrée | ||||
| Released | 30 March 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2014 | |||
| Genre | Electro-hop | |||
| Length | 3:37 | |||
| Label |
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| Composer(s) |
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| Lyricist(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Stromae | |||
| Stromae singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Carmen" on YouTube | ||||
The animated music video, illustrated by Sylvain Chomet, the director of Belleville Rendez-Vous,[1] was posted on social networks by the Facebook account of the American news website BuzzFeed Music. The video and lyrics of the song violently attack social networks through the depiction of the Twitter bird, set to the tune of "Habanera" from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen.[2][3]
Themes
editThe song is an adaptation of the aria L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Love is a rebellious bird – more commonly known in English as Habanera), from the opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet.[4][5][6] The song addresses the theme of alienation through social networks.
Music video
editThe animated video was drawn by Sylvain Chomet. At the beginning of the clip, a young Stromae can be seen on his Twitter (now currently X) account. A little blue bird (with the appearance of nearly resembling a dwarf-like pigeon) arrives (representative of the mascot of Twitter) who starts to hum. Stromae takes a selfie with the bird and puts the picture on his account. Gradually, the bird becomes larger and takes up more space in his life and keeps him away from others, while Stromae grows up. The bird eventually takes him and puts him on its back as it travels down a stretch of road. On the back of other identical birds, he sees other celebrities like Orelsan, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and many others. Then his bird takes him by the neck and feeds him and the others to a huge blue avian monster, who is seen excreting its prey. A hand (presumably the one from one of the customers) comes out of the faeces to take a photo of people falling, including Stromae himself. At the end of the clip, another similar-looking blue bird comes to sing at the window of Stromae's sister's room, who strikes his cell phone, bookending the video.
Charts
edit| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[7] | 31 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[8] | 46 |
| France (SNEP)[9] | 67 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Tipparade)[10] | 11 |
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| France (SNEP)[11] | 98 |
References
edit- ^ "Carmen : la recette Stromae décryptée". lefigaro.fr. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ "blogs.rue89.nouvelobs.com/oh-my-code/2015/04/07/stromae-et-le-retour-du-petit-oiseau-bleu-234449". blogs.rue89.nouvelobs.com. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ "Stromae : Carmen, il évoque la création du clip". virginradio.fr. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ Emmanuel Marolle (19 August 2013). "VIDEO. Stromae, la danse des maux". Le Parisien. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
- ^ "Stromae résout sans problème l'équation du deuxième album avec "Racine carrée"". Chart in France. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
- ^ "Racine Carrée – Critique". Télérama. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
- ^ "Stromae – Carmen" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ "Stromae – Carmen" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ "Stromae – Carmen" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ "Stromae". Top 40 (in Dutch). Retrieved 12 December 2021.
- ^ "Stromae – Carmen" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 17 January 2021.