Say Hé l! to your new musical crush, Christine and the Queens, AKA Hélose Letissier.
Pushing boundaries in genre and gender, French native Hélose Letissier pairs flamboyant pop with powerful minimalism to create an utterly individual brand of freak-pop as Christine and the Queens.
Christine and the Queens came together in London where the Nantes-born Letissier sought reincarnation, having left home to escape drama school, heartache and depression. It was here that she met a trio of transgender drag artists- her “Queens”, who encouraged her to channel her creativity into song and dance.
The artist – named in honour of her cross-dressing friends at Soho’s famed Madame Jojo’s drag bar – released a series of three EPs beginning in 2011, each one earning further attention and acclaim for her. Chaleur Humaine arrived in 2014 and immediately established Christine as a phenomenon, earning close to 5x platinum certification in just over a year in France where she won Female Artist of the Year at the prestigious Victoires de la Musique (the French version of the Grammy’s) earlier this year.
With her self-titled debut album, Christine and the Queens brings her distinct blend of sounds to the English speaking world, re-recording many of the versus and choruses that were originally released in her native language last year, “I didn’t want to be the exotic French girl releasing a pop album that nobody really understood,” she told Spin in a recent interview, “Like, ‘Hey! Sounds good! Can’t hear a thing!'”. Our version of the record also includes features from the equally magnetic Perfume Genius who adds his beautifully haunting vocals to Jonathan, and Philly rapper Tunji Ige on No Harm Is Done.
Beyond her incredible success in her France, Christine and the Queens has also found champions in fellow artists such as Lorde, Madonna and Mark Ronson. With the release of her debut record in Australia today, we are pretty sure there are going to be a whole lot of new names to add to that list real soon so watch this space.
-Jacqui W
Christine and the Queens debut self-titled album is available now where all gender bending French freak pop is sold | streamed.
