Comme si de rien n'était | ||||
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Studio album by Carla Bruni | ||||
Released | July 11, 2008 | |||
Recorded | 2007–2008 | |||
Genre | Folk, chanson | |||
Length | 42:21 | |||
Label | Naïve | |||
Producer | Dominique Blanc-Francard | |||
Carla Bruni chronology | ||||
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Singles from Comme Si De Rien N'Était | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
BBC | (favorable) |
Barnes and Noble | |
Okayplayer | (68/100) |
The Telegraph | (favorable) |
The Guardian | |
OMH | |
SFGate | (favourable) |
Rate Your Music | (2.41/5) |
Virgin Media |
Comme si de rien n'était (English: As If Nothing Had Happened) is the third album of Italian-French singer and previous French first lady Carla Bruni. It was released on 11 July 2008, in continental Europe, on 14 July 2008 in the United Kingdom, and on 5 August 2008 in the USA.
The album Comme si de rien n'était followed the No Promises album that had sold about 500,000 copies worldwide. This third album included 14 tracks, all of them composed by Carla Bruni, with the exception of two songs written in collaboration with French novelist Michel Houellebecq and the singer Julien Clerc, a cover of You Belong To Me, and a cover of a song of the Italian singer Francesco Guccini (Il vecchio e il bambino).
The production was by Dominique Blanc-Francard. The cover was designed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. The first single was "L'amoureuse". The proceeds from the sale of the album were to be donated to the "Fondation de France" to be used for humanitarian causes.
The album has a contemporary country music feel that has evolved from a rural American folk tradition. It features traditional folk music merged with rock and roll to form folk rock. Since the 1970s, a genre of "contemporary folk" fueled by new singer-songwriters has continued with such artists as Chris Castle, Steve Goodman, and John Prine. Filk music can be considered folk music stylistically and culturally (although the 'community' it arose from, science fiction fandom, is an unusual and thoroughly modern one). The genre is largely European, especially in France. The songs are primarily written by Bruni, though two are covers, and one (track 2) is an arrangement of an excerpt from a novel. In contrast to the spare production of Bruni's earlier albums, Comme features extensive instrumentation, the new producer Dominique Blanc-Francard, saying that he was trying to "amplify Carla's limited harmonic system", although the production is accused of rather "drowning it out". "Ma Jeunesse", the first song from the album, begins with piano and it talks about love and young people in general. "La possibilité d'une île" is adapted from French novel "The Possibility of an Island" by Michel Houellebecq. "L'Amoureuse" talks about a woman in love and represents a good perspective of French music. "Tu es ma came", which compares the intensity of passion to a drug-induced "fix", caused controversy due to the line "more dangerous than Colombian white [cocaine]", which provoked comment from the Colombian government. The preceding line "more lethal than heroin from Afghanistan" is not known to have provoked comment from the Afghan government. "Salut marin" (roughly, "Hello, Sailor"), a very personal song from the album, is a farewell to her brother Virginio Bruni Tedeschi, who died in 2006 from complications of HIV/AIDS. "Ta tienne" and "Péché d'envie" are folk songs written by Carla. "You Belong to Me": In English, this song by Chilton Price, Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart is generally referred to as a cover of the version by Bob Dylan and was later included in the film The Boys Are Back, starring Clive Owen. "Le Temps perdu" and "Déranger les pierres" are songs written by Carla. "Je suis une enfant" is the eleventh song from the album. This track was praised as the strongest by Le Figaro. "L'Antilope" was written by Frédéric Koella. "Notre grand amour est mort" its a love song that talks about a relationship between a woman and a man. "Il vecchio e il bambino" is an Italian song by Francesco Guccini.