"L'Âme-stram-gram" | ||||||||||
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Single by Mylène Farmer | ||||||||||
from the album Innamoramento | ||||||||||
B-side | Instrumental (CD single) Remixes (CD maxi) |
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Released | 9 March 1999 | |||||||||
Format | CD single, CD maxi, 12" maxi | |||||||||
Recorded | 1999, France | |||||||||
Genre | Techno, house, trance music | |||||||||
Length | 5:16 (single version) 4:24 (album version) |
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Label | Polydor | |||||||||
Writer(s) | Lyrics: Mylène Farmer Music: Laurent Boutonnat |
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Producer(s) | Laurent Boutonnat | |||||||||
Mylène Farmer singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"L'Âme-stram-gram" is a 1999 song recorded by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. It was the lead single from her fifth studio album Innamoramento and was released on 9 March 1999. The lyrics were written by Farmer and the music was composed by Laurent Boutonnat. Musically, the song has techno and dance sonorities which marked an artistic change in the singer's career, although the rest of the album contains more pop songs. Based on a famous children's counting rhyme, the song is primarily about confidence, secret, and confession and uses the lexical field of psychoanalysis; however, the many puns and double entendres can also provide another meaning explicitly referring to sexuality.
Inspired by the romantic comedy horror film A Chinese Ghost Story, the expensive eight-minute music video was shot by Hong Kong film director Ching Siu-Tung in Beijing and displays Farmer portraying twin sisters who have supernatural powers; the first being kidnapped by Chinese bandits and rescued by her sister, who dies in the process, causing the first twin to commit suicide. Farmer promoted the song by performing it on three TV shows and then singing it on two of her subsequent tours. The single peaked at number two in France and was certified as silver for having over 125,000 sales. It was also a top ten hit in Belgium (Wallonia).
As of January 1999, Farmer had not appeared on television for over a year and a half, the last time being the release of the live singles from the album Live à Bercy. At that time, it was rumoured that the singer's return was imminent, with the release of a very rhythmic single named "The Small World" and a new album whose name would be "Mes Moires". These rumours were incorrect; however, as early as February, the radio station NRJ aired Farmer's new single, titled "L'Âme-stram-gram". This techno and dance song seemed to display a major change in Farmer's musical register. According to Farmer, the choice of this single was made haphazardly, as she said in an interview: "This happened like that. Laurent [Boutonnat] wrote a rhythm, and I confess that I really want, precisely, something rhythmic, even a little lighter."