France First Lady Carla Bruni releases first new album since marriage to Sarkozy
July 11, 2008
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, debuts her latest singing album 10 days early
France and the rest of the world has seen a lot of Carla Bruni since her romance and subsequent marriage with French President Nicolas Sarkozy went public soon after he took office. But we haven’t heard much from the model-turned-singer since the big wedding. That changes on Friday, July 11, when Bruni’s new album, Comme si de rien n’était hits the market. The title of the album translates to “As if nothing happened” but the album will be sold internationally under the title Simply. The release had originally been scheduled for later in the month, well after the July 14 national holiday in France, but fearing leaks of the tracks and dilution of the launch, Bruni’s record label moved the date up almost 2 weeks.
The songs on Bruni’s album are nothing if not controversial.
Among the 14 tracks is a song called Ma Came (My Dope) – comparing love to a class A drug. Written before she met Mr Sarkozy, it is nevertheless dedicated to her husband. On the track, Bruni sings: “You are my dope. More deadly than Afghan heroin. More dangerous than Colombian white powder,” adding: “My guy, I roll him up and smoke him.” In another song on the album referring to her reputation as a man-eater, the Italian former model sings: “I am a child. Despite my forty years. Despite my thirty lovers. A child.” The First Lady of France, who is said to have dated Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Donald Trump and Kevin Costner among many other famous men, once claimed to find monogamy “boring”.
France, a country given to public displays of affection and other passions, appears not to be as shocked by such sentiments as one might suppose, despite their being expressed by the wife of their leader. Whatever concessions to discretion might have been made by a public figure such as Bruni in past generations have become seemingly outdated. She certainly does not appear to have censored her artistic license in the slightest because of her position. If anything, the album underlines Mrs Bruni’s desire to maintain her independence despite her official position. “Let them curse me and damn me. I don’t give a damn,” she sings.
In another nod to modern times, and to generate more public enthusiam in France and elsewhere, Carla Bruni’s record label Naive is allowing all 14 tracks of Comme si de rien ‘était be heard for a total of two hours per user on carlabruni.com until July 21.
The saga of the Left-leaning singer who married a conservative has created headaches for the Left-wing press, who despise her husband’s politics, but reads like a Hollywood love story that the public in France has been eating up since their courtship began. Sarkozy’s approval ratings have been on a roller-coaster since their wedding, but judging by a poll published last weekend, Bruni need not worry about how the French perceive her as a first lady: 64 per cent think she is doing a good job.
French newspaper Le Figaro reviewed Bruni’s album in glowing terms, paying the ultimate compliment in comparing it to her earlier efforts: “In a word, it’s less America, more France, more Beatles.”
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