Christine and the Queens has released a new song called Girlfriend. | Photo: Facebook
Fans of French pop star, Christine and the Queens, are rejoicing as the singer releases her eagerly anticipated follow-up single, Girlfriend.
Christine and the Queens catapulted to global fame with iconic debut album, Chaleur Humaine, which gave us the hit track, Titled, and sold more than 1.3 million copies.
Now the pansexual singer is back with a new song, ahead of a summer tour.
Christine and the Queens AKA Héloïse Letissier’s Girlfriend is an exploration of female desire. It’s a distinct move away from the ‘macho’ exploration of her first album.
Girlfriend, is a tough, minimalist, but ultimately upbeat track which – pays tribute to her long-time love of the G-funk sound. Dâm-Funk, one of the sound’s pioneers sings and plays on Girlfriend.
‘I initially set out to smash against macho culture and macho men,’ says Letissier.
‘I became obsessed with this idea of the macho man, and still being a woman. What does it mean if I’m this figure, and I’m a woman? Does it make me an aberration? Is it joyful?’
Letissier has long played around with gender – she explored gender neutral stage costumes and choreography for her first album.
She’s gone further with Girlfriend and plays with how the codes of ‘masculinity’ are disrupted if the player isn’t a man. Letissier renamed herself ‘Chris’ in the track, which has already notched up close to 17,000 views in the four hours since its release on YouTube.
The song is also super sexy and filled with desire with lyrics like: ‘Don’t feel like a girlfriend, but lover, damn, I’d be your lover’
‘I felt I had to address female desire and it’s diversity,’ she says.
‘How sometimes it’s blacked out or ignored. It’s still something quite suspicious or slightly dirty. I felt like it was important to be more unapologetic about that.
‘There are hints of nights spent having sex and coming back covered in sweat.
‘Like a male figure, the young hero who has love stories, and comes back in the morning and his friends are like: “What happened to you?” I want to be that.’
Christine and the Queens have announced a November UK tour, with some of the dates already sold out.
Listen to Girlfriend here:
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