Skip navigation.

Interpretation

Table of contents

Artistic interpretation

I will start by pointing out the most obvious and simple things from the image.

Generally speaking, the first part (left side) of the image: VisuAlizée, is a visual interpretation of how I perceive what the Alizée fans think of her. It seems many of her fans see her as "an angel". They believe everything related to her is perfect. Furthermore, this side of the image is a reinterpretation of the stage of her 2004 concert.

The final bird WIP image [5 August 2006, 18:53] In her concert, she had two backup voices. I've modeled two birds, in the background. The instrument players are represented by the grasshopper playing the guitar. In the second side (right side), these elements are missing which for some may lead to the interpretation that Alizée doesn't sing in the second part of the image. The grasshopper WIP [11 July 2006, 21:59]

The shoe [7 September 2005, 15:04] The shoe is a reproduction of the big scale shoe from the concert. I've also used the cover of the "Mes courants électriques" album as a source of inspiration.

One may also notice the spot lights focusing the center of the image. I've made them to emphasize once again that this side is a reproduction of the concert stage.

Toy soldier [27 October 2006, 18:02] The second side, generally speaking, is a visual combination of different elements from her lyrics and her videos. The drama has been exaggerated and emphasized. The dolls are a reproduction of the ones seen in one of Alizée's videos: Parler tout bas (speak quietly). The toy soldiers are just a hint to one of her songs, Tempête, in which she sings about Napoleon. Her lyrics have double meaning. The building is inspired by another video: "À contre-courant".

Rose Angel stalk close up [3 April 2007, 21:32] The rose-angel, in both sides, is the symbol of Alizée. I wanted to create a flower, because (almost) everyone thinks of beautiful women as... "oh, she's like a flower". It has come to my attention, through different interviews I've read, that her favorite flower is the rose. Thus, I created a rose, a rose-angel. The cloth, the dress, you may notice, is an adaptation of one of her dresses from the En Concert 2004 DVD.

Another thing to look for is how I made the wings. In the first side, her wings are "down", angel-like, just to emphasize her perceived kindness. In opposition, the wings in the second part are wide-spread, black and pointing upwards. The colors have still remained, symbolizing that her beauty may still be real, but she's not so kind - she might even be mean.

Wings for the dark side [10 July 2007, 22:02] Wings for the bright side [3 April 2007, 18:30]

An aspect of the rose-angel that slipped even for me, for a while, is how I made the rose. It's not a wide-spread rose, entirely blossomed. It's just a young rose which hasn't yet fully blossomed. This aspect emphasizes her apparent innocence perceived by her fans. This may also remind that she began her musical career very young.

In part one, all the flowers are leaning towards the center, all the butterflies are going to the center. Everything is focused on the rose-angel. She's the center, everything revolves around her. I've heard fans say they "live for her". Thus, this is why I made the rose-angel glowing, a source of light.

Another argument to why it's a rose-angel and a source of light is that butterflies are attracted to light. They are feeding with the flower's nectar and they are lead by wind in migrations. As you may already know, the alize is a wind.

There are 8 butterflies. 21 rose petals on the water and 84 balls/particles falling down the stairs of the shoe. Alizée was born on the 21st of August 1984.

The butterflies [20 April 2006, 16:02] The first part is a fairytale image, so I chose to make butterflies to represent the Alizée fans, because they are easy to manipulate, generally speaking. Butterflies are insects, thus the fans are of a reduced importance and "small". Correlating with what I said earlier, the fans are controlled by "the wind". Another thing to look at is that no butterfly is identical to another. This was done on purpose to emphasize that her fans are all different.

The blue butterfly [6 April 2006, 21:32] There's a blue butterfly in the left bottom corner. At the original resolution, you may notice that there's a Morse code on both wings. The Morse code reads: ALIZEE. Thus, this butterfly is the Alizée butterfly. I "electrified" it to emphasize that Alizée is a source of light, for her fans.

The white butterfly [19 April 2006, 19:52] The white butterfly has two black spots on the two wings. In biology this tells that the butterfly is a female.

In the second side of the image, there are 8 toys, 21 stones and 84 balls clearly visible.

Doll close up [19 February 2007, 21:37] There are 4 dolls and 4 toy soldiers. This represents both of the biological genres. Being toys, thus without life, heartless, bloodless, they actually symbolize that her fans, in this setup, are just some puppets with no brains. They are controllable. As one may notice, these toys aren't so focused on the rose-angel as the butterflies are in the first part.

To a certain extent, the first part, is obviously a fairytale image, but the second side is also a horrorified "toy world". This toy world is in an inadequate environment, a warehouse, a dirty place. Even further, one may say, it's at the wrong timing. The central idea towards I am trying to lead you is that the whole setup I created actually symbolises the obsessions of certain people. There are people obsessed by their own childhood and still have toys throughout their life. Constraining this idea to the image, some people get obsessed about Alizée and don't manage to get back to normality. This leads to isolation in their life.

Another aspect of having 4 dolls and 4 toy soldiers, is that 8/2=4, 4*2=8. 42 is the answer to life and everything. 21*2=42, 42*2=84. She was 21 when I started working on the image.

84 balls are falling on the stairs. This symbolizes, in a very subtle way her potential musical career failure, after she will release her new album (the third one). In the first part, these are faint, thus minimal chances of that happening. In the second side, they are clear.

You may be asking "why are there 21 rose petals on the water?". It slightly tells you that this rose-angel will be replaced with another one in time. In the second side, these are rocks which only underline once again this aspect.

Look at the entire image and see the water lilies. What do they resemble? Looking at the overall light scheme, they seem to me like 4 candles. Alizée's nickname is Lili, thus water lilies.

If anyone's asking what the shoe is representing, why does it have steps/ladders? Well, I honestly don't know exactly what the original designer of this shoe had in mind. I've only remodeled it using the DVD as a reference. But, this doesn't stop me to think of it. I believe that it may represent the evolution of women in society.

In my image, the shoe represents women; more specifically, it specifies the exact gender of the rose-angel: a female. Comparing the two sides, in the left one, it's intact, smooth and in pink, but in the right side... it's wrecked, the steps are broken and the look is of a diseased shoe. This may represent to others that women in reality are not that well treated.

One may also consider that the stairs of the shoe represent that one has to go up on them to reach her. This way of seeing it, actually emphasizes a thing I've had in mind while working on the image. The butterflies and, of course, the toys, are below her at compositional level. Not a single life element is above the rose-angel, they are all underneath.

When comparing the two environments of the image, you'll notice the total opposition at different levels. The dream world: water - purity, colorful, nature, a moody romantic night, light flowers. And, the building, concrete, dust, erosions, dirt, coldness, red - blood, humidity, years of darkness and loneliness; everything man made. Both sides are a complete exaggeration of the two extremes: naive thinking versus pessimistic thinking.

Being night, there's no obvious source of light, in the left side. But, in the second part, light comes through the windows. Outside, there's light. Inside: darkness, isolation. One may notice that there's opposition in the light schemes.

In the way I constructed both sides, the image is built in mirror. The shoes, the arches, the wings are in opposition. In the center of the image, you may notice the heart which these elements form.

VisuAlizée prefinal step2, wip1 [19 July 2006, 12:02] In part one, it has been suggested that the two trees and the forest are guardians of the dream world. Also, the arch with grape leafs was done on purpose, giving hints to France, as the country with very good wines.

Still in the left side, I've put 11 floating bubbles, inspired by her video for L'Alize. Six of them are brighter - by having some light rays. This has to do with the fact that she got married on November the 6th, 2003.

Now, back to the second side. The dolls have different moods: angry, sad, calm and one is curious. This may represent the mood swings which a hardcore fan may experience in isolation.

Hand holding the shoe [5 December 2006, 21:19] Alizée doesn't write her lyrics, nor her music. The first two albums were done by Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat. So, to represent this, I've modeled that hand you see in the second side. The hand symbolizes the control over her music. She sings what others want. In a broader view, most of today's singers must produce songs which the record companies accept. The subtitle of this side is LiberAlizée. This gives a hint to the idea of her trying to get more control of what she will sing. In the left side, the hand is not there, because her fans don't care or they don't realize this, hence "vis" (meaning "dream" in Romanian) - VisuAlizée.

Wolverine [17 December 2006, 12:24] Along the same lines, one doll wears a medalion on which a wolf head is visible. This hints to some of Alizée's lyrics in which Mylène Farmer uses the term wolf with double meaning. Another doll has a shovel, as seen in the "Parler tout bas" video.

And, as a final conclusion, the title of the image tries to concentrate the changes some fans experience when they get to like to such an extent a certain singer. I've read many statements that this has changed their way of seeing things. The title also encapsulates the change in Alizée's musical career.

While working on the image, I was astonished by how interpretable it is. So, during two years of work, I've heard many.

My own general interpretation would be that the whole image represents the good versus the bad. The same thing seen through two different perspectives. One thing can be very good and very bad, it only depends on how you see it.

Another interpretation that has come to my attention that's worth mentioning is that the left side is an apotheosis and the right side would be a kind of purgatory. Or, that this would be a Cinderella story and her lost shoe. You figure it out ;).

Previous page: Introduction

Next page: VisuAlizée: technical details

Send me a comment

Any comments are welcome! No field is required, except the message itself. If you want me to reply, include your email address.