No record by Philippe Katerine had been preceded by such commotion. Offered on a tray, on the occasion of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, July 26, the Pacific Notone of the seventeen titles of Zouzouhis fifteenth album released on November 8, caused a sensation, sung by its creator painted as a Dionysian Smurf. Some had seen blasphemy in this banquet of Olympus, confused with the meal of the Last Supper, also being convinced of the provocative nudity of a performer, even though he had underwear.
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An extraordinary and paradoxical introduction, in any case, for an album that the Vendée zazou considers to be one of his most “intimate”a praise “normality, domestic life, daily routine”. Philippe Katerine version.
Until this Olympic controversy, the radical fantasy of the Katerinian universe seemed to have found its place in French pop culture. Coming from the fringes of rock music, initially a solitary tinkerer with underground preciousness, Philippe Blanchard, known as “Katerine”, has expanded his audience to the rhythm of iconoclastic singles – Fuck you (1999), The Banana (2010) – and an ultra-dancing anthem, Luxor, I love it (2005). His character with offbeat humor also traces his path in the cinema, between arthouse films – I'm a no man's land (2011), by Thierry Jousse, A beautiful interior sun (2017), by Claire Denis – and popular successes, including The Great Bath (2018), by Gilles Lellouche, which earned him a César for best supporting actor.
Alleged taste for martyrdom
If the international exposure has occasionally boosted the listening of his songs on the platforms (+ 240%, on July 27, on Spotify; + 600% on YouTube), it has also made the originality of the fifty-year-old more divisive. A change he says he escapes on social networks – “anonymity doesn’t interest me” –but which he was able to observe several times in the street.
“People had the courage to come and talk to me to denounce my decadenceteases the singer, met on October 30 in the premises of his record company. I offer them a smile or a thank you. » When his Catholic education does not suggest other repartee such as “You will turn the other cheek” or “You will worship those who hate you”.
In the biography Philippe Katerine. Perfect moments (Le Mot et le reste, 2020), which he dedicated to the singer, Thierry Jourdain recalled that, as a teenager, he had been the victim of his boarding school. “Everyone calls him “Trash”, the students but also some of his teachers. Garbage is dumped in his locker and he is subjected to relentless insults and nicknames”writes Jourdain.
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