Dégénération
Encyclopedia
"Dégénération" is a 2008 electro / techno
song by French
singer-songwriter
Mylène Farmer
. It was the first single
from her seventh studio album Point de Suture
, and was released first digitally and on radio in June 2008, then in a CD in August 2008. The song marked an important musical change in the singer's career. Despite cold critical and public reception, the single achieved success, peaking at number one in France on both physical and digital sales charts.
Surprisingly, on the night from 13 to 14 June, the e-compil site, the official platform for downloading of Universal Music, proposed, for a few hours only, to legally download the song, probably by mistake. On 16 June, "Dégénération" was aired for the first time on Radio Jeune Reims, at 8:20 pm, although it was announced that NRJ should have the exclusivity of the first broadcast, on June 19, at 7:00 am. According to the French newspaper Le Parisien
, the DJ Martin Solveig
participated in one of the song remixes. As scheduled, on 19 June, several radio stations broadcast "Dégénération", including NRJ, Delta FM and RTL. The song was then also available digitally on musicMe, virginmega.fr and iTunes
, but only one version. A few days later, an unofficial CDR promo (unknown remix) of "Dégénération" was circulated and received attention from high profile DJs. Finally, it was announced that the song would be released as a physical single on 18 August. On 4 July, certain French radio stations began to broadcast the radio edit version of the remix produced by Martin Solveig
.
On the occasion of the single release, Farmer formed for the first time a partnership with a mobile phone
company. So, the SFR
subscribers received two SMS
announcing first when the song would be available digitally on its site, then when the three excerpts of the music video would be broadcast on its site. On 11 July, the newspaper Info Music Hebdo said that the CD single would be released in a limited edition (50,000 copies) and that the CD maxi would contain remixes by Tomer G and Manhattan Clique who had previously worked with Farmer for "Slipping Away (Crier la vie)". In early September, TF1
promoted the song airing some excerpts between the programmes and the fully music video in the night.
The song has an electro and techno-sexy feel and the lyrics play with sonorities, including alliteration
s. The only natural instruments audible in the song are piano
and percussion; all others are effects. According to Discordance.fr, "Dégénération" is "an unstructured song, not a summer hit with an easy approach", and its music is "hypnotic". It can be assimilated to "Psychiatric", "La Ronde triste" or "Alice" because of "its short text and its rather dub
". The song "amounts to a couplet repeated in buckle, a spoken bridge, and many choir
s". The text "remains partially incomprehensible without reading official lyrics". The electronic
sound has a "more metallic rhythmic" than Farmer's previous singles and constitutes "a remarkable artistic experiment". Psychologist Hugues Royer said that the message of the song is to "shake the boredom to find again the desire", to "promote sex therapy" to "reset the appetite for life".
Interviewed by Claire Chazal
in the news broadcasting
of 31 August, 8:00 pm, on TF1
, Farmer explained that the title of the song was a reference to "Désenchantée
", her 1991 number-one hit, in which the word "génération" is mentioned. On the cover of the various formats, Farmer is shown naked from the back. She has a green jade
prayer beads
around the neck that goes from the back to the buttocks and ends with a G-string
-shaped cross and has in her back an enormous scar whose threads form the letters IY'H which mean in Hebrew : "With God's will". Farmer's position on the cover resembles the subject of Man Ray
's 1924 painting Le Violon d'Ingres, as well as that on the cover of her single "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...
".
, Czech Republic
. Polydor and French magazine Paris-Match announced that Bruno Aveillan
, a director who has directed several television commercials for companies such as Perrier, Louis Vuitton, Orange, Nintendo, Nike and Philips, directed this 4:30 music video. About thirty actors as well as the dancers of Cave Canem troupe feature in it. According to Aveillan, extras perform "a resolutely modern choreography, full of unexpected." In addition, a Phantom camera, ordinarily devoted to the scientific research, was used for the shooting. Patricia Aveillan, Bruno Aveillan's mother, made the dress worn by Farmer in the video and explained in an interview that she was informed just ten days before the shooting. Her daughter and her son-in-law also participated in the shooting. The photographer Claude Gassian attended the shooting of the video.
The video shows Farmer lying on an operating table in a laboratory, surrounded by scientist
s. When the music begins, she wakes up, unties her strips, gets up, and throws blue laser beams from her palms to the doctors and the militaries. Suddenly, they begin to perform choreographied sexual intercourse
s (men with men, women with women, women with men) which eventually end as an orgy
, while Farmer goes out of the laboratory.
On 26 June, SFR site revealed an excerpt from the music video for "Dégénération". Two other excerpts were broadcast on 1 and 2 July. The video was eventually fully aired on television on 10 July and immediately available on several official websites such as TF1.fr, Music SFR and universalmusic.fr. In Russia
, "MTV Russia" channel aired regularly the music video.
This video was generally well-received in the media. For example, Musique.evous said: "Its atmosphere is consistent with the single and the universe of its performer: cold, careful and erotic. (...) The production is impeccable and the greatest attention was paid to lighting, the texture of the bodies and the special effects". Many critics have noticed that the video was "erotic" and "provocative", and some have thought it was inspired by Luc Besson
's film The Fifth Element
(futuristic atmosphere, red hair, body covered with strips) or Le Parfum. According to La Meuse, gay
scenes - including two soldier
s who kiss and undress each other - would be "a wink to the fascination that Farmer has always exerted on the gay public". Royer said this video is "peppered with special effects worthy of the early career [of Farmer]" and conveys a message "which invites its listeners to come out of coma where they languish sex to engage in sexual intercourses without taboo. (...) The singer achieves the challenge of updating of the message of "Libertine
" without giving the feeling of repetition."
In January 2009, when the third single from the album was released, it was revealad that the music video for "Dégénération" as well as that of "Si j'avais au moins...
", were part of a short film named The Farmer Project. The action takes place in a country in Eastern Europe
in the 1950s or 1960s. It begins with Farmer, who portrays a creature with supernatural powers, who is captured by two policemen and studied in a laboratory. At this point, the music video for "Dégénération" starts.
proposed on its homepage a very critical analysis of "Dégénération", both at the level of music and video. Tribu Move deemed that this song marked a big musical change in the singer's career. On 18 August, French magazine Télé Star qualified "Dégénération" as a "failure", "a repetitive single without refrain, which has left perplexed fans of the first hour as well as professional people". It also stressed that the song was "poorly aired on radio due to overall negative feedbacks from listeners". According to Le Monde
, "Dégénération" is characterized by "rather minimalist arrangements and a curtness tone". For Le Figaro
, it is a "very commercial single", with a "powerful rhythmic", a "very forward voice", and "imperturbably 'farmerian' lyrics". Starac Mag deemed the song is "less melodious than [Farmer's] previous titles, but equally effective". As for Le Point
, "Dégénération" is "a repetitive electro pop [song] with naive lyrics full of muddled and mystic double meanings". More positive, Swiss newspaper Coopération stated: "Make love, not the war: such is the message of this electro-pop hit which eyes up Depeche Mode
".
Although it received negative reviews, the single, after just a few hours, climbed to number one on the French singles download chart, very far ahead of the number two in terms of sales. In spite of the lack of substantial promotion, there were 4,998 digital downloads on the three first days. However, the week after, "Dégénération" dropped to number eight with 2,028 downloads, then to number ten with 1,769 downloads, and was only number 25 in its fourth week with 940 downloads. It continued to drop on the chart, but gained 35 places and reached number ten, with 1,450 downloads, when the album was released in late August, but began again to drop rather quickly the weeks after. It fell off the top 50 after 13 weeks.
In France, the single went straight to number one on the SNEP chart on 23 August, selling 27,401 units, which was the highest weekly sales of 2008 for a number-one single in France. It dropped to number two the week after with 8,495 sales, then to number five with 4,891 sales. Then it fell off the top ten and totaled 17 weeks in the top 50 and 41 weeks in the top 100, which is to date the singer's longest chart running of a single in this country. The song also reached number ten on the club chart, number 16 on the television airplay chart and number 51 on the airplay chart.
Other countries
On 5 July, "Dégénération", then only available digitally, entered the Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart
at number six before dropping quickly and remaining in low positions. However, on 30 August, when the physical formats were released, "Dégénération" jumped directly from number 33 to number one, thus becoming Farmer's third number-one hit in Belgium. It dropped rather quickly the next weeks and remained for a total of 14 weeks in the top 40.
The single was first ranked for a sole week on the Swiss Singles Charts, at number 58, on 6 July, thanks to the downloads, but re-entered at number 26 on 23 August when the physical formats were available, then dropped and fell off the chart after six weeks.
Tomer G sexy club remix
MHC future generation remix club and Manhattan Clique mix
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
song by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Farmer, , born Marie-Hélène Jeanne Gautier, , , is a French singer, songwriter, occasional actress and author....
. It was the first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from her seventh studio album Point de Suture
Point de Suture
Point de Suture is the seventh studio album by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer, and her 14th album overall. Preceded by the lead single "Dégénération", it was released digitally on 20 August 2008, then on CD five days later...
, and was released first digitally and on radio in June 2008, then in a CD in August 2008. The song marked an important musical change in the singer's career. Despite cold critical and public reception, the single achieved success, peaking at number one in France on both physical and digital sales charts.
Background and release
On 21 May, Thierry Suc, one of Farmer's producers, announced that the first single from the album would be "Dégénération" and that it would be released on radio on 19 June 2008. On 7 June 2008, a 30-second music clip was leaked to the Internet as well as the official cover art. On 14 June, the whole song was available to the Internet. At the time, as the origins of this song were, however, unclear, it had thus led many to believe that this leaked song was actually a remix due to its lack of lyrics.Surprisingly, on the night from 13 to 14 June, the e-compil site, the official platform for downloading of Universal Music, proposed, for a few hours only, to legally download the song, probably by mistake. On 16 June, "Dégénération" was aired for the first time on Radio Jeune Reims, at 8:20 pm, although it was announced that NRJ should have the exclusivity of the first broadcast, on June 19, at 7:00 am. According to the French newspaper Le Parisien
Le Parisien
Le Parisien is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It was established as Le Parisien libéré by Émilien Amaury in 1944, and the name was changed to the current one in 1986...
, the DJ Martin Solveig
Martin Solveig
Martin Picandet, better known under his stage name Martin Solveig is a French electronic music DJ and producer from Paris. He also hosts a weekly radio show called "C'est La Vie" on stations worldwide including FG DJ Radio in his homeland...
participated in one of the song remixes. As scheduled, on 19 June, several radio stations broadcast "Dégénération", including NRJ, Delta FM and RTL. The song was then also available digitally on musicMe, virginmega.fr and iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, but only one version. A few days later, an unofficial CDR promo (unknown remix) of "Dégénération" was circulated and received attention from high profile DJs. Finally, it was announced that the song would be released as a physical single on 18 August. On 4 July, certain French radio stations began to broadcast the radio edit version of the remix produced by Martin Solveig
Martin Solveig
Martin Picandet, better known under his stage name Martin Solveig is a French electronic music DJ and producer from Paris. He also hosts a weekly radio show called "C'est La Vie" on stations worldwide including FG DJ Radio in his homeland...
.
On the occasion of the single release, Farmer formed for the first time a partnership with a mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
company. So, the SFR
SFR
SFR is a French mobile phone company. It has over 20 million customers, and provides over 4.6 million households with high-speed internet access...
subscribers received two SMS
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
announcing first when the song would be available digitally on its site, then when the three excerpts of the music video would be broadcast on its site. On 11 July, the newspaper Info Music Hebdo said that the CD single would be released in a limited edition (50,000 copies) and that the CD maxi would contain remixes by Tomer G and Manhattan Clique who had previously worked with Farmer for "Slipping Away (Crier la vie)". In early September, TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...
promoted the song airing some excerpts between the programmes and the fully music video in the night.
Lyrics, music and title
 Coma t'es sexe, t'es styx,Test statique Coma t'es sexe, t'es styx, Extatique...  |
| — Beginning of the chorus |
The song has an electro and techno-sexy feel and the lyrics play with sonorities, including alliteration
Alliteration
In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...
s. The only natural instruments audible in the song are piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and percussion; all others are effects. According to Discordance.fr, "Dégénération" is "an unstructured song, not a summer hit with an easy approach", and its music is "hypnotic". It can be assimilated to "Psychiatric", "La Ronde triste" or "Alice" because of "its short text and its rather dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
". The song "amounts to a couplet repeated in buckle, a spoken bridge, and many choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
s". The text "remains partially incomprehensible without reading official lyrics". The electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
sound has a "more metallic rhythmic" than Farmer's previous singles and constitutes "a remarkable artistic experiment". Psychologist Hugues Royer said that the message of the song is to "shake the boredom to find again the desire", to "promote sex therapy" to "reset the appetite for life".
Interviewed by Claire Chazal
Claire Chazal
Claire Chazal is a French journalist, romance writer, and director of news at a national television station, TF1....
in the news broadcasting
News broadcasting
News broadcasting is the broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network...
of 31 August, 8:00 pm, on TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...
, Farmer explained that the title of the song was a reference to "Désenchantée
Désenchantée
"Désenchantée" is a 1991 song recorded by the French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. First single from her third studio album L'Autre..., it was released on 18 March 1991 and achieved a great success in France, topping the chart for more than two months...
", her 1991 number-one hit, in which the word "génération" is mentioned. On the cover of the various formats, Farmer is shown naked from the back. She has a green jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
prayer beads
Prayer beads
Prayer beads are used by members of various religious traditions such as Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Anglicanism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Bahá'í Faith to count the repetitions of prayers, chants or devotions, such as the rosary of Virgin Mary in Christianity and dhikr ...
around the neck that goes from the back to the buttocks and ends with a G-string
G-string
A G-string is a type of thong underwear or swimsuit, a narrow piece of cloth, leather, or plastic, that covers or holds the genitals, passes between the buttocks, and is attached to a band around the hips, worn as swimwear or underwear by women and men...
-shaped cross and has in her back an enormous scar whose threads form the letters IY'H which mean in Hebrew : "With God's will". Farmer's position on the cover resembles the subject of Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
's 1924 painting Le Violon d'Ingres, as well as that on the cover of her single "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...
L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...
"L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est..." is a 2001 song recorded by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. It was one of the singles from the album Les Razmokets à Paris , a soundtrack from the movie of the same name...
".
Music video
The music video was shot over two days (9 and 10 June) in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
. Polydor and French magazine Paris-Match announced that Bruno Aveillan
Bruno Aveillan
Bruno Aveillan is a multimedia artist, a photographer and a film maker.- Biography :Bruno Aveillan was born in Toulouse. He is one of France's most distinguished and internationally sought after commercials directors. After graduating from Ecole Supérieure des Beaux Arts in Toulouse, he joined...
, a director who has directed several television commercials for companies such as Perrier, Louis Vuitton, Orange, Nintendo, Nike and Philips, directed this 4:30 music video. About thirty actors as well as the dancers of Cave Canem troupe feature in it. According to Aveillan, extras perform "a resolutely modern choreography, full of unexpected." In addition, a Phantom camera, ordinarily devoted to the scientific research, was used for the shooting. Patricia Aveillan, Bruno Aveillan's mother, made the dress worn by Farmer in the video and explained in an interview that she was informed just ten days before the shooting. Her daughter and her son-in-law also participated in the shooting. The photographer Claude Gassian attended the shooting of the video.
The video shows Farmer lying on an operating table in a laboratory, surrounded by scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s. When the music begins, she wakes up, unties her strips, gets up, and throws blue laser beams from her palms to the doctors and the militaries. Suddenly, they begin to perform choreographied sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
s (men with men, women with women, women with men) which eventually end as an orgy
Orgy
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
, while Farmer goes out of the laboratory.
On 26 June, SFR site revealed an excerpt from the music video for "Dégénération". Two other excerpts were broadcast on 1 and 2 July. The video was eventually fully aired on television on 10 July and immediately available on several official websites such as TF1.fr, Music SFR and universalmusic.fr. In Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, "MTV Russia" channel aired regularly the music video.
This video was generally well-received in the media. For example, Musique.evous said: "Its atmosphere is consistent with the single and the universe of its performer: cold, careful and erotic. (...) The production is impeccable and the greatest attention was paid to lighting, the texture of the bodies and the special effects". Many critics have noticed that the video was "erotic" and "provocative", and some have thought it was inspired by Luc Besson
Luc Besson
Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
's film The Fifth Element
The Fifth Element
The Fifth Element is a 1997 French science fiction film directed, co-written, and based on a story by Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, and Milla Jovovich...
(futuristic atmosphere, red hair, body covered with strips) or Le Parfum. According to La Meuse, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
scenes - including two soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s who kiss and undress each other - would be "a wink to the fascination that Farmer has always exerted on the gay public". Royer said this video is "peppered with special effects worthy of the early career [of Farmer]" and conveys a message "which invites its listeners to come out of coma where they languish sex to engage in sexual intercourses without taboo. (...) The singer achieves the challenge of updating of the message of "Libertine
Libertine (song)
"Libertine" is a 1986 song recorded by French artist Mylène Farmer. It was the third single from her first studio album Cendres de Lune and was released on 1 April 1986. It was particularly known for its huge music video, produced as a film and which contains explicit sexual and violent scenes. It...
" without giving the feeling of repetition."
In January 2009, when the third single from the album was released, it was revealad that the music video for "Dégénération" as well as that of "Si j'avais au moins...
Si j'avais au moins...
"Si j'avais au moins..." is a song recorded by French singer Mylène Farmer. This pop rock ballad was written by Farmer with music composed by Laurent Boutonnat. It was the third single released, from her eight studio album Point de suture , on 16 February 2009...
", were part of a short film named The Farmer Project. The action takes place in a country in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
in the 1950s or 1960s. It begins with Farmer, who portrays a creature with supernatural powers, who is captured by two policemen and studied in a laboratory. At this point, the music video for "Dégénération" starts.
Reviews
"Dégénération" received generally negative reviews from the media and the public. Indeed, many Farmer's fans have criticized the lack of lyrics, and the radio stations have not taken to the song. On 29 July, Yahoo!Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
proposed on its homepage a very critical analysis of "Dégénération", both at the level of music and video. Tribu Move deemed that this song marked a big musical change in the singer's career. On 18 August, French magazine Télé Star qualified "Dégénération" as a "failure", "a repetitive single without refrain, which has left perplexed fans of the first hour as well as professional people". It also stressed that the song was "poorly aired on radio due to overall negative feedbacks from listeners". According to Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, "Dégénération" is characterized by "rather minimalist arrangements and a curtness tone". For Le Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
, it is a "very commercial single", with a "powerful rhythmic", a "very forward voice", and "imperturbably 'farmerian' lyrics". Starac Mag deemed the song is "less melodious than [Farmer's] previous titles, but equally effective". As for Le Point
Le Point
Le Point is a French weekly news magazine. It was founded in 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of L'Express, which was then owned by Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, a député of the Parti Radical...
, "Dégénération" is "a repetitive electro pop [song] with naive lyrics full of muddled and mystic double meanings". More positive, Swiss newspaper Coopération stated: "Make love, not the war: such is the message of this electro-pop hit which eyes up Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
".
Chart performances
FranceAlthough it received negative reviews, the single, after just a few hours, climbed to number one on the French singles download chart, very far ahead of the number two in terms of sales. In spite of the lack of substantial promotion, there were 4,998 digital downloads on the three first days. However, the week after, "Dégénération" dropped to number eight with 2,028 downloads, then to number ten with 1,769 downloads, and was only number 25 in its fourth week with 940 downloads. It continued to drop on the chart, but gained 35 places and reached number ten, with 1,450 downloads, when the album was released in late August, but began again to drop rather quickly the weeks after. It fell off the top 50 after 13 weeks.
In France, the single went straight to number one on the SNEP chart on 23 August, selling 27,401 units, which was the highest weekly sales of 2008 for a number-one single in France. It dropped to number two the week after with 8,495 sales, then to number five with 4,891 sales. Then it fell off the top ten and totaled 17 weeks in the top 50 and 41 weeks in the top 100, which is to date the singer's longest chart running of a single in this country. The song also reached number ten on the club chart, number 16 on the television airplay chart and number 51 on the airplay chart.
Other countries
On 5 July, "Dégénération", then only available digitally, entered the Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart
Ultratop
Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts...
at number six before dropping quickly and remaining in low positions. However, on 30 August, when the physical formats were released, "Dégénération" jumped directly from number 33 to number one, thus becoming Farmer's third number-one hit in Belgium. It dropped rather quickly the next weeks and remained for a total of 14 weeks in the top 40.
The single was first ranked for a sole week on the Swiss Singles Charts, at number 58, on 6 July, thanks to the downloads, but re-entered at number 26 on 23 August when the physical formats were available, then dropped and fell off the chart after six weeks.
Promotion and live performances
The song was never performed on television. It was performed during the 2009 tour Mylène Farmer en tournée, as sixteenth song of the show. Farmer wore a black leather jacket with a golden cross in the back, and her dancers a beige jacket with a black cross in the back. The song was accompanied by a choreography: Farmer appeared standing on a cockroach-shaped chair, while the dancers performed a dynamic modern choreography; she then stood up and walked to a platform which then raised in the airs.Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of single releases of "Dégénération":- CD single (limited edition — 50,000)
- CD maxi / 12" maxi
- CD single - Promo / CD single - Promo - Digipack format 12" (collector edition)
- CD maxi - Promo
- 12" maxi - Promo
- CD single - Promo (released in September 2008. Limited edition — 120)
- Digital download
Release history
| Date | Label | Region | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early July, 2008 | Polydor | Belgium, Switzerland | Digital | — |
| 19 July 2008 | France | |||
| 18 August 2008 | Belgium, France, Switzerland | CD maxi | 5310110 | |
| 12" | 5310111 | |||
| CD single | 5310112 | |||
Official versions
| Version | Length | Album | Remixed by | Year | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album / Single version | 5:27 | Point de Suture Point de Suture Point de Suture is the seventh studio album by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer, and her 14th album overall. Preceded by the lead single "Dégénération", it was released digitally on 20 August 2008, then on CD five days later... |
— | 2008 | See the previous sections |
| Radio edit | 4:05 | — | — | 2008 | There are less verses than on the album version. |
| Radio edit - Promo | 3:55 | — | — | 2008 | |
| Instrumental version | 5:27 | — | — | 2008 | All lyrics are deleted. |
| Comatik club remix / Degenerave mix | 7:04 | — | Martin Solveig Martin Solveig Martin Picandet, better known under his stage name Martin Solveig is a French electronic music DJ and producer from Paris. He also hosts a weekly radio show called "C'est La Vie" on stations worldwide including FG DJ Radio in his homeland... |
2008 | This version, only available on the promotional formats and digitally via SFR, has electronic Electronic music Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound... sounds. The radio edit version lasts about three minutes. |
| Manhattan Clique mix | 3:20 | — | Manhattan Clique Manhattan Clique The Manhattan Clique are producers, remixers and writers Philip Larsen and Chris Smith. Regular visitors to the higher reaches of the Music Week Club and Pop charts in the UK, plus the Billboard dance chart in the US, Manhattan Clique are equally at home with their more underground MHC guise as... |
2008 | |
| MHC future generation remix club | 6:29 | — | Manhattan Clique | 2008 | |
| Tomer G sexy club mix | 8:33 | — | Tomer G | 2008 | |
| Music video | 4:46 | — | — | 2008 | |
| Live version (recorded in 2009) |
6:58 | N°5 on Tour N°5 on Tour Nº5 on Tour is a double live album by French singer Mylène Farmer which documents her 2009 tour Mylène Farmer en tournée. It is her fifth live album and her 15th album overall. It was released on 7 December 2009, and it includes the standard set list that she sang during the indoor shows in France... |
— | 2009 | This version is preceded by an introduction of about one minute and a half. The main part of the song is nearly identical to the album version. |
Credits and personnel
These are the credits and the personnel as they appear on the back of the single:- Mylène Farmer – lyrics
- Laurent Boutonnat – music
- Simon Hawk (H&K) – photo
- Melikito – art "cicatrice"
- Henry Neu – design
- Isiaka – editions
Tomer G sexy club remix
- Tomer G at Tomer G Studios for Rave World of Music – remix
MHC future generation remix club and Manhattan Clique mix
- Manhattan Clique – remix, additional production
- Philip Larsen – keyboards
- Lee Turner – guitar
Peak positions
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 1 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 Singles | 6 |
| French Airplay Chart | 51 |
| French Digital Chart | 1 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 26 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2008) | Position |
|---|---|
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 77 |
| French Singles Chart | 22 |
Sales
| Country | Certification | Physical sales | Downloads | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | — | 53,270 in 2008 | 16,860 | 70,000 |
Chart successions and processions
External links
- Mylène Farmer — "Dégénération" All about the song, on Mylene.net
- "Dégénération", official music video