Je te rends ton amour
Encyclopedia
"Je te rends ton amour" is a 1999
song recorded by the French artist Mylène Farmer
. The second single
from her fifth studio album Innamoramento
, it was released on 8 June 1999. The song became another top 10 hit in France for Farmer, and its controversial music video gained considerable attention at the time, being censored by several television channels.
", rumours announced "Dessine-moi un mouton
" as second single from Innamoramento
, with a video inspired by Antoine de Saint Exupéry's Le Petit Prince, featuring the crash of an airplane. However, Farmer decided to release her favorite song of the album, "Je te rends ton amour", instead. This song, whose music was composed by Laurent Boutonnat
primarily for Nathalie Cardone
, enabled the album to remain in the top of the charts during the 1999 summer.
The single was released in various formats providing a new song, "Effets secondaires", as well as two remixes produced by Perky Park. The image used for various covers, made by Marino Parisotto Vay, shows Farmer being crucified and decapitated. The designer Henry Neu said to be particularly proud of having made the velvet envelope containing a promotional cross-shaped CD.
(referenced by name in the refrain
), an Austria
n painter
born in 1890 and died at 28, who painted many thin red-headed women, and who was much appreciated by Farmer. His painting Femme nue debout is even mentioned in the chorus. French painter Paul Gauguin
is also cited in the lyrics, as well as the lexical field of painting
. In the song, Farmer evokes a Schiele's painting, La Femme nue debout, and personifies the model painted. She also uses the typography of Schiele's signature to write the song's title on the cover of the CD and vinyl. According to the author Erwan Chuberre, the song deals with "a too heavy love to hold or with a weight of an artist on his work".
.jpg)
For the first time in Farmer's career, the video was directed by François Hanss. Shot for two days in the Notre-Dame-du-Val abbey
of Mériel
(Val-d'Oise
, France), this Requiem Publishing and Stuffed Monkey production cost about 100,000 euros. The screenplay was written by Mylène Farmer.
At the beginning of the video, we see a blind woman, Farmer, wearing a pink dress, with a Bible
in her hand. She goes out of a tunnel and walks in a forest, touching trees to locate. She comes to a church, and then enters the confessional
, followed by the Devil, in the form of a man dressed in a black robe. She opens her Bible written in Braille
and starts to read it with her fingers ; then she withdraws her alliance and places her ring on the Bible. The Devil, meanwhile, plunges his fingers with long nails in the holy water stoup, extinguishes the candles and knocks down chairs, then moves to the other side of the confessional. His eyes are similar to those of a snake. Gargoyle
s and statues of Christ are shown on several occasions. Blood starts to flow along the woman's hands and legs. The Devil then knocks over the Bible and grabs the woman by the neck. She tries first to resist, but soon she is caught hold of by the Devil who smears blood all over her naked body. Gagged and tied, she is then shown in a crucifixion position on the beams of the nave
. The video then shows the woman crouching on a pool of blood in manner of a still-unborn fetus
in the womb. Having had a bath in it, she leaves her alliance ring suggestively in the same pool of blood, and finally she exits the church in a black dress and with her vision restored.
gave a negative opinion, but it did not forbid the television channels to broadcast it. A committee, mainly composed of housewives, decided to broadcast a shortened version of the video during the day so as to not shock children. Therefore, M6
aired a short two-minute version that stopped when the demon wildly caught Farmer, at the second chorus. In response to this censorship, Farmer asked Hanss to cut the shocking scenes for the airing on television and decided to release the video in its full version as a VHS
with a booklet of unpublished photos by Claude Gassian. All the funds collected tanks to the 70,000 sales of the tape was returned to Sidaction
, an association fighting against AIDS
. In 2000, in an interview on MCM
, the singer said about this censorship:
According to some, "Je te rends ton amour" is one of Farmer's music videos which uses a lot of symbolisms, "bringing together aestheticism, shock images and deep themes". Several interpretations are possible.
One contextual interpretation of the music video can be given keeping in mind that the song appears in the album Innamoramento which in Italian means "The Birth of Love". The smearing of the woman's body in blood perhaps symbolizes that she is being baptized in blood by the Devil, so in a way she is 'reborn' (in Christian concept, to be baptized symbolically means to be reborn). This view is also reinforced by the woman's 'fetus' pose in the video, and also that after the experience she goes out of the church completely renewed, gifted with sight, and possibly liberated from religious strictures. The fact that the woman in the video initially wanted to place her ring on the Bible, but ended up placing it in the blood pool suggests that Farmer is 'married' to her liberator (the Devil) and wishes to live her new life without any religious inhibitions. She "refuses any dogmatic system" (the Church and/or the Bible), preferring a "freer world".
In the magazine Voici
, Joseph Messinger, a French psychoanalyst, did a surprising analysis of this video. The blood represents successively holiness, the loss of virginity, the defilement. Little by little in the video, Farmer loses her original purity. The stigmata
refer to the idea of pain ensuing from the human condition. The Bible, a symbol of dogmatic thinking, evokes the notion of forbidden. When Farmer wants to decrypt it with her fingers, she is punished for trying to accede to a knowledge reserved for an elite (this image refers to Eve
and the serpent
).
The psychologist Hugues Royer also believes that the video addresses the theme of the loss of virginity, and "the blood that flows from the breaking of the hymen
becomes a torrent of hemoglobin". He also said that it reminded the world of Roman Polanski
's film, Rosemary's Baby
, and was inspired by the writings of the author Georges Bataille
, who described "the religious sentiment as the root of evil". This last influence was also established by author Sophie Khairallah who cites the novel
, Story of the Eye.
, in Paris. Farmer accepted to perform her song provided to sing at the lead of the program. She appeared suddenly from the ground, standing on a platform that rose in the airs. Then, in 50 Ans de tubes on 30 July, in which the singer performed the song in a works gallery of the French sculptor Caesar, in Provence
. At these occasions, Farmer wore the same dress as for the video. This dress was made by the British fashion designer John Galliano
. As Farmer was not allowed to wear it again for her 2000 tour, she did make a similar dress.
Regarding the tours, "Je te rends ton amour" was first performed during the 1999
, in which Farmer wore a red dress with a very long trainand and performed on a platform, while the stage turns red; in February and March, Farmer added a repetition a cappella with the audience and a new musical direction. Second, the song was performed during the 2009 tours: Farmer wore an asymmetrical business suit composed of a white tutu underneath, and the stage was covered with red light. The song was also selected for inclusion in the track listing of 2006 concerts Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy
; it had even been sung during the rehearsal
s, but was finally rejected.
and CD maxi contain that was a new song at the time, "Effets secondaires" (English: "Side Effects").
The song depicts Farmer as suffering from insomnia
due to the taking of a drug which has side effects. Farmer counts the hours as they go by and seems to read though sounds delirious. She mentions Krueger
, a reference to the main antogonist from the Nightmare on Elm Street horror film series which has sleep deprivation as a central theme. . In terms of structure, only refrains are sung, while the verses are spoken in low tones. The song ends with a long ringing alarm clock.
This song is included on Farmer's greatest hits album Les Mots in 2001. It has never been performed on stage or on television.
".
Sales of the single were lukewarm. In France, it debuted at a peak of number ten on 12 June, which was at the time the 17th top ten of Farmer. However, the single fell sharply the following week and then stayed in lower positions. It stayed for 12 weeks in the Top 50 and 20 weeks in the top 100. It was the 78th best-selling single of 1999 in France, but the second least-selling single from Innamoramento.
In Belgium (Wallonia), the single entered the Ultratop 40 at number 30 on 19 June and reached a peak of number 18 the next week. Then it dropped on the chart and totalled ten weeks in the top 40. It was ranked at number 92 in Belgian Annual Chart.
1999 in music
-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....
song recorded by the French artist Mylène Farmer
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Farmer, , born Marie-Hélène Jeanne Gautier, , , is a French singer, songwriter, occasional actress and author....
. The second 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 fifth studio album Innamoramento
Innamoramento
Innamoramento is the fifth studio album by Mylène Farmer, released on April 7, 1999.-Background and release:By 1999, Farmer had barely appeared in the media since her 1996 concerts at Paris-Bercy...
, it was released on 8 June 1999. The song became another top 10 hit in France for Farmer, and its controversial music video gained considerable attention at the time, being censored by several television channels.
Background and writing
After the release of "L'Âme-stram-gramL'Âme-stram-gram
"L'Âme-stram-gram" is a 1999 song recorded by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. It was the lead single from her fifth studio album Innamoramento and was released on 9 March 1999. The lyrics were written by Farmer and the music was composed by Laurent Boutonnat...
", rumours announced "Dessine-moi un mouton
Dessine-moi un mouton
"Dessine-moi un mouton" is a 1999 song recorded by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer, first in a studio version, then in a live version during her 1999 concert Mylenium Tour. The song was the only single from her third live album Mylenium Tour and was released on 5 December 2000...
" as second single from Innamoramento
Innamoramento
Innamoramento is the fifth studio album by Mylène Farmer, released on April 7, 1999.-Background and release:By 1999, Farmer had barely appeared in the media since her 1996 concerts at Paris-Bercy...
, with a video inspired by Antoine de Saint Exupéry's Le Petit Prince, featuring the crash of an airplane. However, Farmer decided to release her favorite song of the album, "Je te rends ton amour", instead. This song, whose music was composed by Laurent Boutonnat
Laurent Boutonnat
Laurent Pierre Marie Boutonnat is a French composer and film and music video director, best known as the songwriting partner of Mylène Farmer and the director of moody, provocative and literature-inspired music videos.- Career :...
primarily for Nathalie Cardone
Nathalie Cardone
Nathalie Cardone is a French actress and singer. She was born to a Sicilian father and a Spanish mother.-Biography:...
, enabled the album to remain in the top of the charts during the 1999 summer.
The single was released in various formats providing a new song, "Effets secondaires", as well as two remixes produced by Perky Park. The image used for various covers, made by Marino Parisotto Vay, shows Farmer being crucified and decapitated. The designer Henry Neu said to be particularly proud of having made the velvet envelope containing a promotional cross-shaped CD.
Lyrics and music
The lyrics contain several references about the painting, including Egon SchieleEgon Schiele
Egon Schiele was an Austrian painter. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity, and the many self-portraits the artist produced...
(referenced by name in the refrain
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
), an Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
born in 1890 and died at 28, who painted many thin red-headed women, and who was much appreciated by Farmer. His painting Femme nue debout is even mentioned in the chorus. French painter Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
is also cited in the lyrics, as well as the lexical field of painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. In the song, Farmer evokes a Schiele's painting, La Femme nue debout, and personifies the model painted. She also uses the typography of Schiele's signature to write the song's title on the cover of the CD and vinyl. According to the author Erwan Chuberre, the song deals with "a too heavy love to hold or with a weight of an artist on his work".
Production and plot
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
of Mériel
Mériel
Mériel is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department and Île-de-France region of France.-References:** -External links:* * *...
(Val-d'Oise
Val-d'Oise
Val-d'Oise is a French department, created in 1968 after the split of the Seine-et-Oise department and located in the Île-de-France region. In local slang, it is known as "quatre-vingt quinze" or "neuf cinq"...
, France), this Requiem Publishing and Stuffed Monkey production cost about 100,000 euros. The screenplay was written by Mylène Farmer.
At the beginning of the video, we see a blind woman, Farmer, wearing a pink dress, with a Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in her hand. She goes out of a tunnel and walks in a forest, touching trees to locate. She comes to a church, and then enters the confessional
Confessional
A confessional is a small, enclosed booth used for the Sacrament of Penance, often called confession, or Reconciliation. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church, but similar structures are also used in Anglican churches of an Anglo-Catholic orientation, and also in the...
, followed by the Devil, in the form of a man dressed in a black robe. She opens her Bible written in Braille
Braille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
and starts to read it with her fingers ; then she withdraws her alliance and places her ring on the Bible. The Devil, meanwhile, plunges his fingers with long nails in the holy water stoup, extinguishes the candles and knocks down chairs, then moves to the other side of the confessional. His eyes are similar to those of a snake. Gargoyle
Gargoyle
In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
s and statues of Christ are shown on several occasions. Blood starts to flow along the woman's hands and legs. The Devil then knocks over the Bible and grabs the woman by the neck. She tries first to resist, but soon she is caught hold of by the Devil who smears blood all over her naked body. Gagged and tied, she is then shown in a crucifixion position on the beams of the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
. The video then shows the woman crouching on a pool of blood in manner of a still-unborn fetus
Fetus
A fetus is a developing mammal or other viviparous vertebrate after the embryonic stage and before birth.In humans, the fetal stage of prenatal development starts at the beginning of the 11th week in gestational age, which is the 9th week after fertilization.-Etymology and spelling variations:The...
in the womb. Having had a bath in it, she leaves her alliance ring suggestively in the same pool of blood, and finally she exits the church in a black dress and with her vision restored.
Critical reception
The video caused considerable controversy in France, due to its scenes of nudity and blood, and of its apparent criticism of Christianity and the Church. It was considered as being "too daring". The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuelConseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel
The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel is a French institution, created in 1989, whose role is to regulate the various electronic media in France, such as radio and television, including through eventual censorship...
gave a negative opinion, but it did not forbid the television channels to broadcast it. A committee, mainly composed of housewives, decided to broadcast a shortened version of the video during the day so as to not shock children. Therefore, M6
Métropole 6
M6, also known as Metropole television, is the most profitable private national French TV channel and the third most watched television network in the French-speaking world...
aired a short two-minute version that stopped when the demon wildly caught Farmer, at the second chorus. In response to this censorship, Farmer asked Hanss to cut the shocking scenes for the airing on television and decided to release the video in its full version as a VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
with a booklet of unpublished photos by Claude Gassian. All the funds collected tanks to the 70,000 sales of the tape was returned to Sidaction
Sidaction
Sidaction is a major French public event that started in 1994 in France for raising awareness and collecting charitable funds for AIDS. It donates important sums to various AIDS charities, AIDS research, institutions specializing in medical care and social aid for those suffering of HIV/AIDS in...
, an association fighting against AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. In 2000, in an interview on MCM
MCM (French TV)
MCM is a French music video TV channel owned by Groupe MCM. It was started in 1989 by Groupe Europe following the MTV model. MCM broadcasts 3 encrypted music TV channels "MCM France", "MCM Pop" and "MCM Top" as part of the "CanalSat France" subscription TV package from the Astra 19.2°E cluster of...
, the singer said about this censorship:
"Ça n'a aucun intérêt de vouloir choquer à tout prix pour qu'on s'interesse à vous. Il se trouve que j'aborde des sujets qui sont peut être un peu épineux voire tabous. Ç'est un risque... Maintenant, la censure, spécialement en France est un peu sévère et s'attaque à tout et n'importe quel sujet ce que je trouve vraiment regrettable!"
(English translation: "It's not interesting to want to be shocking at all costs, in order to be relevant/interesting to you. I deal with subjects that are maybe a little tricky, taboo. It's a risk... right now the censorship, especially in France, is a bit harsh and it attacks everything and any subject... I find this truly regrettable!")
According to some, "Je te rends ton amour" is one of Farmer's music videos which uses a lot of symbolisms, "bringing together aestheticism, shock images and deep themes". Several interpretations are possible.
One contextual interpretation of the music video can be given keeping in mind that the song appears in the album Innamoramento which in Italian means "The Birth of Love". The smearing of the woman's body in blood perhaps symbolizes that she is being baptized in blood by the Devil, so in a way she is 'reborn' (in Christian concept, to be baptized symbolically means to be reborn). This view is also reinforced by the woman's 'fetus' pose in the video, and also that after the experience she goes out of the church completely renewed, gifted with sight, and possibly liberated from religious strictures. The fact that the woman in the video initially wanted to place her ring on the Bible, but ended up placing it in the blood pool suggests that Farmer is 'married' to her liberator (the Devil) and wishes to live her new life without any religious inhibitions. She "refuses any dogmatic system" (the Church and/or the Bible), preferring a "freer world".
In the magazine Voici
Voici
Voici is a French weekly celebrity, women's magazine and tabloid, published by Prisma Presse . It was founded in 1987, and believes television reality shows in 2002 boosted circulation to 12.4 million copies per month . It claims the title of best selling French celebrity magazine, and second or...
, Joseph Messinger, a French psychoanalyst, did a surprising analysis of this video. The blood represents successively holiness, the loss of virginity, the defilement. Little by little in the video, Farmer loses her original purity. The stigmata
Stigmata
Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, such as the hands and feet...
refer to the idea of pain ensuing from the human condition. The Bible, a symbol of dogmatic thinking, evokes the notion of forbidden. When Farmer wants to decrypt it with her fingers, she is punished for trying to accede to a knowledge reserved for an elite (this image refers to Eve
Eve (Bible)
Eve was, according to the creation of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God...
and the serpent
Serpent (Bible)
Serpent is the term used to translate a variety of words in the Hebrew bible, the most common being , , the generic word for "snake"....
).
The psychologist Hugues Royer also believes that the video addresses the theme of the loss of virginity, and "the blood that flows from the breaking of the hymen
Hymen
The hymen is a membrane that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening. It forms part of the vulva, or external genitalia. The size of the hymenal opening increases with age. Although an often practiced method, it is not possible to confirm with certainty that a girl or woman is a...
becomes a torrent of hemoglobin". He also said that it reminded the world of Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
's film, Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby is a 1967 best-selling horror novel by Ira Levin, his second published book. Major elements of the story were inspired by the publicity surrounding the Church of Satan of Anton LaVey which had been founded in 1966.-Plot summary:...
, and was inspired by the writings of the author Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille was a French writer. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature, anthropology, philosophy, economy, sociology and history of art...
, who described "the religious sentiment as the root of evil". This last influence was also established by author Sophie Khairallah who cites the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, Story of the Eye.
Promotion and live performances
Mylène Farmer sang "Je te rends ton amour" in two television shows: First, in La Fureur du parc (in playback) on 19 June. The show was broadcast in the Parc des PrincesParc des Princes
The Parc des Princes is an all-seater football stadium located in the southwest of Paris, France. The venue, with a seating capacity of 48,712 spectators, has been the home of French football club Paris Saint-Germain since 1974. The current Parc des Princes was inaugurated on 4 June 1972, endowed...
, in Paris. Farmer accepted to perform her song provided to sing at the lead of the program. She appeared suddenly from the ground, standing on a platform that rose in the airs. Then, in 50 Ans de tubes on 30 July, in which the singer performed the song in a works gallery of the French sculptor Caesar, in Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
. At these occasions, Farmer wore the same dress as for the video. This dress was made by the British fashion designer John Galliano
John Galliano
John Charles Galliano CBE, RDI is a Gibraltan-born British fashion designer who was best known as head designer of French haute couture houses Givenchy and Christian Dior , and his own self titled fashion house.-Family:He was born in Gibraltar to a Gibraltarian father, Juan Galliano, and a...
. As Farmer was not allowed to wear it again for her 2000 tour, she did make a similar dress.
Regarding the tours, "Je te rends ton amour" was first performed during the 1999
Mylenium Tour (tour)
Mylenium Tour is Mylène Farmer's 1999-2000 concert tour in support of her fifth studio album, Innamoramento.-Critical reception and commercial success:...
, in which Farmer wore a red dress with a very long trainand and performed on a platform, while the stage turns red; in February and March, Farmer added a repetition a cappella with the audience and a new musical direction. Second, the song was performed during the 2009 tours: Farmer wore an asymmetrical business suit composed of a white tutu underneath, and the stage was covered with red light. The song was also selected for inclusion in the track listing of 2006 concerts Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy
Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy
Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy is the fourth live album by Mylène Farmer, released on December 4, 2006.- Background :Six years after her Mylenium Tour, Mylène Farmer came back on stage with a tour in 2006 which included 13 shows at Bercy, in Paris. This very successful series of concerts started on...
; it had even been sung during the rehearsal
Rehearsal
For other uses, see Rehearsal or Dress rehearsal A rehearsal is a preparatory event in music and theatre that is performed before the official public performance, as a form of practice, and to ensure that all details of the performance are adequately prepared and coordinated for professional...
s, but was finally rejected.
B-side: "Effets secondaires"
The CD singleCD single
A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
and CD maxi contain that was a new song at the time, "Effets secondaires" (English: "Side Effects").
The song depicts Farmer as suffering from insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
due to the taking of a drug which has side effects. Farmer counts the hours as they go by and seems to read though sounds delirious. She mentions Krueger
Freddy Krueger
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a fictional, horrifying character from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams,...
, a reference to the main antogonist from the Nightmare on Elm Street horror film series which has sleep deprivation as a central theme. . In terms of structure, only refrains are sung, while the verses are spoken in low tones. The song ends with a long ringing alarm clock.
This song is included on Farmer's greatest hits album Les Mots in 2001. It has never been performed on stage or on television.
Critical reception
Chuberre praised the song, saying ""Je te rends ton amour" shows how the writing of the singer is progressing. It is a superb text dealing with a too heavy love to hold or with a weight of an artist on his work". He describes the melody as being "insistent and bewitching", the image for the formats as "fascinating", but the remixes as being of lower quality than those of "L'Âme-stram-gramL'Âme-stram-gram
"L'Âme-stram-gram" is a 1999 song recorded by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. It was the lead single from her fifth studio album Innamoramento and was released on 9 March 1999. The lyrics were written by Farmer and the music was composed by Laurent Boutonnat...
".
Sales of the single were lukewarm. In France, it debuted at a peak of number ten on 12 June, which was at the time the 17th top ten of Farmer. However, the single fell sharply the following week and then stayed in lower positions. It stayed for 12 weeks in the Top 50 and 20 weeks in the top 100. It was the 78th best-selling single of 1999 in France, but the second least-selling single from Innamoramento.
In Belgium (Wallonia), the single entered the Ultratop 40 at number 30 on 19 June and reached a peak of number 18 the next week. Then it dropped on the chart and totalled ten weeks in the top 40. It was ranked at number 92 in Belgian Annual Chart.
Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of single releases of "Je te rends ton amour":- CD single
- CD maxi - Digipack
- 12" maxi / 12" maxi - Picture disc - Limited edition (3,000)
- Digital download
- CD single - Promo / CD single - Promo - Luxurious crucifix
- VHS / VHS - Promo
Release history
| Date | Label | Region | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1999 | Polydor | France, Belgium | CD single - Promo | 9152 |
| 12" maxi - Promo | 2992 | |||
| VHS - Promo | — | |||
| 1 June 1999 | CD single | 561 118-2 | ||
| 12" maxi | 561 129-1 | |||
| CD maxi | 561 129-2 | |||
Official versions
| Version | Length | Album | Remixed by | Year | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album version | 5:12 | Innamoramento Innamoramento Innamoramento is the fifth studio album by Mylène Farmer, released on April 7, 1999.-Background and release:By 1999, Farmer had barely appeared in the media since her 1996 concerts at Paris-Bercy... , Les Mots |
— | 1999 | See the previous sections |
| Single version | 5:05 | — | — | 1999 | This version is almost identical to the album one. |
| Promotional single version | 4:52 | — | — | 1999 | This version is shorter without the last echo of drum Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a... is removed. |
| Redemption Perky Park club mix | 6:35 | — | Perky Park | 1999 | It is a dance Dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement... version with many percussion devoted to nightclub Nightclub A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night... s. The musical introduction lasts two minutes, all verses are deleted and the refrain can be heard after four minutes. |
| Illumination Perky Park dub mix | 6:32 | — | Parky Park | 1999 | This is a dance version too. After two minutes, Farmer sings the first verse, the refrain Refrain A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song... and the second verse. |
| Music video | 5:05 | Music Videos III Music Videos III Music Videos III is a VHS recorded by the French singer Mylène Farmer, containing all the singer's videoclips from 1999 to 2000. It was released in November 2000 in France.... , Music Videos II & III Music Videos II & III Music Video II & III is a DVD recorded by the French singer Mylène Farmer, containing all the singer's videoclips from 1992 to 2000. It was released in March 2001 in France.... |
— | 1999 | |
| Live version (recorded in 2000) |
5:15 | Mylenium Tour Mylenium Tour Mylènium Tour is the third live album by Mylène Farmer, released on December 5, 2000.-Background:After having ending her third successful tour whose last shows were held in Russia on March 7, 2000, Farmer rested, and then decided to release an album and a DVD retracing her concert... |
— | 2000 | This live version is very similar to that of the album. See Mylenium Tour Mylenium Tour (tour) Mylenium Tour is Mylène Farmer's 1999-2000 concert tour in support of her fifth studio album, Innamoramento.-Critical reception and commercial success:... |
| Live version (recorded in 2009) |
5:28 | 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... |
— | 2000 | See Mylène Farmer en tournée |
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
- Requiem Publishing – editions
- Polydor – recording company
- Marino Parisotto Vay – photo
- Henry Neu / Com'N.B – design
- Made in the E.U.
Peak positions
| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| 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... |
18 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart | 10 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 92 |
| French Singles Chart | 78 |
Sales
| Country | Certification | Physical sales |
|---|---|---|
| France | — | 100,000 |