Mélodie Française features an incredible line up of established and up and coming Australian artists, including Kate Miller-Heidke, Katie Noonan, Deep Sea Arcade, Dappled Cities, Husky, Jinja Safari, Edward Deer and the lovely Thelma Plum all singing in French and tackling some of the most famous French songs!
The artists featured on Mélodie Française worked with French tutors both in the studio and via Skype to perfect the language and their diction, to enable them to record the songs. They immersed themselves totally in French sensuality and culture, and it’s no small achievement to have delivered such authentic recordings.
Thelma Plum tackled ‘La Vie En Rose’ and we caught up with her to chat about the experience.
Hey Thelma! Orange you happy I’m going to get the fruit puns out of the way first?
Ha ha….
What’s the worst name or fruit- based pun you’ve ever received in an interview that you’ve had to pretend to laugh about – apart from the pathetic attempt I just made?
You know what I actually think yours is the best yet! It made me laugh out loud!
Congratulations on the release of Mélodie Française as well! I thought your track was a standout on the record, for sure.
Aw! Thank you very much :)
Even my dad, who’s French, said your French accent was pretty much impeccable! Have you spoken any French before?
Haha that is so funny! I was so worried that I was not actually speaking French because of the way I was pronouncing the words! That was the first time I spoke French too. I had a lovely man come into the studio with me and help me pronounce the words correctly – he kept getting very frustrated. Haha.
Did you pick the song yourself or were you assigned to do it? If you did, did you have any qualms about doing such an iconic song by arguably France’s Queen of music? (For the record I think you MORE than did it justice!)
I did pick the song! I think it is the most beautiful amazing piece of music, and so yes, I was a bit scared.. but hopefully I pulled it off okay!
Did you have a favourite track on Mélodie Française?
Mmmm I luuurveee Vance Joy’s version of ‘La Mer’. Mostly because his Australian accent is still strong in the song – just like mine! Haha
What was the first record you bought with your own money, and the first gig you went to? (Mine was Delta Goodrem’s Innocent Eyes when I was eight and Anthony Callea’s post-Idol gig, so….no shame here)
Haha! I remember buying Innocent Eyes too!! It was either Delta or Avril Lavigne’s ‘Complicated’. I played both of those albums to death. I feel very sorry for my poor mother :(
If you had a dollar for every question asked about your single Dollar (aside from this one) how many dollars would you have, as a rough estimate?
$53541325689 – all of the dollars.
You’re a busy – and successful – gal this year, you just absolutely dominated at the NIMAs AND the Queensland Music Awards – congratulations! Twelve months ago, would you ever have dreamed of being where you are now?
Eeee thank you very much! And no way! I am so happy and humbled and stoked to be what I am doing right now and to have opportunities like winning those awards! YAYY!
Do you find that there’s a kind of community among young Indigenous musicians in Australia? Is it a supportive kind of scene?
Absolutely! Just like any musicians though – I think everyone in Australian music industry are very supportive to one another!
Quickfire questions, GO! Three guilty pleasures?
Tim Tams
Breaking Bad
Shakira
If you could guest star on any TV show, which one would it be?
Breaking Bad so I could just catch Walt. He is so bad and I’m just sick of his selfish behaviour fun.
If you could win any award in the world (except the ones you’ve just received) what would it be?
The award for eating the most Tim-tams. I really do think I could win this.
Your ultimate ice-cream flavour?
Cookie and Cream!
And finally, If you did a duet with Timomatic, you’d probably be called Thelmomatic. Is there anyone you want to duet with simply because you’d have a great name fusion?
I played some shows with Emma Louise recently and people started hash tagging #Thelma&Louise which I think is pretty cool!
The album Mélodie Française is out now through Original Matters/Inertia.
Watch the Mélodie Française album trailer here
