Cet épisode de La Poudre a été publié en français le 27 juin 2019. Pour l’écouter, remontez dans les archives ou cliquez ici : 🇫🇷.

The singer, musician, producer and performer Chris is the guest of the 55th episode of La Poudre. With Lauren Bastide, they talked about performance, control and sex.

Chris is an international pop music icon. This discussion starts with an exchange on the importance of queer thought and her creative work (04:36). Born Héloïse Letissier in 1988 in Nantes (France) and passionate about literature, she studies theatre and literature in Lyon. She mentions how lucky she was to grow up surrounded by books (06:08), with a father who is a literature teacher and a very free and independent mother (11:10). This did not prevent her from feeling strangely out of place and nostalgic as a child (14.22). Fortunately, theatre will rescue her from this spleen (15:22). She recalls the sexist violence she had to face at the Lyon school for the performing arts (27:13), which pushed her to abandon her dream of becoming theatre director… Never mind, she embarked on a trip to London, met a drag queen trio and decided that her life would revolve around queerness (34:58): Christine and the Queens was born. In 2014, her first album comes out: "Chaleur humaine" will sell more than a million copies. The same year, she wins the Victoire de la musique prize as woman performer of the year. Shorter hair, shorter name, her second album, "Chris", comes out in October 2018 and offers a more precise definition of her vision of femininity (38:08) while defending her claims for various sexualities and her own pansexual identity (49:20). She makes visible a burning, hungry and uninhibited feminine desire, in a much needed feminist gesture!

Executive producer: Nouvelles Écoutes

Production and signature tune: Aurore Meyer-Mahieu

Translation: Zisla Tortello

English voice-over: Elise Anderson-Scotto

Production assistant: Gaïa Marty

Recording: Charles de Cillia

Mixing: Clotilde Fauchille