Carla Bruni's record fails to hit the bigtime

Carla Bruni was on the radio this morning sounding defensive about the sales of her new album, Comme si de rien n'était (titled Simply in English).

President Sarkozy's new wife enjoyed spectacular worldwide publicity on the album's release in July and Naive, her label, insists that the record is doing well. Over 300,000 copies have been sold, they say, 140,000 of them outside France. The CD reached the number one spot for French albums for a week in mid-August but is now back down at ninth.

There have been rumours in the trade that the record is not exactly flying out of the shops, even taking the morose market into account. The official figures correspond to CDs shipped to stores. Le Parisien newspaper got hold of the actual sales yesterday. A total of 80,657 have been bought by French customers in the first seven weeks of release, not the official 160,000, and sales are slowing. 

Given the novelty effect of the first lady's record and the huge promotion by French and international media, that figure is quite modest. "The artist would have been entitled to expect better for both good and bad reasons," said le Parisien. "No record has ever been so talked about, or fed so much speculation and shaped firm opinions before it was heard."  Patrick Zelnik, chief executive of Naive, calls the record "not a triumph but a success."

Bruni's long interview on Europe 1 radio was part of an attempt to restart sales with a fresh round of promotion. This includes a singing appearance in Britain on September 16 on the BBC TV show Later ... with Jools Holland.

Here's what she told Marc-Olivier Fogiel on Europe 1 radio this morning: "I don't get involved in figures much. ... In one month you don't know the figures for an album. And it's already quite something to manage to release an album these days, whoever you are. ... Whatever the number of people who have had the kindness or curiosity to go and buy it, it's a miracle. Then, summer is a doomed season for everything that's music etcetera... You have to know that an album takes months and months to reach the ears and hearts of people."

Bruni also said that she recognised that giving the disc to every member of her husband's council of ministers for their summer listening might have been a little questionable. The gift raised media eyebrows, as did her use of the Elysée Palace roof for a cover portrait of her for Vanity Fair (above). Annie Leibowitz took the shot for an article timed for the record release.

Bruni may be smash hit for the celebrity press, but her image as a sensitive leftwing singer-composer has suffered from her over-exposure. The public and critics who enjoyed the first album of the Franco-Italian super-model are not generally fans of her rightwing husband. The critics have been quite rude about the third album, sung in the breathy mumbling tones that are her trademark.  Bakchich, an irreverent news site, has just called it flabby, old-fashioned and "the ideal gift for the next grandmothers' day."

Nicolas Canteloup, the best current comic impersonator, has a running gag in which he imitates her as near inaudible. He mocked Bruni to her face on Europe 1 this morning, with a sketch claiming that she had won an award for boosting the sales of hearing aids. Bruni gave a cool performance, managing to brush off Fogiel's cheeky questions, such as "Would you have fallen in love with Nicolas Sarkozy if he wasn't president of France?"      

While I'm at it, Bruni, 40, also said that she and Sarkozy are hoping to produce a baby. Since I'm already guilty of writing a bit of froth today, I might as well mention another piece of unconfirmed gossip that has been doing the rounds and even made it into Libération this morning. They say that Rachida Dati, 42, the Justice Minister, and glamour figure among Sarkozy's ministers,  has a first baby on the way.

   

Comments

[Terry]

"They say that Rachida Dati, 42, the Justice Minister, and glamour figure among Sarkozy's ministers, has a first baby on the way."

Noooooooooooooooooooooo!

[azloon]

is rachida's baby terry's? methinks, he protesteth too much.

i never thot i'd say it but carlita is right.... about cd sales. cd's are dinosaurs, on their way out. how about net downloads of her stuff. her naked pix were certainly a net hit. maybe videos of her new album's songs with her in the buff might spur sales.

[rocket]

The Anti Carla or how to keep your and your pet's sanity.

http://dogs.thefuntimesguide.com/images/blogs/doggie-earplugs-over-ears.jpg

[Romain]

I guess the whole ministry of Justice is celebrating, hoping Ms Dati is going to take a long maternity leave.

[Daniel Baker]

Its quite remarkable how these women can want ... these sadisitic pigs.

In the short term their ideology has been beaten , in the long term these women are going to be informed.

[John Gregory Flinn]

"While I'm at it, Bruni, 40, also said that she and Sarkozy are hoping to produce a baby..."

Indeed!
At what, Charles...!?

'Produce a baby' is rather a curious way of putting it - from out of a hat, or as a consolation for the failing CD sales?
Perhaps something was lost in translation, but its not quite the same as 'producing a CD' is it?
But Sarko looks a bit downcast (in all your last few pics) of late - perhaps its Rachida's news and not those Russkies after all....!

[dot king]

MARY FERNANDEZ - you outed Rachida's baby first on this very blog. AGES AGO . . .
Let us know when you can link to the scan pics, a small phial of amniotic fluid wouldn't go amiss - in fact I'd call it a triumph!.

Who gives a stuff about Carlita's record?? Pas moi en tout cas and I don't know anyone who's bought one.

Interesting that they fiddle the figures on record sales too though (as well as all the other figures), quel intérêt?

[dot king]

Rocket, when I click on your link it tells me "FORBIDDEN" I cannot have access.

[Marita]

So, Nicolas Canteloup mocked poor Carla at her face on french radio? Well would you expect of a Cantaloup? While I'm at it, I can think of another musky melon.

[rocket]

Dot

It was just a pic of a dog with earplugs

[Daniel Strohl]

"managing to brush off Fogiel's cheeky questions" (Charles)

Fogiel is the archetype of the arrogant and impertinent presentator who overestimates grossly his importance and underestimates the intelligence of his guests and listeners. In short : C'est une tête à claque(s) ...

As soon as he replaced the excellent and educated Jacques Pradel on Europe I's morning schedule, I switched over immediately to Luxembourg.

Re : sales of Carla's CD

May be Mrs.Sarkozy made a mistake. If I remember well, her CD was made available for free download for 2 or 3 days prior to the commercial launching. When something is available free of charge, people rush in - when they have to pay (even if it is for a charitable work), enthusiasm goes down somewhat.

PS : I didn't download the CD contents - I didn't buy it either.

[miki]

exclusive carla bruni video on: www.simpwest.org coming out of radiio show fogiel cool and sexy but not pregnant !!

[Ros]

Rocket:

"It was just a pic of a dog with earplugs" -
Then why is it forbidden? Sounds harmless enough?!

[Mary Fernandez]

DOT -

From Charles' blog on Carla et Nicolas: La Veritable Histoire:

"Rachida Dati, the glamour figure in Sarkozy's cabinet is said to have resented a romance that ended her closeness to the president. Bruni denies any trouble in the book, but others tell the authors of revealing incidents. Walking through the Elysée Palace with Dati, Bruni pointed to the presidential bed and joked to her: "You would have really liked to have been in it, wouldn't you?"

I wonder if Carla thinks her little jibe is so funny now? This has got to bug her. (Especially if she's trying for a baby and can't quite manage it.)

This is from Vanity Fair:

"The only time I see Carla’s perfect confidence crack a little is when I ask her about all the comparisons made between her and Cécilia—going to Disneyland, loving Petra, getting the same ring. “It’s very strange—how can I say it?—a mixed situation,” she admits. “I don’t know if you have ever gone to Petra, but everyone who goes there would like it. It is one of the wonders of the world. Cécilia became engaged to Nicolas 20 years ago, and not at all with that ring. It came out that she got that ring from Christian Dior. He probably gave her many rings, but not that one.”

“He didn’t give her the ring?”

“That’s what he says.”

Carla then abruptly asks if I would like another Coca-Cola and leaves the room. "

Such a soap opera. It's time for the John Edwards question, Charles: Who's the Daddy?

[Mary Fernandez]

I'm sorry, Charles -

Maybe you were giving us a hint at the Daddy with the last pic at the bottom of the blog without risking a lawuit in France!

BTW, the figure of 80,657 was just the number of discs Sarko bought up and Carla handed out to cabinet members and friends.

[No, Dati lives with a prominent businessman. CB]

[Yogi]

I do like Carla's style, and probably would have bought her CD if she hadn't married Sarko.
But since now I can't help having images of Sarko crossing my mind when I listen to her, there's just no way I can listen to her music any more.

[Rick]

‘Whatever the number of people who have had the kindness or curiosity to go and buy it, it's a miracle. Then, summer is a doomed season for everything that's music etcetera... You have to know that an album takes months and months to reach the ears and hearts of people.’ Yes, and if bullshit were radioactive, we’d all be diving for cover.

[christopher muir]

In a recent interview in The Times Joan Baez said, “At times of great uncertainty music and politics are fused.” Quite so. In these circumstances I think that a free-wheeling minstrel has the advantage over any artiste constrained by protocols.

[thinknoworpaylater]

Hallo TERRY - I see your comment about Rachida Dati: predictable and intended as humour no doubt but there is a coarseness about your sensibility at times that makes me wince. Returning to an earlier blog (O.K. off thread) where you suggested that I offered no arguments or facts : R.H.Tawneys book which I guess you havent heard of delineates the connection between extreme Puritanism (17th cent) and early Capitalism. Its well researched primary sources etc. and shows that the Puritans were a major driving force behind early Capitalism in the U.K. (which is one explanation for why it developed there and in Holland faster than in Catholic countries) These puritans were later driven out and many went to America. They were convinced that they could *earn* their place in heaven by *good* behaviour and despised the poor because they were seen as feckless. Some even believed that success in commerce was a proof of their virtue. (There are sermons to prove it.) Thus those less successful were not only feckless but doomed. (Also try Christopher Hill on The English Revolution). Thats not to say that some moderate puritans didnt start th English Grammer schools (free schools for poor but able students) or indeed provide Almshouses for the aged impoverished. But you really ought to read more history and depend less on philosophy. My citing of these sources is no different (though more old-fashioned) than the citing of web sources or links which can turn out to be unavailable.If you dont care to read these authors (fear of lefties) it is your right but you will be the poorer in your understanding of Americas early history and its current politics. Does this do as an argument - offered in a non agressive fashion I assure you.

[Terry]

My guess is that the Chinese pirated her CD in retaliation for meeting with the DL.

[azloon]

Thinknow

your recounting of u.s. origins/history re capitalism is largely accurate, as is your assessment of Terry as smug and self-satisfied (somehow others around here don't seem to mind this about Terry which i attribute to his tiresome consistency and very occasional flashes of real humor -- :)).

i am not sure though that american protestant worship of wealth accumulation, and its accompanying benediction of the successful at the expense of the underclass, is a telling indictment of capitalism per se (incidentally this was a phenomenon of the late 19th century, and not earlier).

and your mention of the vast charitable organizations that developed in the u.s. during this same period is evidence that not everyone agreed with certain protestant ministers that wealth was evidence of superior moral character. it has lead to a nation that contributes imcomparable amounts of money and time to the less fortunate here and around the world. so, in addition to natural empathy, we feel sufficiently guilty about our good fortune, to want to assuage these feelings with generous gifting. not such a bad way to deal with the whole matter.

incidentally, in china, currently the most purely capitalistic and selfish society on earth, it was a a great source of national pride when millions of ordinary citizens volunteered time and money to aid victims of the sichuan earthquake. the chinese whose rapid accumulation of wealth is unpresidented in human history were for first time expressing their empathy for the less fortunate, outside their immediate families, and taking satisfaction in it.

their good. and capitalism's.