Gourmandises (English: "Delicacies") is the debut album by the French recording artist Alizée, released worldwide on 13 March 2001 by Polydor Records. It was certified double Platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) in December 2001, denoting sales of over a million copies in Europe.
Development
After Alizée's participation in the Graines de star show where she met Laurent Boutonnat and veteran French pop diva Mylène Farmer, she was invited to record a single with their support as a songwriting team. Her first two albums, which she worked on alongside Boutonnat and Farmer, had a lovely yet powerful voice that heavily included techno and pop music.
In July 2000 Alizée released the single "Moi... Lolita", and after achieving high sales in France, released her second single "L'Alizé" in December 2000. Three months later, her third single "Parler tout bas" also gained number 1 on French radio stations. The actual album Gourmandises was released in May 2001.
Alizée received public praise on television channel M6 and NRJ Radio. Among other nominations and awards, she was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique. The following year Alizée received the World Music Award from the IFPI for top sales. In 2003 Alizée received an award from SACEM the most prestigious recognition given for the institution the Prix Vincent Sotto. "L'Alizé" was the second single from the album and was released in December 2000. It featured the song "L'alizé" as well as an instrumental version of the same track. Two limited editions were also released, which featured four remixes. The song became a hit particularly in France where it reached number 1 for two weeks. "Parler tout bas" was the third single by Alizée released in April 2001. It included an instrumental rendition of the song.
Critical reception
The Daily Princetonian wrote that "Alizée is France's answer to the teen queen phenomenon."
Legacy
Gourmandises gained Alizée worldwide fame while the album sold almost 1,000,000 copies in Europe.
Gourmandises was certified Platinum in Europe, Gold in Belgium and Platinum in Switzerland.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from Gourmandises liner notes.
- Alizée: Vocals, backing vocals <small>(all songs)</small>
- Laurent Boutonnat: keyboards, programming
- Bernard Paganotti: bass guitar
- Slim Pezin: guitar
- Matthieu Rabaté: drums
- Ann Calvert: chorus <small>(on J.B.G. and Veni Vedi Vici)</small>
- Emeline Chetaud: assistant to Laurent Boutonnat
- Engineered by Jérôme Devoise and Didier Lozahic
- Assistant engineers: Stéphane Briand & Denis Caribaux
- Mixed by Didier Lozahic (on "Lui ou toi" to "À quoi rêve une jeune fille")
- Mixed by Bertrand Châtenet (on "Moi... Lolita")
- Mastered by Bruno Gruel and André Perriat at Top Master, Paris
- Executive producer: Paul Van Parys for Requiem Publishing
- L.B.: photography
- Henry Neu for Com'N.B: cover design
Charts and sales
In its first week of release, the album debuted at tenth place on the French Top 100 Albums Chart. Reaching number 1 in the ninth week and remaining there for the entire first month of its release, the album was certified Platinum.
After being on the French charts throughout the year, the album hit Gold in Belgium and Platinum in Europe.
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
!scope="col"|Chart (2000–02)
!scope="col"|Peak<br />position
|-
!scope="row"|Austrian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|18
|-
!scope="row"|Dutch Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|German Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|29
|-
!scope="row"|Hungarian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|23
|-
!scope="row"|Italian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|27
|-
!scope="row"|Japanese Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|40
|-
!scope="row"|Polish Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
!scope="row"|Russian Albums Chart
| style="text-align:center;"|27
|}
Certifications and sales
Release history
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Region
! style="width:150px;"|Date
! style="width:150px;"|Label
!Format
|- style="text-align:center;"
|rowspan="2"|France
||28 November 2000
||Polydor
||CD
|- style="text-align:center;"
||11 December 2020||style="text-align:center;"|Anaphore Music|| style="text-align:center;"|Vinyl
|- style="text-align:center;"
||United Kingdom
|rowspan="3"|3 December 2000
|rowspan="6"|Polydor
|rowspan="7"|CD
|- style="text-align:center;"
||Switzerland
|- style="text-align:center;"
||Belgium
|- style="text-align:center;"
||Europe
|| 16 January 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
||Germany
||12 February 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
||Asia
||10 April 2001
|- style="text-align:center;"
||Canada
||25 June 2001
||Universal Republic
|}
See also
- List of best-selling albums in France
References
External links
- Alizée Discogs discography