Carmen song review

Stromaes song Carmen, off his second album Racine Carr,

represents just how musically and lyrically talented this man is. If the
song sounds eerily familiar thats because he adapted it from George
Bizets timeless classic Lamour est un oiseau rebelle (love is a
rebellious bird) from the opera Carmen. Stromae uses many parallels
between not only the famous classic but also todays social media.
In Carmen, Stromae speaks about what love means today. The
first line makes a subtle reference to the opera. He says, Love is blue
like the bird of twitter (the verse in the opera is love is a rebellious
bird). The use of the color blue has so many meanings. Blue is the
dominant color of Twitter. To be blue is a Belgian saying, meaning to be
falling in love with someone. It also shares a similar meaning to the
English saying to be green, or to be a novice at something. The rest of
the verse speaks about the different stages of love with parallels to
Twitter (first we acknowledge them, then you follow, we become
impassioned, then we finish solo) and how we view our lives in social
media.
The musical accompaniment mimics that of the original song,
with an electric cello playing the main instrumental part for the first
fifteen seconds. When the lyrics shift away from talks of love towards
social media, so does the music. He adds a bass to create a more

modern electric beat typically associated with Stromae. The chorus is

sung in way that makes it seem as if a choir of men are singing, much
like in the original song, but with the electronic beat accompanying it.
The music changes back to the cello solo as the second verse
starts up. Again, the first line of the verse, Love is a child of
consumerism is a reference to the original lines love is a gypsy
child. The second line, it (referring to love) is always looking for more
choices shows how egotistical and consumer driven we as a society
have become. In the following line, he claims to be an expert of love
and knows the dangers that come along with it. He then goes on to
say I kept my receipt, and if need be, Ill exchange it.
This song shows the lyrical genius of Stromae. He manages to
bring an old concept we all know as love, and bring it to more modern
terms. He argues that we have lost the meaning of love, and instead
focus on the hypocrisy and fakeness of social media (shown in the first
verse Plastic smiles referencing emojis)
The instrumental part is also a work of genius. He took the
original cello part and added his own beat to it, which parallels the
message of the song; love is an old concept but has become more
modern with our usage of technology.