Search - Jenifer :: Le Passage

Establishing her popularity as a pop recording artist

Sandy | Brussels, Belgium | 03/08/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Jenifer won "Star Academy" 1st season in 2000. Unlike what a previous reviewer writes, this is not American Idol equivalent but rather the equivalent of Operacio Triunfo (Spain) and Fame Academy (UK). French Idol is called "Nouvelle Star", winners of season 1 and 2 are Jonatan Cerrada and Steeve Estatof (season 3 just began while Star Academy 4 ended in December).



Her first album "Jenifer" was a huge success and she is very popular among young listeners (she won best female NRJ award this year). After touring with her other SA1 mates, then touring in solo to promote her first album, taking part in various charity concerts, she met her current life companion Maxim Nucci (writer and producer for L5, Popstars 1 winners)who worked with her on this sophomore opus. She just took a couple of month after the birth of their baby boy Aaron before releasing "le passage" and start a new tour... All that at just 20.

I must say this is not my favourite French artist. But her songs are ofter catchy, pop with lots of guitars (more than on the first album). "Ma Révolution" (catchy rock track) and "Souvenir de ce jour" (mid-tempo track written by Kyo) have been successful singles and "C'est de l'or" (a ballad about her baby written by Calogero) has just been released.



Her first album was often soft and poppy, as her first singles "J'attends l'amour" or "Au soleil". She is going towards a 'pop with guitars'sound that was announced on the first album with "Des mots qui resonnent". If you like the current singles, you will probably enjoy the rest of the album. She describes "Le passage" as an explanation of how it feels to slowly grow from a 'sweet baby face' teenage girl into an intelligent artist in control of her career, a beautiful woman and a loving mother. The fact is, she has grown up since her departure from the academy, and she only own to her hard work and persistance to be recognized now as a respected recording artist and not anymore as a 'real TV kleenex product'. Conclusion: if you're looking for well produced mainstream pop, you might have found it.



Note that Kyo and Tina Arena do not actually sing on the record. Kyo wrote her "Souvenir de ce jour" and "Pour toi" is a french adaptation of a Tina Arena track... So much for their participation..."

Cool sophomore album

Princessa | California | 10/09/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Jenifer won in the French American Idol spinoff and she has an incredible voice and it is evident in her albums. This second one has some nice songs like "Le souvenir de ce jour" and "Comme un yoyo," and most if not all of the songs are pop enough for one to get used to. Unfortunately, she still sounds like she's aiming for a mainstream audience. This album features Kyo and Tina Arena, supposedly, but I've had the album for several months (bought it in France) and I can't point out which songs those artists appear in. I still prefer her debut album over this one, ("Jenifer") but over-all, not a bad buy."