This article is about the Alizée album. For the Alizée song from the album, see Gourmandises (song). For a person who takes great pleasure in food, see gourmand.
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.[1]
The singer and the album were honored by the highest accolade given by SACEM—the Prix Vincent Scotto in 2002. Alizée was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique in the "Revelation Album of the Year" category.
Background and composition
Recording for the debut album started in mid-2000. The album included elements of world music, pop, chanson and dance. However, the album also incorporated strong elements of electronic music. Additionally, several genres and subgenres including techno, trip hop, drum and bass, ambient, rock and classical music influenced the album.[2]
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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[3]
Singles
"Moi... Lolita" was the first track from the album and was released as her debut single on 4 July 2000. It was popular in various countries such as, France, Spain, Belgium, Georgia, Austria, the Netherlands, Lebanon, Ukraine, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia, Greece, Italy, Germany, Poland, Denmark, United Kingdom.[5] "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.
Gourmandises gained Alizée worldwide fame while the album sold almost 1,000,000 copies in Europe.[1] In early 2001, she won the NRJ Music Awards for Francophone Revelation. In late 2000 she won an M6 Award. The album was also nominated in a same category on Victoires de la Musique.
The album's debut single, "Moi... Lolita", generated international attention, peaking at number 2 in France. The single is listed as the 33rd best selling single in France. Also, the single "L'Alizé" stayed on top of the French charts for several weeks.
The French newspaper Le Figaro named Mylène Farmer as the French artist who had made the most revenue from the album's copyright in 2001, earning 10.4million euros as a singer, songwriter, composer and producer of Alizée.[7][8]
Gourmandises was certified Platinum in Europe, Gold in Belgium and Platinum in Switzerland.
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.
