No record of Philippe Katerine had been preceded by such commotion. Offered on the tray at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, July 26, Pacific nakedone of the seventeen titles of Zouzouhis fifteenth album, released on November 8th, was a sensation, sung by its creator painted as a Dionysian smurf. Some had seen blasphemy in this banquet of Olympus, confused with the table of the Last Supper.also becoming convinced of the provocative nudity of a performer, although wearing underwear.
An extraordinary and paradoxical introduction, in any case, for an album that Vendée zazou considers to be one of the most “intimate”a praise “normality, home life, daily routine”. the Philippe Katerine version.
Until this Olympic controversy, the radical fantasy of the Katerinian universe seemed to have found its place in French pop culture. Hailing from the fringes of rock music, originally a loner with underground gems, Philippe Blanchard, known as “Katerine”, expanded his audience to the beat of iconoclastic singles – Damn it (1999), Banana (2010) – and an ultra danceable anthem, Luxor, I like it (2005). His character, with his unusual humor, makes his way in the cinema in the same way, between art films – I am a no man’s land (2011), by Thierry Jousse, A beautiful inner sun (2017), by Claire Denis – and popular hits, including The Great Bath (2018), by Gilles Lellouchewhich won him the César Award for Best Supporting Actor.
The alleged taste for martyrdom
If the international exposure occasionally increased the listening of his tracks on platforms (+ 240%, on July 27, on Spotify; + 600% on YouTube), it also made the originality of the fiftieth more divisive. A change he says he’s getting away with on social media – “Anonymity doesn’t interest me” –but which he could observe several times in the street.
“People had the courage to come and talk to me to denounce my decadenceteases the singer, met on October 30 at the headquarters of his record company. I give them a smile or a thank you. » When his Catholic upbringing does not suggest other roles such as “You will turn the other cheek” Or “You will worship those who hate you”.
In the biography Philippe Katerine. Perfect moments (Le Mot et le reste, 2020), which Thierry Jourdain dedicated to the singer, remembered that, as a teenager, she had been a victim of his boarding school. “Everyone calls him ‘Trash’, the students but also some of his teachers. Trash is thrown into his closet and he is subjected to relentless insults and name-calling”writes Jourdain.
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