Dita Von Teese

Alabaster face and cherry red lips, curves often outlined by a black satin sheath, Dita Von Teese sings about the power of seduction and the ecstasy of letting go in an album bearing her name, written and composed by Sébastien Tellier. “I’m not a professional singer, in fact, I’m quite uneasy about recording my voice. But I do enjoy the thrill of doing things that are outside of my comfort zone, so in the past, I’ve collaborated with artists I admire that have invited me, such as Monarchy and Die Antwoord” recalls the Michigan native whose Mona Lisa smile betrays German, Scottish and English origins. “But nothing compares to this project with Sébastien Tellier. Having been a fan of his music for a long time, I would go to see him play live in California and, when I performed for the first time at the Crazy Horse in Paris, I invited him because I was such a fan, not daring to imagine that someday he would compose an entire album for me. When we began recording, he offered to let me to write some lyrics, but I preferred the feeling of letting go, of making a Sébastien Tellier record. I had a fantasy about having a modern Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg moment. To describe the album is difficult; perhaps it’s me with less make-up. At times, there’s a certain vulnerability which stands in contrast to my stage image of a confident and glamorous woman. I would never dare say such things in real life, and if I ever really felt like making such declarations of love, I would likely restrain myself right away."
Listening to “Sparkling Rain” a futuristic calypso shot through with angels choirs and the syncopated rhythms of marimbas; “Rendez-vous”, a robotic reggae which Grace Jones would not have disdained; or the bewitching “My Lips on Your Lips” and “Bird of Prey” which, despite their air of inoffensive TLC-like silky ballads, promise a thousand erotic raptures, one notes that women of the night definitely make wonderful muses. Who could remain unmoved when listening to the sound of this melancholic priestess explaining, on an old merry-go-round melody that “Life is just a game” (“La vie est un jeu”) and, like a safe that one thought unbreakable, suddenly lets out all of her secrets?
Woven with powerful heartbeats, waves of liquid pianos, guitars cracking like whips, Chinese sounding motifs and synthetic steel drums, “Dita Von Teese” asks to be lured into its intoxicating wake, as if the singer who had crossed invisible and tormented worlds had found the path leading to divine ecstasy.