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Carla Bruni

A childhood in a castle in Italy, fashion shows for Chanel or Jean Paul Gaultier, a visit to L’Elysée, a diversion on the big screen… It might seem like a novel but it’s not. However, Carla Bruni loves to tell stories in her songs. A leitmotiv that has guided her since the release of « Quelqu’un m’a dit », eighteen years ago.

Today, Carla Bruni writes again on her favourite themes: love and freedom. Compositions based on her feelings, always with a special « something ». A cappella confidences on the inspirations of her new eponymous album.

When did you compose this album?

 

« I finished my tour last September in Seoul, it was a great world tour that took a lot of energy and gave me a lot of pleasure. Back in Paris, I had a strong desire to write, I started in mid-November and finished in June when we were already back in the studio. During these eight months I didn’t stop writing and it was quite dazzling. »

Your writing rituals?

 

« I write based on an emotion rather than a precise thought. When I feel sensitive or even moved, that’s the best time to compose. For example, if I write letters all day long, I don’t really feel like writing! »

Carla Bruni Album Cover

Your refuge for writing?

« I have a favourite place: my studio where I write everything. I feel like I’m in a cocoon there, I have nothing else to do but write. I’ve set it up with all my musical instruments, all my books, all my notebooks, all my photos, it’s a big mess! It doesn’t breathe maturity, it looks like the studio of a fifteen year old girl. It’s my « own room » to quote Virginia Woolf. It’s fundamental to have this space for yourself, even if it’s a cupboard, as long as it is only yours. »

 

 

How did you work with Albin de la Simone?

 

« Albin, who is a wonderful musician, singer, cartoonist, was someone I wanted to work with for a very long time. I approached him and sent him two or three songs and he said yes right away. I’m really happy about it, he went beyond my expectations. »

SOMETHING

"We don't know exactly what this "something" is. We can say it is something pleasant, delicious, something warm, sweet."

Why « Leave in the night »?

 

« I like the idea of being able to leave in the night whoever we are, whatever our age, whatever the situation: we all have the right to leave in the night!

 

« Leaving in the night » is a song where two lovers would get into a car, with their hair in the wind, to go to the sea. It’s a little bit romantic… But it’s the idea of being able to leave that counts. »

What was it like working in Italian?

 

« It was amazing for me to write in Italian, it was the first time but certainly not the last because I loved it. And I was also delighted to include Valeria Bruni Tedeschi to the album with this duet on « Voglio l’amore ». Not only because of course she is my sister, but she is a wonderful actress and it was a pleasure to have her talent. »

Carla Bruni and her sister Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

Your inspirations for this album?

“L’Impossible Monsieur Bébé“ by Howard Hawks

« I was very inspired by old films I watched during the lockdown. Notably « L’Impossible Monsieur Bébé » by Howard Hawks with Katherine Hepburn for a song called « Le petit guépard« . And then we saw all the great French comedy films again, it didn’t inspire me much for the album but it did me good!

Otherwise I’m always inspired by books, paintings but it’s very fleeting. It’s difficult for me to find the ramifications but it’s true that when I write I put myself in conditions of artistic pleasure related to many other things than music. »

“L’Impossible Monsieur Bébé“ by Howard Hawks

What did you read last?

 

« I recently reread the complete works of Albert Camus. I also read a lot of poetry, all the time, French, Italian, English poetry. I like poetry a lot, it’s a bit like songs after all. »

A trip that struck you ?

 

« What I love is nature, it’s the South. So any trip to a place where there are olive trees, cypresses and a bit of the Mediterranean enchants me! »

A song that makes you emotional?

 

« A thousand and one songs! I pick up everything: I listen to things from now on but also a lot of old songs.

This summer I was incredibly moved by this song by Nina Simone called « Wild Is the Wind ». She’s the one who plays the piano, it’s not the happiest thing on earth but I must say it’s sublime. »

Wild Is the Wind

Your ties with fashion ?

Carla Bruni and Karl Lagerfeld

« A multitude of encounters and memories, I must say! For me, fashion is a kind of big family. I’m very attached to people in fashion, I was friends with a lot of couturiers who are no longer with us: Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Azzedine Alaïa.

I also like today’s new designers very much. They are people for whom I have friendship, affection and admiration. »

Yves Saint Laurent fashion show – 2002

Yves Saint Laurent and Carla Bruni – Paris 1998 – Jean-Marie Périer

A great fashion souvenir?

 

« The Versace parade in 2017. It was great, I must say that fashion, which is not a world of memories, proved the opposite that day. »

The muses of the 90’s are back in 2017’s Versace show

Do you feel like going to the cinema since the film « Midnight in Paris »?

 

« In fact I’m not an actress at all, it’s not my job. I take pleasure in it when it happens to me but it’s not something I put any kind of projection or energy into. If I love cinema, I love it as a cinephile. I’m really in love with my job as a singer. »

The films that struck you?

Domicile conjugal - Truffaut

« It’s difficult to choose just a few, do you have three hours?

 

I would say that I love all the great Italian and French filmmakers of the 60s and 70s, I love Truffaut, I love Godard, I love Rossellini, I love Visconti, I love Fellini and I forget a lot of them? I find their films unforgettably poetic. »

Guépard – Luchino Visconti

Carla Bruni in the film “ Midnight in Paris“ – Woody Allen

Your latest movie crush?

 

« I really liked the film « Joker » by Todd Phillips with Joaquin Phoenix, I found it tragic and remarkable at the same time. It is not at all my kind of film, I went to see it with my son before the lockdown, it was the last film I saw at the cinema. »

A favourite place in Italy? 

 

« If I had to choose an extraordinary place, I would say Venice. It is miraculous that human beings could create such a thing and manage to preserve it. »

How do your Italian origins influence you?

 

« I really feel divided between the two countries with a very strong attachment to both. But to tell you the truth, I find that Italian culture and French culture are very intertwined. Jean Cocteau said: « The French are bad-tempered Italians. » I love that phrase! »

Carla Bruni for Vogue Italia – 1992

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