Melissa Mars, “The Queen of the Bees”

At a time when we are walking on the Moon, Nice-Première has set its course for the planet Mars and can finally answer this question so often posed by our scientists: “Are there ‘Martians’?”. No, ladies and gentlemen, there are no ‘Martians’ but rather a ‘Martian woman’ who goes by the sweet name of Melissa Mars. Don’t be fooled, this ‘Martian woman’ looks nothing like those animated puppets that point their fingers at the sky saying “E.T. home”. Melissa Mars has the appearance of a young woman who landed on the planet Marseille about twenty years ago. Distinguishing feature: “Her voice in the sand and in the air” travels on music with pop rock sounds on texts full of double meanings and provocations.

This singer whose world deserves a detour has invited us into her spacecraft.

Nice-Première: At the beginning of your career, you were compared to Mylène Farmer and Alizée, but who exactly is Melissa Mars?

Melissa Mars: Melissa Mars is a singer from another planet who tells stories and tries to make her albums into little films. It’s a dreamed and fantasized story.

N-P: Why did you choose “Melissa Mars” as your stage name?

M.M.: It corresponds to my initials and the name of the planet I come from. It happens that it also has a connection with Marseille, the city where I was born. It’s funny, you choose a name and then you realize all the connections it has with reality and eventually it becomes a real name. It’s a name that really belongs to me because there are all these links.

N-P: In 2003, your single “Papa doesn’t love me” written by your mother, Lila Kliff, was your first hit. The lyrics of your latest album were also written by your mom. Is it important to you to work as a family?

M.M.: When we work together, I don’t say that I work as a family. That’s not the idea. The idea is that she is the person who best grasps my mode of expression, my emotions, my nature and translates it best into words. It’s a real collaboration. In my songs, there are ideas that come from me or that she picks up from me and extends in the story of a text. She writes based on who I am. She is the most capable of understanding who I am and transcribing it in a poetic way.

N-P: “And so”: 1st album with sweet pop sonorities and realistic lyrics. How would you describe your latest album “The Queen of the Bees”?

M.M.: What would interest me is for you to describe it (laughs). I like to know what others think. As for me, I made an album as it came. What I say about it: it’s a philosophical tale, a journey of a girl seeking love and identity. The songs follow atmospheres in which my character is immersed. It’s like a film, it gives pop, folk, rock, electro sonorities depending on the atmospheres.

N-P: Could it be turned into a musical?

M.M.: I don’t like the term musical very much because it has only one character. But indeed, we could develop this story around a film. I would love that.

N-P: In your latest single “And…I hate you”, you sing “I don’t like my age”. What age would you have preferred to be in 2005?

M.M.: Actually, I have the impression that the ideal age is the age of innocence but at the same time I like evolution and maturity. I don’t place myself in a specific age. My age, I would say rather it’s a mix of maturity, innocence, reflection, things that you can’t think about when you’re a child…a mix. My age travels through time. I don’t like being locked into a specific time, I travel between childhood, adolescence, adulthood, reflection, wisdom, womanhood. I’m searching for all of that a bit.

N-P: You sing “The Homeamericans” in a duet with Lara Fabian. How did this meeting happen?

M.M.: It was Lara Fabian who intercepted my spacecraft in mid-flight. She diverted it to make me land on her planet, for the duration of a song, in her bed because actually the video takes place in her bedroom. She picked up the first notes of “And…I hate you” and she sent me an electronic message: “And…I love you and I fell ‘Apocalips’.” She was seduced and she asked me if I would accept to participate in her album. I must admit that I would never have thought of doing a duet with Lara Fabian. It was a nice surprise.

N-P: With which other artist would you like to do a duet?

M.M.: I don’t think about it. Proposals and meetings happen that way in life and I like life to surprise me. I did another duet with Louis Bertignac on stage: “The Brushers”. For my album that’s coming back out on January 9, I met Irmavep for a duet called “Little Red Riding Hood”. This song will be on the album. Actually, these are unexpected meetings. I like this idea better than imagining things.

N-P: As a little girl you dreamed of becoming an actress. In 2000, you landed a role in the film “One Way Ticket” with Jacques Villeret. Today you are a singer. Would you like to do cinema again?

M.M.: Yes, it’s not something I set aside. I continue. There are projects under discussion. My ideas are to link my desires as an artist and to convey all my influences that come from cinema. To do in my album projects things in which I fulfill myself as an actress. In my album, I play a character that is me and not me at the same time.

N-P: You support an association in its infancy called “Sunshine for All”. Why did you choose this association?

M.M.: They contacted me. I found their message in my mailbox. I was touched by their attention and their desire for me to support their association. I fell for them. I’m touched by their intention. They are people full of dynamism. It’s a very young association, which makes it even more exciting for me to arrive at its birth. They’re trying to bring a ray of sunshine into the lives of the disabled, “Broken dolls”, as I call them. It makes me happy to participate. In my latest album, I had just a song dedicated to “Broken Dolls”.

N-P: You speak Spanish and English fluently. A version of the album “And so” has been in Japanese stores since November 2004. In May 2005, your latest album crossed the Atlantic to go to Canada. Becoming a planetary singer, is that one of your ambitions?

M.M.: On Mars, there are no borders so the ideal would be that there aren’t any on Earth.

N-P: From January 10-21, 2006, you’re at the Theatre Les Déchargeurs in Paris. Do you have any concerns about these concerts?

M.M.: No, I’m rather in the most exciting phase which is the phase of creating the show, the arrangements, the staging. I don’t have stage fright yet which is building up. It will surely come in the last few days.

N-P: Are you considering doing concerts in the south?

M.M.: I would like to but these aren’t things that depend on me. Besides, I’ve never done a concert in Marseille, my native land and I hope soon to land my spacecraft in the lands of the south

N-P: What is your motto?

M.M.: If I had a motto it would be: “I cross my fingers but not my arms”.

N-P: What can we wish for you for the year 2006?

M.M.: “The Apocalips” on planet Earth. That’s my new single. “The Apocalips” is the revelation and it’s also my way of saying “I love you”……

Thank you Melissa for this “Martian” journey. Finally I think Nice-Première will stay a bit longer than expected on your planet!

Melissa Mars will be “in the window” on December 22 on France 2 from 10:50 p.m. and on January 5 on TF1 in the Cauet Method. Then she will be on stage from January 10-21 at the Theatre Les Déchargeurs in Paris.

Statements collected by Audrey Bollaro