Christine and The Queens
History will remember Christine and the Queens as one of the greatest queer icons of her time. Forged in the spirit of reinvention, Héloïse Letissier’s mercurial alter-ego was inspired by a trip to London’s Soho district where, nursing break-up wounds and railing against discrimination rife in the worlds of the performing arts, she encountered a trio of drag queens who fired her up with a determination to escape the rules.
The French pansexual singer returned to Paris and honoured their influence by naming her newborn identity “Christine and the Queens”. With honesty, talent and charisma she has since passed on their revolutionary zest through her music, described by Letissier as “freakpop”.
In “iT”, the opening track from her debut album Chaleur Humaine, Letissier exults in her right to self-definition. The joyous refrain “I’m a man now” defies doubt, as embodied by the hissing backing vocals decrying “she lies.” A stubborn refusal to relinquish her identity, the song is a kind of war-cry, a two-fingers up to those who compel her to be one thing or another – the perfect Pride anthem.
Letissier evolves for her second album – Chris is simply the next chapter in her process of becoming. A heady mix of ballads and synth-pop bops, Christine and the Queens’ sophomore offering is an empowering record; she has grown to a tower of strength, as spiky lyrics continue to tear strips off the “bird-dogs” still seeking to undermine her.
In February, she released an EP-accompanied short film La Vita Nuova in which, touched by the darkness of the mysterious “Fauna”, Letissier’s artful invention undergoes a further Bowie-esque transformation.
Indeed, Christine and the Queens is an act that demands to be seen, not just heard. Her high octane live shows fuse lyrical poetry with intense physical performance, while madcap spoken interludes and improvisations affirm the sense that “anything could happen”. Thrusting and shuffling, popping and rolling with gay abandon, Letissier embraces every possibility of her body and her identity and, with an infectious joie de vivre, invites you to do the same.
Christine and the Queens’ Glastonbury debut on the Other Stage in 2016 is among the vintage festival moments curated for this year’s digital event. You can catch the set on BBC iPlayer’s pop-up Glastonbury channel on the last weekend of June.
Words by Flora Snelson