Because Music SVP Jane Third has credited Christine And The Queen’s UK success to having developed in France prior to trying to break here, adding that it has allowed the artist to “kick the door in” of the UK market.
“They absolutely broke her [in France],” said Third. “She became bigger than any French act for years, so she didn’t have to do her growing up in public here, she did it in France. In the UK we are used to seeing artists in development stages and watching them grow organically and improve.”
Christine And The Queens is the alter ego of Héloïse Letissier, who released her debut album Chaleur Humaine in France in 2014. The album has since gone seven-times platinum in France, with 800,000 albums sold worldwide. The album was released in the UK in February and has sold 44,217 so far, reaching No.6 in the Official Album Chart last week on 10,323 sales.
Third added that there have been a number of key moments that have added to Letissier’s UK breakthrough, with the success of her US campaign having a “trickle-down effect in the UK where people started to notice her”.
‘That allowed us to make a more UK-friendly version of the record with more English language tracks,” she explained. “When that was all ready and in place we knew that we were ready to release the record.
“We put a KOKO show on sale and it sold out in a day. We put a Roundhouse show on sale, and it sold out in a day - both shows were full of the who’s who of the music business, all kinds of people were there, everyone got to see the amazing stage performance.”
Following the sold-out London shows, Letissier was booked to play Jools Holland, the Graham Norton show as well as Glastonbury (after The Kills pulled out), all of which translated into massive sales spikes.
“Jools Holland had a transformative effect and we saw a spike in sales, which you don’t normally get from Jools,” said Third. “You get a good sense of awareness and it really helps your campaign but you don’t normally get a sales spike. So, with that confidence, the Graham Norton people saw her show at the Roundhouse and then they booked her.”
Said Letissier: “I was not really waiting for my album to exist somewhere outside of France at first. Everything that snowballed starting from this very first release has been like a strange succession of incredible bonuses.
“A release in the US was made possible; then, a release in the UK. A tour in the US, Madonna spanking me (Letissier appeared on stage at the singer’s Paris show last year), Elton John calling, a full Roundhouse - it kept on coming my way and at some point I was frantically dancing, as if I was caught in a very welcoming wind.”
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