OUI MAIS… NON

“Oui mais… non” (English: “Yes But… No”) is a 2010 song by Mylène Farmer. It is the leading single to her eighth studio album Bleu Noir, released in December 2010. The single was released to radio stations on 29 September, then available for pre-order on 11 October in the digital music market, and on 29 November in CD single. The lyrics were written by Farmer and the music composed by Nadir Khayat is a Moroccan-Swedish singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive (aka RedOne). He is most known for working with Lady Gaga

Unlike all of her previous tracks, Laurent Boutonnat was not involved in the song’s production or composition.

The music video was directed by Chris Sweeney who was born and lives in London. He began by working for MTV, notably by producing musical programs.

Then, he joined Colonel Blimp and then moved towards directing clips for Friendly Fires, Will Young, Marina and the Diamonds, Foals, Paloma Faith, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Mylene Farmer…

He notably directed two films for Yves Saint-Laurent which were shown during Fashion Week in Paris. In 2011, he directed “Haute Coiffure” for Charlie Le Mindu which will be broadcast at the end of the London Fashion Week show in 2011.

At the beginning of September 2010  fans think that Mylène Farmer’s news for the next few months will be limited to the two duets announced a few days earlier: the one with Ben Harper for a cover of Never tear us apart which will appear on an album bringing together many artists around the INXS group and the very unexpected one with Line Renaud on C’est pas l’heure. This song composed by Laurent Boutonnat on lyrics by Mylène Farmer will be one of the titles offered on Line Renaud’s album, Rue Washington.

On September 27, 2010, at the end of the afternoon, an official statement from Polydor will surprise everyone:

“MYLENE FARMER
YES BUT… NO
NEW SINGLE
Written by MYLENE FARMER
Composed and produced by RED ONE
LAUNCHED ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29 – 1st EXTRACT FROM THE ALBUM TO BE RELEASED… “

Pascal Nègre, CEO of Universal Music France, announces on his twitter account:

“Wednesday broadcast of “Oui mais non” new track by Myléne Farmer written by Myléne and composed and produced by Red one !!!! Enooormeeee !!! “

Everything will then follow very quickly in order to avoid potential leaks.

Mylene.net noticed possible reference to Rimbaud’s poem, The Drunken Boat: ” Everything goes to the water Oo – O boat drunk – And joy of living – Me misses “. I am not convinced but who knows…

In 2010, the creative infidelities between Mylène and Laurent Boutonnat are rare occasion: Slipping away (Crier la vie) with Moby in 2006 before that her duet with Ben Harper on the INXS song Never tear us part.

The music of Oui mais … Non was composed by RedOne which is the first collaboration with Mylène where Laurent is not a part of.

It was Pascal Nègre who initiated the meeting between Mylène and RedOne. They saw each other for the first time in Cap Ferrat.

“It’s because Pascal Nègre told me about this man, this composer and producer. It was at a party, they mentioned my name. And, he realized that this RedOne in question liked my universe, liked my songs. And, I wanted to meet him. So, I want to meet even the producer, the human being. We stayed together for a few hours and, talked, I thought to myself, it would be nice to something. And, he later offered me Oui mais … Non and then the second title (LonEly Lisa, editor’s note)” (Mylène Farmer – Hit West – 12/09/2010)

Off the bet, when I watched the video of Oui mais …non my thoughts immediate went –  “Lonely Lisa” !

Even before I did my research on it. No sure what gave it away first: the music style or the chair in the middle of the clip 😊

Recording of this single was done in the greatest secrecy. The track would have been received by Universal Music only on September 27 at 6 p.m.

The remixes are particularly many, and they are created by new remixers in Mylène’s universe: Jeremy Hills, Klaas, Chew Fu, Guéna LG but also Tomer G who had already remixed Sextonik in 2009.

The lyrics are quite unusual as they don’t have this intriguing depth as we expect from Mylene. But she is misbehaving in the most enchanting manner (again!) as the entire Bleu Noir is not your “usual” Mylene. And I personally love this unpredictability. She saves me from the boredom and loaded expectations and as a result from “the box” that I am trying to escape for years. She takes me out of the clichés every time even if the fast passing words are a bit of a soft rap – still fits well to her and delivers a cheeky playful messages like sprinkles over buttercream cupcakes…In short nothing less than a dessert “You baby boy, lo-love” and I love my “Baby girl” Mylene for playing around with such a uneasy concepts like

“Amour, le loup c’est ton nom“/ “love, the wolf is your name” . For non-French speaking friends there is an expression which echoes in this line “have you seen the wolf?” means “did you lose your virginity?” …so now you do the the math:-)

She of course plays with the sexual topic a bit more in the line “Dieu, mon dieu que c’est long”/ “God, my god it is so long” (well, sounds comprehensive enough in any language i think) And so on and so forth…

However it would not be Mylene, if she would not touch some serious topics like being too fake and this era of over-consumption

"C'est peut être chic
C'est l'ère du toc
Pour l'authentique
On traque du stock
Du tac au tac
Changeons d'époque"

It may be chic
It's the era of the fake
For the authentic
We hunt down stock
By the touch of a button
Let's change era

Thankfully, there is an answer and Mylene doesn’t fail to deliver it to us (again!) “L’amour rend tout plus beau” / “Love makes everything more beautiful”

Oui mais… non is broadcast for the first time on NRJ on September 29, 2010

Oui mais… non single cover photo by famous Hervé Lewis who’s happened to be photograph Nathalie Delépine’s relative (half-brother some say). Mylene and Nathalie have shared a strong bond through the years

Nathalie at the rehearsals of Timeless 2013 in Paris-Bercy in September 2013:

The totally unexpected arrival of this new single from Mylène immediately creates a buzz on the net.

Many sites take up the AFP dispatch:

“PARIS – Mylène Farmer is preparing a new album whose first single” Oui mais non “will be broadcast on the radio starting Wednesday, her label Polydor / Universal announced in a press release on Monday. The title, written by the singer, was composed and produced by Red One, which has notably collaborated on the main hits of American Lady Gaga such as “Poker Face” or “Bad Romance.” Her latest album, “Point de suture”, was released in 2008. The following tour culminated with two concerts at the Stade de France in September 2009. Mylène Farmer will also appear on the next disc, scheduled for November 8, by Line Renaud, with which she recorded a duet “C’est pas l’heure” where she wrote the text.”

RedOne posted this message on his twitter:

“Yes i did Produce it and i LOVE mylenefarmer !!! Always been a BIG fan !!!!”

Mylène is also on the front page of France Soir which reveals that a new album will be offered before Christmas.

Oui mais… non is available on October 11, 2010 on legal download platforms (identical version to the one broadcast on radio).

It quickly ranked number 1 for several days on iTunes, viriginmega, fnac …

For his first week, it was number 1 in the weekly iTunes France ranking.

Last but not least, for its first week, it ranks directly N ° 1 in the official ranking of the most downloaded titles in France with 9,200 downloads. Nicely done! Brilliant partnership! I wonder how Laurent felt about it?

German DJ and producer Klaas reveal October 15, 2010 on his twitter that he has just started working on the remix of a song by Mylène Farmer specifying that he is already in love with the melody.

On October 21, 2010 , an official press release unveiled the title of the new album (“Bleu Noir”) – a title that had “leaked” on the net the day before – and some info: “France Soir” provides details on October 22, 2010: remixes will be done by Klaas and Chew Fu but also by Tomer G the choreographed clip will be broadcast on tv in mid-November Oui mais…non will be released in stores on November 29 Chew Fu announces on October 25 2010 on his twitter account that he finished his remix.

CD Output 2 titles Oui mais…non the November 29, 2010. The same day digital release of the Maxi CD with four remixes available s legal download. For its first week of marketing in physics, Oui mais … Non is ranked number 1 in the top singles in France. Tenth single from Mylène to reach this position. (!!!)

 A record. Oui mais…non will become a real hit (Mylène’s biggest hit since 2001/2002 with Les mots or C’est une belle journee).

It will remain for several weeks in the top singles and meet with great success both in sales of physical media but also in downloads with more than 130,000 sales in total.

Only the radio broadcasts will remain a little disappointing (top 34 of the airplay radio France) in view of the real success of the song.

The video shoot is taking place in London on 1st of November 2010. The director is Chris Sweeney and stylist Cynthia Lawrence-John. The clip Oui mais…non is scheduled for television on November 17, 2010 in the afternoon.

The clip will be a huge success on the musical channels (by far the most widely broadcast clip of Mylène since the airplay TV rankings exist) with three consecutive weeks in the first place of airplay TV France in January 2011.

Mylène performs Oui mais…non at the “NRJ Music Awards 2011” on January 22, 2011

By the way, did you notice Mylene’s cross – we have seen it before:

Mylène performs Oui mais … No during the 2013 Timeless concerts from September 07 to December 06, 2013. Arrangements for the stage: Yvan Cassar

Bercy, Paris, 2013 HD (fan video)

Mylène’s performance with her dancers takes up the choreography of David Leighton created for the “NRJ Music Awards 2011”. The coordinators for this choreography are very familiar faces to us: Christophe Danchaud and Valérie Bony. I wrote about them in many of my previous chapters.

The stage images for Oui mais … Non were created by Emmy winning Eve Ramboz.

“For the case of Oui mais … Non, she (Mylène Farmer) wanted a choreography from the start on the entire screen. We went to see the choreography first, we cut them into five pieces, we turned six dancers on a green background and then we duplicated them. It was a kind of photocopier of the dancers to make a huge canvas of choreography. The dancers arrived, they had rehearsed in the morning, and Mylène Farmer arrived, her dog also with her … (Eve Ramboz – Eye Screen – Timeless 2013 The Movie)

Ozap stated that his review with: “those who accused the singer to not renew herself may be satisfied” and qualified the song as “a dance track, far from the melodies to which the singer has accustomed us”, but added that “the production is, unsurprisingly, focused on very 1990s synths “According to RTL, the song “will make dance the dancefloors”. By contrast, Voici refused to give its review, saying that it would be negative. Jon O’Brien from AllMusic slammed the song for the “irritating Scooter-esque high-pitched synths”. Kylie Minogue and Lady Gaga publicly stated they liked the song. Here you have it, ladies and gentlemen! 😊

More remixes are here: https://soundcloud.com/search?q=Oui%20mais%20non%20mylene%20farmer

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lyrics with translation

Tout pas tout dit 
Le monde entier
Dépends de nous
Destins fragiles
Et monde hostile
On devient fous
Tout pas tout dit
Mais la vie m'effraie 
Elle a bon dos Oh Oh
Ne voir que toi
Rien qu'une fois
Rend tout plus beau

Regarde moi
Être ou pas?
C'est n'être pas!
C'est peut être chic
De faire du toc
Tac au tac c'est l'ère du toc
C'est non
Han han bon
C'est peut être chic
C'est l'ère du toc
Pour l'authentique
On traque du stock
Du tac au tac
Changeons d'époque
Oh oui!
Dis-moi

Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non!
L'amour le loup
Est risque
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
Et plus
Mon cœur sous X
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
L'amour mon loup
Se risque
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Dieu, mon dieu que c'est long
Sans toi,
Mon corps sous X
Call me now
Allongée sur le dos
L'amour rend tout plus beau
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
Amour, le loup c'est ton nom

Tout pas tout dit
Ode a la vie 
La mort compose
La nuit se couche
Les yeux rougis
L'aube est morose
Tout pas tout dit
Si la vie est gaie
Tout va a l'eau Oh Oh
Oh bateau ivre 
Et joie de vivre
Me fait défaut

Regarde moi
Être ou pas?
C'est n'être pas!
C'est peut être chic
De faire du toc
Tac au tac c'est l'ère du toc
C'est non
Han han bon
C'est peut être chic
C'est l'ère du toc
Pour l'authentique
On traque du stock
Du tac au tac
Changeons d'époque
Oh oui!
Dis-moi

Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non!
L'amour le loup
Est risque
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
Et plus
Mon coeur sous X
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
L'amour mon loup
Se risque
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Dieu, mon dieu que c'est long
Sans toi,
Mon corps sous X
Call me now
Allongée sur le dos
L'amour rend tout plus beau
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
Amour, le loup c'est ton nom

You baby boy
You baby love
You baby boy
Love lolove
Yo
You baby boy
You baby love
You baby boy
Love lolove

Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non!
L'amour le loup
Est risque
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
Et plus
Mon coeur sous X
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
L'amour mon loup
Se risque
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Dieu, mon dieu que c'est long
Sans toi,
Mon corps sous X
Call me now
Allongée sur le dos
L'amour rend tout plus beau
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Dis-moi oui
Mais non
Ne dis plus jamais non
Amour, le loup c'est ton nom

Ou oui ouou ou?
Ou oui ouou ou?
Ou oui ouou ou?

All not said at all 
The whole world
Depends on us
Fragile destinies
And hostile world
We are going crazy
All not said all
But life scares me 
She's got a good back Oh Oh
See only you
Just once
Makes everything more beautiful

Look at me
To be or not to be?
It is not to be!
It may be chic
To make a fuss
Tit for tat is the era of the knock
It is not
It's a good thing I'm not
It may be chic
It's the era of the knock
For the authentic
We're hunting down stock
By the touch of a button
Let's change era
Oh yes, we are!
Tell me

Tell me yes
But no
Never say no again!
Love the wolf
Is risky
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
And no more
My heart under X
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
Love my wolf
Risks itself
Say yes to me
But no
God, my God it's long
Without you,
My body under X
Call me now
Lying on my back
Love makes everything more beautiful
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
Love, the wolf is your name

All not all said
Ode to life 
Death composes
The night sets in
The reddened eyes
The dawn is morose
All not all said
If life is cheerful
Everything goes to the water Oh Oh
Oh drunken boat 
And joy of life
I'm lacking

Look at me
To be or not to be?
It is not to be!
It may be chic
To make a fuss
Tac au tac is the era of the knock
It is not
It's a good thing I'm not
It may be chic
It's the era of the knock
For the authentic
We're hunting down stock
By the touch of a button
Let's change era
Oh yes, we are!
Tell me

Tell me yes
But no
Never say no again!
Love the wolf
Is risky
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
And no more
My heart under X
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
Love my wolf
Risks itself
Say yes to me
But no
God, my God it's long
Without you,
My body under X
Call me now
Lying on my back
Love makes everything more beautiful
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
Love, the wolf is your name

You baby boy
You baby love
You baby boy
Love lolove
Yo
You baby boy
You baby love
You baby boy
Love lolove

Tell me yes
But no
Never say no again!
Love the wolf
Is risky
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
And no more
My heart under X
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
Love my wolf
Risks itself
Say yes to me
But no
God, my God it's long
Without you,
My body under X
Call me now
Lying on my back
Love makes everything more beautiful
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Say yes to me
But no
Never say no again
Love, the wolf is your name

Or yes or yes or?
Or yes or yes or?
Or yes or yes or?