AP Photo/Francois Mori, fileAt this rate, they might seal up the Chunnel.
Carla Bruni, the supermodel-turned-first lady of France, is out with an album today, a group of 14 songs that might set back Anglo-Franco relations.
Bruni, who married French President Nicolas Sarkozy in February after a three-month fling, just deposited Comme Si De Rien N'Etait (translation: As If Nothing Had Happened) in stores around Europe. It's Bruni's third album, but first as Mrs. President.
Written primarily by the former catwalker, the album initially drew some bad press over lyrics comparing her husband to Afghani heroin and Colombian coke—and yes, she meant it in the best possible way. But then the Brits got their hands on the music and began weighing in. Their consensus: This thing stinks worse than Pepé Le Pew and bad blue cheese.
- In a two-page review, the Independent calls her the "first lady...of schmaltz," saying her music is "simpering and weedy."
- The Guardian notes: "When she sings, in 'Je Suis une Enfant,' that she remains a little girl 'despite my 40 years, despite my 30 lovers,' for instance, that doesn't exactly sound what you might call presidential." (Bruni has been previously attached to Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, among others.)
- The Times said it could be "the best album ever made by the wife of a head of state…Even if the only other contender in the field hadn't been the 1989 record that Imelda Marcos made of her husband's favorite love songs."
Even on the home front the reviews have been brutal, which, Bruni says, makes her feel "hurt."
"Of course it hurts me, but I also find it quite natural," Bruni told France's RTL radio Friday.
"It's understandable that people can't help mixing up my work as an artist and my function. Maybe they feel offended by the fact the head of state's wife should make a record," she said.
After streaming to a few tracks at carlabruni.com, we have to side with the Brits on this one. On the bright side, though, she definitely outrocks Imelda Marcos.