cest la vie C'est La Vie - Song and Lyrics Discussion

[krysady]

3 hours ago, crazyaboutmika said:

And appreciate what we have and live life to the fullest since it is short.

 

No kid in this world would have this kind of existential thoughts that life is short and death is around the corner, they would always think that they have a whole life ahead, full of possibilities. And that's normal. For this video, I suppose they didn't even had to contemplate on the message of the song, just have fun in a project with Mika.

 

That's why I love the original video so much, it captures so perfect the feeling that he is alone with his personal struggle, even while he's surrounded by a huge crowd, that he have to go on and live the best, no matter what life is throwing on him. It's basically the meaning of C'est la Vie!

[CharlotteL]

1 hour ago, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

I don't think we can hear Max's voice in this song. 

Yes you can, in every chorus but especially in the beginning cause Mika is only singing quietly along with the choir.

It's him doing the high harmonies, I'm 99% sure.

 

(Only in the kids version I mean, I think in the original Mika sings them himself)

Edited October 27, 2023 by CharlotteL

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

6 minutes ago, CharlotteL said:

Yes you can, in every chorus but especially in the beginning cause Mika is only singing quietly along with the choir.

It's him doing the high harmonies, I'm 99% sure.

 

(Only in the kids version I mean, I think in the original Mika sings them himself)

This is a studio recording playback. Max didn't work on it. In general the band doesn't play in the studio recording. And Mika puts his voice in the back vocals.  Only on the concerts Max is singing live. 

I can hear only children voices at the beginning ( maybe with addition on the original intro by Mika).

[CharlotteL]

5 minutes ago, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

I can hear only children voices at the beginning ( maybe with addition on the original intro by Mika).

Look I can only tell you I clearly hear his voice at the beginning

And it's not true that his band is never featured on his studio recordings, Max did some background vocals on ready to call this love and tomorrow, he's credited for it in the description of those videos.

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

5 minutes ago, CharlotteL said:

he's credited for it in the description of those videos.

But not on C'est la vie.

[CharlotteL]

2 minutes ago, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

But not on C'est la vie.

Yeah that's true and I don't know why because it's clearly him singing. But if you're not convinced just by me saying that, that's fair enough 

[mellody]

I can't hear Max, but I don't know his voice that well, unlike Charlotte I don't really listen to his music. Anyway it's possible, but not very obvious imo.

 

For some reason they deleted & re-uploaded the video. I haven't checked if it's the same or if they changed anything.

 

 

[Anna Ko Kolkowska]

29 minutes ago, mellody said:

I can't hear Max, but I don't know his voice that well, unlike Charlotte I don't really listen to his music. Anyway it's possible, but not very obvious imo.

 

For some reason they deleted & re-uploaded the video. I haven't checked if it's the same or if they changed anything.

 

 

 

And he deleted his post from yesterday on Instagram. The one with the beginning of the clip. I had it on my website and now it sais that the link does't existe.

[mellody]

4 minutes ago, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

 

And he deleted his post from yesterday on Instagram. The one with the beginning of the clip. I had it on my website and now it sais that the link does't existe.

 

He also deleted today's story about it.

[dcdeb]

7 minutes ago, mellody said:

 

He also deleted today's story about it.

 

I wonder if it's because the audio was slightly out of sync? I reposted the original version yesterday and you can see it is a little off at the beginning - the Insta story today was just slightly off too. Otherwise, I have no idea.

[mellody]

I checked now. The "Opera de Paris" sign isn't in the new video. Maybe they weren't allowed to use that.

[mellody]

4 hours ago, krysady said:

 

No kid in this world would have this kind of existential thoughts that life is short and death is around the corner, they would always think that they have a whole life ahead, full of possibilities. And that's normal. For this video, I suppose they didn't even had to contemplate on the message of the song, just have fun in a project with Mika.

 

That's why I love the original video so much, it captures so perfect the feeling that he is alone with his personal struggle, even while he's surrounded by a huge crowd, that he have to go on and live the best, no matter what life is throwing on him. It's basically the meaning of C'est la Vie!

 

Yeah, kids might not think "life is short", but also that's maybe one but not THE message of the song, imo. "Make the most of life, don't be afraid to be who you are", and I think that's a powerful message also for kids. Also, children do think about life and death - maybe not in the same way adults do, but it's not like they completely ignore this topic. Especially as some of these kids in the video are rather teenagers, at that age you definitely ask yourself questions like Mika does in the song. But even younger children, they might have lost grandparents or pets, experienced bullying or other awful things and they want to know "c'est quoi", why does this happen, and how do I deal with it? Pandemic, wars, climate crisis... children don't live in a bubble where these things don't exist.  And that's also why I don't agree with what you say about the original video, or rather your conclusion. I mean, you're right that it brings across a feeling of Mika being alone within this crowd, but to me the message rather is that community, connection, can help with these struggles - you might feel alone, but you aren't, there's many other people who feel the same, who ask themselves the same questions. And it helps to talk (or sing) about it together. That's why to me the end of the original video is the most powerful thing about it, where the whole crowd sings the chorus.

[krysady]

10 minutes ago, mellody said:

I mean, you're right that it brings across a feeling of Mika being alone within this crowd, but to me the message rather is that community, connection, can help with these struggles - you might feel alone, but you aren't, there's many other people who feel the same, who ask themselves the same questions.

For sure each person gets different feelings about this song, I read for some it's also happy and joyful, having an optimistic twist. Maybe it depends on how you relate to the message, but to me it's one of his saddest songs ever...  And I think it's fine to have all these different opinions and feelings, sometimes it's not easy to put it into words but it's just the way it is. Some songs speak more to your heart, some not 

[TinyLove_CJ]

   I've been very sleep deprived lately and haven't had a chance yet to really say much about the Kids choir version of C'est La Vie, but I have listened and watched the video for it now and I absolutely love it! It's so full of vibrancy and happiness. I like both versions but I'm likely to listen to this more on repeat.

 

On 10/27/2023 at 12:07 AM, Hero said:

I like it. Having the children singing contrasts with the lyrics about ageing and loss, but reinforces the message of embracing life with their youthful exuberance. In their voices, the wondering and reflective "c'est quoi" becomes more of a "so what" chant - it's going to happen anyway, but we're young so we're not going to worry about it, we're just going to concentrate on living to the fullest.

I totally agree with you on this!

 

 

  We know the song is actually very sad when it comes down to the lyrics but the new video with the choir shows the happiness and the innocence of children. Children do have an "I don't care attitude" and most don't have big responsibilities yet so the contrast between the words and the big beaming smiles is infectious! I found myself getting quite emotional with this new version, truly smiling with tears in my eyes. I feel like C'est La Vie will become my new comfort song, little strange I know, but thanks to the message behind the words I know that no matter what, there will always be a better day 😊

[Elvaraaa]

On 10/27/2023 at 4:42 PM, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

I don't think we can hear Max's voice in this song. 

Actually it is Max’s voice  It’s amazing @CharlotteL recognized it!