Leaking your album in response to being snubbed is, ultimately, a power play. Look at it any other way and be ridiculed for trying to seek out new meaning. While some may have missed the Hopecore spill on Twitter, we can stomp back into the discography of Christine and the Queens’ earlier releases this year. Rentrer chez moi will tide us over until an official release comes, if it ever does. And so, we wait for an official release, more so we can log the star ratings of each track on Sonemic than anything else. Grab another coffee, spill it down yourself and prepare for another batch of greatness. Rentrer chez moi, a time before the outraged Christine and the Queens leaked their work, feels like a soft extension of Paranoia, Angels, True Love, a beautiful and fulfilled release from last year.
Rentrer chez moi feels like a move toward the noise Hopecore made. Not the sound itself but the reaction, the fury and the build it had. There is a suddenness to it all countered by the down-tempo opening of this Christine and the Queens single. A longing tone dominates this one. Intensity in lyrical passion rather than overwhelmed instrumentals. It is the back-and-forth which makes this a joy. Softly spoken yet charged with a fury which Christine and the Queens continue to make good on. Absence is a healer. There is something to it and the abandonment of one from another which, over time, gives a sense of bitter clarity. Rentrer chez moi has this in abundance and the lyrical scope of its latter moments, this return home and realisation, is tremendous. Unflinching in the face of its truth and ultimately an expression of grief, the return home heard throughout is the reality many face.
Some love heading back to the place which was, for so many years, their hometown. Others despise it. Those latter people may find sanctity in this Christine and the Queens release. A chance to adapt and understand why we despise the return to those same streets where horrendous memories and interactions are given a chance to be raked over once more. A poor life to live is one of nostalgia, and those who enjoy a return to their roots are those who have watered them well and not weathered those storms heard on Rentrer chez moi. It may be this rage which gives us a chance to be thankful for where we now are. Christine and the Queens have softer displays of this in their lyrical choices, a chance to redeem the hometown not as a lost cause but as where you found yourself.
We grew from there and this learning process is a character-building exercise. Christine and the Queens do not need to justify their leaking to anyone. They have performed a power play against a frustrating deal and a snub from the higher powers. Is it self-entitlement to expect an offer of performance? Yes. But it is justified. Another in a series of processes to consider as an act of rebellion, something Christine and the Queens has so frequently stood for with their empowering sound. Rentrer chez moi offers the same, a chance to stand up for yourself and against those who want to pull you back in. Ignore it, remove those stains and move on.
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