[Report] Lykke Li, "so sad so sexy" at the Bataclan

It's hard to hide our excitement about Lykke Li's Parisian arrival. Four years after the sublime I Never Learn, the Swede has surpassed herself and released so sad so sexy, one of the best pop albums of 2018. And she understood it well, transposing the cover into a nice scenography and landing on stage playing the eponymous piece.

On this Tuesday night at the Bataclan, the singer lays the foundations: "I want this to be a special night, Paris". A special night, dedicated to the new album: all the tracks will be played, apart from "utopia". Unfortunately, the live rendering is gradually disappointing. Lykke Li's voice is drowned in the middle of the instruments and the quality of the sound is to be reviewed. The atmosphere, meanwhile, has a lot of trouble taking off. The entire audience is static in front of the singer. His few attempts at investment don't help, except maybe the choreography class during "sex money feelings die". However, we will remember the rap part, substitute for Aminé on "two nights" and "bad woman", dedicated to "bad women out there".

"Now, this is the sad part. Are you ready to cry and sing and dance?" asks the singer before starting the languid and moving "Better Alone". All these exclusives do not prevent Lykke Li from offering some returns to the past: "Little Bit" from the first album but also "Gunshot", "No Rest For The Wicked", "Just Like A Dream" and a shortened version – why? – "I Never Learn" and, of course, a dance finale to the 2011 hit "I Follow Rivers". She plays on the success of the song, adding touches of the remix, screaming with a falsely surprised air very funny "Oh my god it's the remix!" We would have liked to see such an atmosphere during the past hour. But hey… Never ask too much of Parisians.

After leaving the stage for a brief moment, the singer apologized: "I'm sorry I don't have any more hit songs". And so much the better, because she chooses to interpret the magnificent "last piece". A beautiful way a rather short show, almost dispatched, struggling to federate but proving the talent of Lykke Li.

Setlist:

so sad so sexy
No Rest for the Wicked
Just Like a Dream
jaguars in the air
two nights
hard rain
Little Bit
bad woman
I Never Learn
deep end
sex money feelings die
better alone
Gunshot
I Follow Rivers

last piece

Featured photo credit: Simon Brazeilles