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Christine and the Queens’ language barrier caused some confusion in her early career

By James Hawkridge

In her latest interview with Attitude, Christine and the Queens revealed that one of her biggest hits – “Tilted” – was quite controversial at the very beginning of her career.

The song was originally entitled “Cripple”, and although the French singer didn’t quite mean it literally, the song received a dry response when performed in Brighton in 2012.

“It’s a typical misuse of a language you don’t really own”, she explains “I was absolutely sure that cripple actually meant the same thing as tilted. I didn’t know it meant properly crippled, like missing a leg.

“And I discovered, after performing it once in from of English people, that it was no good. I could see in their eyes that they did not understand.

“They were like: “Why is she singing about missing limbs or being crippled when she can walk?”

She continues: “I could see that something wasn’t working. And then I made the album in London, and my musicians were English, and I was like: “Oh dear”.

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Words by: Cristian Angeloni