Mylène Farmer - Désenchantée (12" Remix Club)

Mylene Farmer - Desenchantee (Club Remix) / 12 Inch Extended Remix (HQ Audio)

Mylène Farmer has had 21 number-one singles in France.

She has also enjoyed a prolific four-decade career in other French-speaking countries, including Belgium and Canada.

But she has never been heavily promoted in the UK or US due to her records being sung in French - despite French-language chart successes for Desireless (Voyage Voyage) and Vanessa Paradis (Joe Le Taxi) in the late 1980s.

Désenchantée did receive a week of prime-time exposure in the UK, however, when Pet Shop Boys hosted Simon Bates' Radio 1 morning show for a week in 1991, and played the track daily to an audience of many millions.

In fact, Neil Tennant was so taken by the track that it inspired his idea and lyrics for Disappointed by Electronic, released later that year. The song's chorus is effectively an English-language homage to Désenchantée.

Mylène Farmer was born in Canada in 1961, while filmmaker Laurent Boutonnat was born in Paris the same year.

At the age of eight, Farmer's family relocated to Paris, where she attended drama school, and later appeared in several TV ads.

By the 1980s, Boutonnat had begun composing pop backing tracks, alongside his filmmaking. Having seen Farmer perform, he invited her to collaborate on songs and provide vocals for them.

From that point, their careers were intertwined - Farmer as lyricist and vocalist, and Boutonnat as composer.

Crucially, he also directed extended cinematic videos for many of their tracks, contributing significantly to their success.

Désenchantée is regarded as Farmer's signature track and remains her most commercially successful song.

Part of its appeal lies in the lyrics, which express a longing for meaning and understanding in a chaotic world - a longing that cannot be fulfilled, ultimately leading to disillusionment.

Set against a 126 BPM disco beat with soaring chord progressions, the competing moods of the lyrics and production are a classic juxtaposition of many classic 1980s and 1990s pop singles.

With no UK release, the featured version here is the "Remix Club" from the French 12-inch single. This version extends the track to nearly eight minutes by incorporating a dub intro and outro, either side what is essentially the 7" arrangement.

Désenchantée was certified gold in France and sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.

A 2002 cover by Kate Ryan reached the top five in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain.

Since 1991 the track has remained the big moment in Farmer's live shows, and she performed a stunning 11-minute live version at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, to rapturous applause - and some tears of emotion - from the French audience.

Year: 1991 Label: Polydor Cat no: 879 925-1