Balance ton quoi
Même si tu parles mal des filles je sais qu'au fond t'as compris
Balance ton quoi, un jour peut-être ça changera
Balance ton quoi
– Angèle (Balance Ton Quoi)
Balance ton quoi? What is she referring to? Angèle, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter whose first album went double platinum in France and has tens of millions of listens on Spotify, released this immensely popular song in 2018. The song expresses solidarity with the #balancetonporc (Rat out your pig) movement, France’s equivalent the United State’s #Metoo movement. #Balancetonporc encouraged women to stand together against sexual harassment and assault, and publicly share the names of their alleged abusers. Sandra Muller was the first to use #balancetonporc on October 17th, 2017, explaining to the French newspaper le Figaro that “it is really strong as an image and it helps to create distance from the perpetrator. Also, It also has a vulgar and working-class connotation.” So, Angèle, inspired by the movement, wrote this song to speak to the moment. Her choice to switch to #balancetonquoi from #balancetonporc was simple: "J'avais envie d'en parler mais je ne voulais pas chanter #balancetonporc, je ne voulais pas m'approprier ce mot très fort" (I wanted to speak about it but I didn't want to sing #balancetonporc, I didn’t want to appropriate this word). Good luck getting this song out of your head once it sticks. The music video is clever, fun, and bright, especially for taking on a serious topic, and the song has become an anthem not to miss!
Comments