Olivia Ruiz - taking charge of her destiny

April 15, 2009

Monday saw the release in France of the much-anticipated third album from Olivia Ruiz, Miss Météores.

It's the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed and million-selling 2005 La Femme chocolat, which took this country by storm, helped earn Ruiz two prestigious Victoires de la musique awards in 2007 and become one of the year's most successful female French singers in 2008.

After a break from the limelight the 29-year-old is back, promoting her latest album and the first single from it and has a schedule of concerts lined up.

This time around though she is being careful not to get too caught up in the marketing machine which she says somewhat roller-coastered out of control after the success of her second album.

"When I first became successful I wasn't particularly well-advised," she says.

"I wanted to stop the round of promotion, but after every concert (she gave more than 200 at the time) my management wanted me to go to Paris for interviews in the morning and the afternoon, and then I took a car back to wherever I was performing in the evening."

Ruiz first came to the attention of the general public in one of this country's reality talent TV programmes.

In her case it was the first edition of Star Academy back in 2001.

She didn't win, being knocked out in the semi-finals to the eventual winner, Jenifer, but her voice was distinctive enough for her to secure a recording contract.

Her first album, J'aime pas l'Amour, in 2003 sold moderately well, racking up sales of 75,000 copies.

But it was the release of La Femme chocolat, a mammoth concert tour and the subsequent singles that allowed her to stamp her mark on the French music scene.

With the release of Miss Météores, Ruiz is much more in control of which interviews and promotional tours she does.

She has already refused to appear on one weekly national television programme infamous for its "grilling" of guests by two of its interviewers.

But on Tuesday she was at the microphone of the early morning programme on Europe 1 national radio admitting that after the success of her previous album she felt a certain pressure this time around, particularly as she had penned most of the tracks herself.

"It's normal to feel like that when a record is just coming out," she said.

"And especially as there's a lot of emotion put into this album, of course I hope people will like it."

Ruiz might have moved on from the first glimpse much of the French public had of her in Star Academy, but of course it still doesn't stop her being asked about how she felt at the time and what effect she feels it has had on her career.

"I was assigned a role and a sound that wasn't exactly mine," she said.

"It's a programme in which there is a lot of talent, and in a way it's a shame I spent over two months until I was eliminated. I would like to have come out earlier," she continued.

"But of course it gave me a push at the time although since then we have gone our separate ways and I've had the chance to really do what I wanted to do."

You can see and hear Elle Panique, the first single to be released from the latest album here.

It's in French (of course) although Ruiz will probably also be releasing the album in Spanish as she did her previous ones.

YouTube Video