phoenix is a french band formed in 1995. the members, unchanged since then, are thomas mars, christian mazzalai, deck d'arcy, and laurent brancowitz. their sound has changed through the years but it can mainly be labeled as indie rock and synth-pop. they have released seven studio albums.
if you heard my music or if you've looked around this page you probably know that i mainly listen to noisy electronic music. i'm more open to try stuff out now, but i pretty much only listened to electronic music as a teen until 2019, when i had a bit of an indie rock / indie dance phase (mostly influenced by my bf who i started dating that year and whose music taste collided with mine :P) so while exploring the limits between electronic, dance, indie and rock i found some cool artists (most of them french for some reason) that i still listen to today, even though my music taste is constantly changing. but i never thought i'd end up finding my favorite band, my comfort band, the band that has a place in my heart forever: phoenix!
album: bankrupt!
songs: chloroform, don't, oblique city, telefono, winter solstice, everything is everything (i am uncapable of choosing only one)
phoenix has probably the most cryptic and sometimes nonsensical lyrics out of all of the artists i listen to, so it always surprises me how they manage to make music that i connect to in such a deep level. i really struggle to explain it but no other music makes me FEEL as much as phoenix's music does lol 
it's like they're on a whole other level... they don't really need to explicitly say something to transmit it because their music is so much more than that. they tell stories through melodies, instruments, visuals and carefully picked synths that fit perfectly with whatever concept they're exploring in each album. 
i like bankrupt! the most out of all of them because i feel like it's the one where you can "hear" the intentions and feelings put into it the most clearly out of them all. it's still indie rock but it has an emo feeling to it that i love. i'm listening to it as i'm writing this and im getting emotional only thinking about it LOL this synth pop band means so much to me u have no idea... did you know i saw them live and it was the best fucking day of my life i'll talk about it more later...
did u know the lead singer is married to sofia coppola... she was in the crowd in this show and he's singing to her 
one thing i absolutely love (and this is something they've said themselves) is how each album is a sort of "response" to the one before it. i want to talk specifically about bankrupt! and the album after it, ti amo, which are (in my opinion) beautiful parallels of one another.
ti amo, released 4 years later, is a complete 180 and it's about loving someone so much that you don't care about anything else. it's about obsessions (healthy and unhealthy ones), longing, infatuation, and finding confidence, freedom and happiness in being with the one
you love. from the pop 80s synth sounds to the mellow lyrics and vocals, it's romantic and sweet to a point where it's almost cloying. parts of the lyrics are in italian, french and spanish, which all contribute to making you feel like you're on a trip overseas with the love of your life. i've never been to italy but i feel like this is what italy sounds like LOL
there is an underlying theme in ti amo that mostly shows in some of the latter songs: what happens when you're alone again, or apart from your partner? are you still so confident and careless? what happens when you're not being constantly reassured? it's kinda like the two albums are in an infinite loop...
bankrupt is about frustration, insecurities, loneliness, misunderstandings, jealousy and nostalgia. the production is noisy, loud, synthetic, saturated and over the top, which conveys its message perfectly. (to think that a lot of people hate this album because it's overproduced
... THEY DON'T GET ITTT) it has so much to say and it's so openly emotional that it almost feels like listening to someone vent, or catching up with someone who is telling you about their life and how things have not been going as well as they used to some years ago. it does have a slightly positive tone surfacing every once in a while however, as if they were confident that it's a feeling that will pass soon. did i mention its my favorite
i love other phoenix albums a lot (alpha zulu and alphabetic are also up there with my favorites) and there's a ton of other connections and parallels to be pointed out in their discography by the way but in order to not make this page go on forever i'll stop there for now... i love phoenix
now on to the most important section...
I SAW THEM LIVE AND IT WAS THE BEST FUCKING DAY OF MY LIFE!!
so phoenix came to my country Two times, one in 2014 when i was 12 years old... and they came back only TEN YEARS LATER in 2024. when that lollapalooza lineup came out i literally couldnt believe it. im never the kind of person to make a whole scene over something like this but i screamed because WHAT THE FUCK!!! THEY'RE COMING!! AFTER TEN FUCKING YEARS! when i calmed down for a bit i realized that they were coming with a festival that i didn't know if i'd be able to afford, and if i did, i would have to see them play for 40 minutes from 20 meters away at best, right under the sunlight in the middle of a 32 celsius summer day... but i must have manifested or some shit because they announced a SIDESHOW!! (separate solo shows that lollapalooza sometimes announces for 5 or 6 artists from the lineup, they're longer, less expensive and held in a much smaller venue) and thats where i screamed again and got my tickets immediatly the second they came out and began waiting for The day....
i made a sign!! i think there could've been more original ideas for it but i still liked it lol. its basically the album cover but with the words reversed so it says i love you phoenix :P me (and my bf who came with me) got there early so we could hopefully be at the barricade... AND WE WERE!! the venue was small so i was super super close to the stage GAHHH this pic was taken with no zoom... do u understand that....
i was right in front of branco (left pic) who saw my sign and smiled at me and i was like auhghhggh according to my bf and a girl that was there, thomas (right pic) also saw it and smiled at the beggining, but at the moment i was trying to process that the band i've loved since i was 17 was right in front of my eyes and didnt really notice LOL... i THINK christian saw it too but that might just be me being crazy... either way i was the happiest person on earth 
they sounded amazing i already knew that they were talented but after the show i have a new appreciation for what they do... kinda wished they played more bankrupt songs but i can't even complain because they were awesome :P the crowd really gave it their all too, jumping and screaming the lyrics to every song!! i was a bit scared because they are a bit niche and i didnt know if ppl would know their stuff well enough lol but thankfully i was wrong!! also... I GOT A SETLIST yay!! insane experience... i miss them a lot... they said that we were an amazing crowd and that they didn't know why it took them so long to come back, so i'll be waiting :3 i hope next time they come i get to tell them at least some of all this in person...
