Zazie, your latest single Rue de la Paix (Peace Street) came out around the same time as the terrorist attacks in New York on 11 September. Do you feel that in some way your single contained a sort of premonition?
Well, I don't honestly think you can say that what happened over there was 'in the air' or anything. No one could ever have predicted such a vile and terrible thing. But capitalism's monopoly on society – which, let's face it, isn't just the situation in the U.S. but something that the States has come to symbolise nevertheless – is a very powerful thing and it's amazing the amount of hatred it's provoked.
I've seen the results of 'capitalism at all costs' in my own sphere, in the music world. We're increasingly caught up in a world where everything's based on commercial results and sales figures, where the value of singers and musicians is based on how much money they bring in rather than the artistic content of their work. I remember back in the early days of my career when there was only a handful of people at my concerts, but they were all laughing and dancing and having a good time, my record company considered that to be a 'bad' concert. But if the venue was full to bursting and I performed really badly, that was considered to be a 'good' concert!

So it's possible to go and see a really bad Zazie gig?!?
(Laughs) Well, I hope it's not a frequent occurrence - but, no-one's perfect, you know! To go back to what we were saying about Rue de la Paix, I must admit there's a bit of a paradox going on there really, because somewhere down the line I've bought into this world where everything's based on profit and sales figures … But, at the same time, I do feel pretty cynical about the way that world works. I'm very aware of where that kind of logic could lead us and it's not something I personally want to define my life by. OK, so I don't turn my nose up at it completely. I mean, I'm very happy to be able to earn money from my music. But I mean it when I sing "Success doesn't make me happy". It might work for other people, but I've come to realise that in my case success isn't going to turn me into a wonderfully happy person - or someone wonderful either, for that matter!

So does that mean if Jean-Marie Messier (the big boss of Universal Music) came into your studio one day and told you what you could and couldn't sing, you'd abandon your career?
I don't think anything will ever stop me writing songs, but maybe I won't end up singing everything I write … When you're a performer, you have to face up to the fact that you've got a strong exhibitionist streak in your character and you have to accept that. For the time being I still find it amusing to get up on stage and exhibit myself, but there'll come a time when I won't find it such fun after all. And audiences won't find it such fun either (she says, adopting a tremulous, shaky voice) when I hobble up on stage looking old and craggy … But, you know, there are plenty of other ways of doing what you want in life.

Having said that, however, I do feel things have got a bit tougher in the music world in recent years. Personally, I feel really lucky that I launched my own career ten years ago and I'm not starting out today. It was hard enough when I started out but back then it was still possible for singers and musicians to have their own artistic 'space'. You didn't have any sort of orders coming down from on high, telling you what you could or couldn't do. These days I get the impression that things are a lot tougher for young artists at the start of their career. I think it's only people of my generation who manage to stay true to their own personal vision and put out more original work – but at what personal cost !?! A lot of journalists see me as some kind of rebel, but I don't feel like one at all! I just feel I'm doing something really personal, making the kind of music I want to hear. But these days doing something 'personal' is like staging some kind of punk rebellion! (Laughs) And, let's face it, I'm a long way from that!

Perhaps people like the idea of such a well-behaved, reserved young woman – and a former model, to boot - having this rebel flipside …
You know, the sad thing is, if you're a female singer people really expect you to come up with something superficial and artificial, which unfortunately means that the dice are loaded from the word go. I mean, either you're PJ Harvey or Björk and you've spent your life living a totally off-the-wall existence or you've been really well brought up and you're polite and reserved … I've got both things going on really. By that I mean I was brought up to be polite but to be myself at the same time. I have no problem expressing myself and my views, but it's always in a polite way.

Talking of the position of women, what prompted you to write Aux armes citoyennes?
I spent a long time writing that song, you know, because I wanted to be really careful about the lyrics. I didn't want Aux armes citoyennes to be seen as some sort of 'women's rights anthem'. I wanted to include men who have sympathies with our point of view and that's why I used the line "Aux hommes qui nous aiment, ensemble marchons" ("And to the men who love us, let's all march together!") I didn't want to fall into the trap of saying "women are all brilliant and men are all bastards."
We're lucky enough to live in a country where women's rights are pretty well respected. I find "Les chiennes de garde"¹ totally ridiculous. I mean, yeah, OK there are definitely some issues such as equal pay where feminist groups can actually achieve something. But "Les chiennes de gardes" thing is just ridiculous – they're like a caricature of women trying to be like men, which they're obviously not.

So do female singers earn less than their male counterparts?
(Laughs) No, they don't !!! I think music's one field where that's not actually an issue. OK, so I do have to bang my fist on the table a bit harder than a man would every now and then to get my point of view across. But I think that's got more to do with the fact that I'm not very careerist and sometimes those in the opposite camp can mistake kindness and lack of ambition for stupidity. Having said that, however, if "Mr so and so" were being paid such and such a sum for such and such a job it would be completely out of the question for "Ms. so and so " to be paid less for the same work!
There's another track on your new album, La fan de sa vie, which deals with the issue of hero worship. Were you ever a big fan of anyone when you were a kid?
Well, I have to admit when I was young I spent a lot of time daydreaming about Mel Gibson and Brad Pitt! But at the same time, I had absolutely no idea what the concept of autograph-hunting was. I only discovered that when I became a singer. No, really, it's true, when I was younger I never, ever went to concerts where people hung around the stage door trying to get an autograph. I honestly didn't know what an autograph was until I got involved in the music business myself.
Personally, I think those kind of fans are maybe people who lack a bit of direction in life or they're going through a tricky adolescence and need a big brother or a big sister to look up to. I think fans see something of themselves in you somewhere that they can identify with. You know, I've often been asked why I've never set up a Zazie fan club, but I have to say I'm really against the idea. I don't like the idea of exploiting people's 'fanaticism' – I think it's really unhealthy. And I certainly don't like the idea of making money out of a fan club. Honestly, I prefer to have direct contact with my fans, even if I can only speak to each of them for a short time, rather than be filtered through the prism of a fan club run by 20 people who regulate the whole thing … and make a profit from it at the same time!

Talking of fans, you wrote the song Allumer le feu for one of France's greatest rock idols, Johnny Hallyday. Do you count yourself among his millions of fans?
Yes, absolutely. I was very impressed by Hallyday. I'm a big fan of his! I wouldn't say I'm necessarily a great fan of everything he sings, but it's amazing to meet someone who, after I don't know how many years of career and dozens of best-selling albums, stands there looking at you really timidly and asks you whether you liked the way he performed your lyrics. I find that absolutely amazing! It was funny, in a way, I felt much older than him … Hallyday's got that sort of quirky fault line in his character which I really like in people. I like the contrasts in his character.

There are only a few songs on your new album which you didn't write yourself and one of them is Adam et Yves, a song about homosexuality …
The song you're referring to was written by Joëlle Kopf, a woman who wrote Cookie Dingler's hit Femme libérée many years back. Joëlle's a great friend of Maxime le Forestier. And Maxime and I have this little ritual where we give each other our new albums before anyone else gets to listens to them. Anyway, I was over at Maxime's one day, listening to an album and I found a songsheet for Adam et Yves lying around his apartment. My reaction was "Bastard! I'd love to have come up with the idea for that myself!" The funny thing was, Maxime said he'd actually though of me when Joëlle had given him the song and, to cut a long story short, I ended up taking it home with me.
People tend to talk about homosexuality in a very cliched way. You know, gays are always seen as hairdressers or drag queens. It's like saying blacks have a great sense of rhythm and make good dancers. It's just as racist. Anyway, Adam et Yves deals with those sort of issues, but seen through the eyes of a woman.

Interview: Frédéric Garat
Translation: Julie Street

La Zizanie (Mercury / Universal)
Zazie online

¹ French feminist movement.