What a surprise it was. A young French star, Biba Binoche, released a great cover of a song by Mylene Farmer
(Je t’aime mélancolie)and instantly got a lot of airplay. Not much longer, it was revealed that this young star was actually Betty (a Big Brother contestant), who – up to that moment – only released “popular” Dutch songs.

But now, Betty – or Biba, has completely made the transition to electropop and released her first album Initials BB (together with a third radio promo cd single Je suis venue te dire que je m’en vais). Dancevibes got to listen to the album before it was released and was pleasantly surprised.

Now, that’s quite the understatement seeing that “Initials BB” is awesome!
For me, it is simply the best Belgian dance album (and possibly one of the best Belgian albums) released this year.
Period. Biba and her producers Frank (Dance Opera) and Marc (Evil Superstars) have done a great job.
Electropop doesn’t get much better than this …

The album is entirely sung in French, but that shouldn’t put you off, seeing that adds a little extra spice (and sensuality) to the songs. The album contains 7 completely new tracks, 4 covers and 2 remixes. Betty has been criticized in the past for her rather fragile voice, but that certainly isn’t an issue on this album.
Her distinct vocal sound is just right for these songs. The sounds is pure electro and for a Belgian ‘dance’ artist, very innovative (as any good album should be).

Initials BB starts with Biba’s new radio promo single, Je suis venue te dire que je m’en vais,
which is followed by her 2 previous singles, Je t’aime mélancolie and Si douce.
All three are excellent tracks and examples of how a good electropop tracks should sound.

But it doesn’t stop there: Pourquoi is sure to be a hit at every party and Overdose just oozes quality.
Quiet but strong, different but attractive. The next two tracks are undoubtedly 2 of my favorite tracks on the album: Pour l’amour and Boum (with the latter being strangely erotic 😉 ).
Perdre sa reine is another little diamond (slow, intimate, simply beautiful).

Compared to Perdre sa reine, C’est la quate and Emmène-Moi are more upbeat.
Emmène-moi is, in my opinion, the only track on this album that is slightly disappointing.
But that can be attributed to the fact that the other tracks are of such a good quality that simply being “good” is not enough.
The album closes with another cover, L’été Indien (known to everyone I think, and that certainly includes your parents).

There are in fact quite a few covers on the album : namely Mylene Farmer’s “Je t’aime mélancolie”,
Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je suis venue te dire que je m’en vais”, Caroline Loeb’s “C’est la quate” and Joe Dassin’s “L’Eté Indien”. These songs are real classics so its very tricky to a cover and not have it blow up in your face
(certainly when you want to cover Gainsbourg).

Most of you already know that I am not fond of all the cheap 70’s, 80’s covers that have been flooding the charts, but Biba’s covers are definitely in a league of their own. Dancevibes already said that Je t’aime Mélancolie was a great dance track with a unique feel to it. As a cover, it actually improves on an already great song: quite the achievement.

Surprisingly, Biba and her producers manage to do the same for the other covers.
Each track is a unique, surprising interpretation of a classic song that adds extra flavor already outstanding songs.
Especially Je suis venue te dire que je m’en vais is simply beautiful. Biba’s voice in this song is extremely fragile (you can almost feel the hurt), which is a perfect match for the lyrics and electrobeat.

So, it should be obvious by now: we have a winner here ladies and gentlemen !!! The only advice I can give is: “Go out, buy and enjoy this little masterpiece day after day after day …”.

Review written by Steviy