{"id":45793,"date":"2025-11-20T08:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T08:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45793\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T08:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T08:06:07","slug":"the-harrowing-story-behind-christine-and-the-queens-breakthrough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/45793\/","title":{"rendered":"The harrowing story behind Christine and the Queens\u2019 breakthrough"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u2018Saint<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Christine and the Queens)<\/p>\n

Thu 20 November 2025 7:30, UK <\/p>\n

Rahim Claude Redcar, France\u2019s beloved singer-songwriter and author of \u2018Saint Claude\u2019, wrote the song out of shame. Known to music as Christine and the Queens<\/a>, his debut song became an instant hit, peaking at number four in the French charts in 2014 and later going gold in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Breaking the boundaries of pop, Redcar\u2019s Chaleur Humaine does exactly what it says on the label: it shows human warmth to those left behind in society. Transcending the boundaries of gender and bringing the listener on a journey of R&B, hip-hop<\/a> and electro-pop, he marries potent lyrics to a feeling of uncertainty and existential dread.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Nantes-born songwriter found his inspiration<\/a> for \u2018Saint Claude\u2019 during an ordinary commute. He was on a bus in Paris when he noticed an extravagant individual talking to themselves in the corner. He looked unwell, but that didn\u2019t stop other passengers from mocking him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI witnessed this amazing phenomenon where people just rejoiced in mockery of someone else: pointing a finger at just one person. The whole bus seemed to be friends just like that. It was kind of scary to watch,\u201d he told NME. \u201cAnd actually, I did nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The singer became so embarrassed with his inability to act on the injustice he was witnessing that he got off the bus, and the station so happened to be called Saint Claude, in Le Marais. \u201cThis is why the song is called that. I gave him this name afterwards as a symbol. But the song was like me trying to mend something that happened \u2013 I didn\u2019t do anything and I felt I should try to write a letter to this boy,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n

Adding, \u201cBecause he was an outsider, kind of a freak, and I think I just witnessed how easily some people point fingers at freaks, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redcar\u2019s intimate, raw vocals reconcile with his regretful lyrics: \u201cI carry away a devoured portrait, Pain, destiny edge to edge.\u201d In hindsight, this portrayal of shame and otherness became an element of Redcar\u2019s life, as he transitioned from using female pronouns in 2022. He didn\u2019t feel fit in any of the pre-existing \u2018boxes\u2019 of trans identity, as he refused hormonal or surgical treatment: \u201cI\u2019ve been fighting sometimes trans people, who want me to formulate myself to be a \u2018proper\u2019 trans man. Who are we doing this for?\u201d he told The Guardian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Saint Claude\u2019 went from niche French pop to international acclaim because of Redcar\u2019s powerful stage presence. The song\u2019s music video features a sort of one-man circus, with Redcar in a suit being stretched and moving around agitatedly until he\u2019s lifted into the air. Many compared his moves to Michael Jackson, but the idea behind the choreography was more \u201cin order to be an alien and not to conform,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The dancing that followed his many performances of the song, from Glastonbury<\/a> to Coachella, marked his global image so much that Madonna admitted to stealing the choreography from the music video and brought \u2018Saint Claude\u2019 to life for her 2015 Grammy performance of \u2018Living For Love\u2019. Redcar was nothing short of flattered. <\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Christine and the Queens) Thu 20 November 2025 7:30, UK Rahim Claude Redcar, France\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[26098,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-45793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-christine-and-the-queens","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-nyc","12":"tag-queens","13":"tag-queens-headlines","14":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}