Everyone was only talking about that day in November 2021. “Have you seen Orelsan? It is really too strong! “Hey! Have you watched Orelsan’s new clip? The guy smashes everything “, could we hear at the coffee machine or read during a group conversation on Whatsapp. The reason ? A clip of 4 minutes 44, The smell of gasoline, his first solo single revealed by surprise after three years of absence. Or almost.
Upstream the rapper had already prepared the ground well. A month earlier, Amazon Prime posted never show that to anyone, a documentary series on the life and career of the artist, produced by his brother Clément Cotentin. Funny, moving, nostalgic, she too had been praised with “I loved it, you really have to watch”. And it was ultimately only the first spark before the conflagration.
Because The smell of gasolinenominated in the “Original Song” category at the Victoires de la Musique, is undoubtedly the most striking title of this year 2021 and the one that propelled Orelsan beyond the stratosphere.
“In a plane that is going straight to the crash”
First of all because it marks the great return of the artist to the front of the rap scene, almost absent since the reissue of The party is over in 2018. After the notable success of this third album (rewarded with three music victories at the time), the rapper from Caen was inevitably expected at the turn. How to do better than Basic, family defeat Where Everything is fine ? Answer: By grabbing a highly flammable substance. On November 17, 2021, three years to the day after the start of the yellow vests movement, Orelsan came out The smell of gasoline, in which he declaims: “The stakes are down, all our leaders have failed/They will be destroyed by the beast they created/Trust is dead at the same time as respect/What is govern us? fear and anxiety”. In one go, in a song without a chorus, the artist pours out an acid criticism of our society and takes a disillusioned and alarmist look at the world around us.
There are the words, but also the images. Orelsan unveils this song at the same time as his clip in which he stages himself in front of giant screens. There follows a plethora of sequences that support the rapper’s words: fires, riots, demonstrations of yellow vests, car accidents, chaos… “We spit on each other, we don’t know how to live together / We s ‘beats to be at the front in a plane that is going straight to the crash,’ he concludes in front of a black screen. The smell of gasoline arrives in the fall, when the days are getting shorter and the social climate is tense a few months before the presidential elections. Orelsan’s 4 minutes 44 put words on a general fed up and resonate like a manifesto.
“Only clear-cut opinions, nothing is ever precise”
We had known the sarcastic rapper, we discovered a more virulent side to him. He addresses here specific issues of the French political landscape such as the rise of extremes and racism, or even a questioning of the electoral system of our country. “If the President wins half the votes, it’s because two-thirds of France didn’t want him / No need to know what the Senate is to see that the old rich make the laws” , he said. A message heard by the President in person. “It is well seen. He is still someone who depicts society as a sociologist “, would have estimated Emmanuel Macron according to Freed. Guest on the set of Day-to-day a few days later, the author of the song reacted to this compliment: “Won’t he try to scratch my buzz, a little bit? I don’t think he must have listened to my whole album”.
Beyond the subject, the strength of this song could especially be found in what it provokes. Remember the days that followed its release, everyone went there with his little comment, in the media or on social networks. Dithyrambic reviews and genius for some, perplexity or even bristling for others. You had to give your opinion. Within the culture department, it even provoked a lively and tense debate, perhaps even the most heated of the year. Ironically, Orelsan talks about it himself in his song: “Nobody listens anymore, everyone speaks / Nobody changes their minds, only sterile debates / Everyone gets excited because everything the world gets excited / Only clear-cut opinions, nothing is ever precise”.
With this title, the rapper confirms his place as a popular artist whose point of view and gaze count. Whether we like his music or not. Likewise, The smell of gasoline will forever remain the snapshot of an era of lost illusions, of a paralyzed generation with its back to the wall.