"Doesn't Matter" by Christine and the Queens

From the wonderful Christine and the Queens (French singer-songwriter Héloïse Letissier, previously here), here's a new song called "Doesn't Matter," coming out on her new release "Chris" on September 22nd, 2018. It manages to do what few pop songs do: be both accessible on a musical level AND weighty and penetrating on a lyrical level.

The song clearly struggles with existential questions but the video seems to represent, in an extraordinary pas de deux--by turns ecstatic and angry--those same struggles.

Read her engaging, deeply poetical "Self Portrait" on her website here.

Lingering on when they kiss
Leaning towards this abyss
And of lately the only people I can stare
Are the unraveled ones with their hands laying bare

But their hands are numb and empty
Their dull silence soothes me
Loud whispers in my back as if I couldn't hear
Thought I left ghosts behind but they're just coming near

It doesn't matter, does it?
If I know any exit
If I believe in God, and if God does exist
If I believe in God, and if God does exist

Rage as a fabric, through and through
Like that gaze they used to do
'Cause the suicidal thoughts that are still in my head
Give her that awful side-smile when I lay in bed

It doesn't matter, does it?
If I know any exit
If I believe in God, and if God does exist
If I believe in God, and if God does exist

She's barely feeding, but she'll deny
Ribbon-legged, she passes by
Until she surrenders in the midst of the street
And the guys simply stare, but continue to eat

It doesn't matter, does it?
If I know any exit
If I believe in God, and if God does exist
If I believe in God, and if God does exist

It doesn't matter, does it?
If I know any exit
If I believe in God, and if God does exist
If I believe in God, and if God does exist

And if I am cast out 'cause I wanted some more
And if this guy dances way too close to the shore
And if I could just push this door chalked on the wall
And if after the void there's somewhere else to fall

Uh, forget I said it
Uh, I soliloquise
Uh, a stinging nettle
Their hands on their thighs

Run if you stole a shard of sunlight
(Yeah, yeah)
Don't ever tell them, I've got your back
(Yeah, yeah)
Choking to tears with shards of sunlight
(Yeah, yeah)
Run if you stole a shard of sunlight
(Yeah, yeah)

Run if you stole a shard of sunlight
(Oh, run)
Don't ever tell them, I've got your back
(Save all you can)
Choking to tears with shards of sunlight
(Oh, you won't be found)
Run if you stole a shard of sunlight
(Oh, and never come back!)

It doesn't matter, does it?
(She'll never come back)
If I know any exit
(Won't be, won't ever come back)
If I believe in God and if God does exist
(Won't ever come back)
If I believe in God and if God does exist
(Oh, save us)

It doesn't matter, does it
(And never come back)
If I know any exit
(Oh, save us, oh)
If I believe in God and if God does exist
If I believe in God and if God does exist

God, God, God, God (x4)
Ooh, oh
Ooh

http://www.christineandthequeens.com/