Alizée Lyonnet (née Jacotey; born 21 August 1984), known professionally as Alizée, is a French singer and dancer. She was born and raised in Ajaccio, Corsica. She first became known with her winning performance in the talent show Graines de Star in 1999. While collaborating with Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat, she followed it with a series of albums that attained popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on NRJ, Europe 1, MTV, Virgin Radio, and many others. Throughout her career, many of her songs have been in top 25 hit lists on the record charts, including “Moi… Lolita”, “L’Alizé”, “J’en ai marre!”, “Gourmandises”, “Mademoiselle Juliette”, her cover version of “La Isla Bonita”, “Parler Tout Bas”, “Les collines” and “À cause de l’automne”. According to the IFPI and SNEP, Alizée is one of the best-selling female French artists of the 21st century, and is also the singer with most exports out of France.

Alizée entered the music business in 2000. She has since released six studio albums, the first two of which were composed by Laurent Boutonnat and written by Mylène Farmer. She studied 1 semester of philosophy. Her first album was Gourmandises, which received Platinum certification within three months of release. After its international launch in 2001, Gourmandises was a success both in France and abroad, earning Alizée the distinction of being the highest selling female French singer in 2001. The album featured her most successful single “Moi… Lolita” which reached number one in several countries in Europe and East Asia, in the UK the song was acclaimed by the New Musical Express who recognized it with a “Single of the Week” award. It became a rare example of a foreign-language song to chart highly in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 9.

Gourmandises was followed by a second studio album, Mes courants électriques, in 2003. Following its release, Alizée toured during the autumn of 2003, performing in 43 concerts throughout France, Belgium and Switzerland. Her fourth album titled Une enfant du siècle was released on 29 March 2010. In early 2011 she recorded a duet with Alain Chamfort for his new album Elle & lui. Alizée’s fifth studio album, 5 (2013) spawned two singles: “À cause de l’automne” and “Je veux bien”. She later collaborated on Olly Murs’s single “Dear Darlin'”. She participated in and won the TV dance contest Danse avec les stars (French version of Strictly Come Dancing). Following the success of Danse avec les Stars, Alizée had released her sixth album, Blonde (2014), in collaboration with Pascal Obispo. The album received mixed reviews and was not successful in sales.

Known to all her friends by her nickname “Lili”, Alizée began dancing early in life, and by age four was already proficient. During 1988–2000 she studied in what was then called Ecole de Danse Monique Mufraggi, a famous dance and theatre school in Ajaccio. In 1995, aged 11, she won a colouring competition with about 7,000 entrants organised by the (now defunct) French airline Air Outre Mer. Her design was used to paint the exterior of one of their airliners, subsequently named after her, for which Alizée won a vacation trip with her family to the Maldives.

In 1999, she appeared on the TV talent show Graines de Star, broadcast on Métropole 6. She initially intended to sign up for the programme’s dance contest, but that category was reserved for groups only. Alizée therefore joined the singing category instead, performing the song “Waiting for Tonight” by Jennifer Lopez and “Ma Prière” (a single released by Axelle Red in 1997). She went on to win the Meilleure Graine award for most promising young singing star of tomorrow.

Her winning performance was seen by veteran songwriters Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat, who were looking for a young, fresh voice to partake in their new project. They approached Alizée, and she was selected after studio auditions. The duo arranged her debut with a meticulously orchestrated launch, controlling her image and public appearances. In 2000, they produced her maiden album, Gourmandises which was a great success in France, Belgium, Germany, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. The first single, Moi… Lolita, resurrected the rich French musical tradition pioneered by Serge Gainsbourg in 1964 with the song Pauvre Lola, inspired by the celebrated novel Lolita, creating the image which defined Alizée in the early years of her career. She won an M6 award in 2000 and returned with a follow-up album, Mes courants électriques, in 2003. This second album was also quite successful, though less so than her first album. A video album shot during her European concert tour soon followed.

Alizée made her debut with the single Moi… Lolita, her most successful to date. It enjoyed success throughout most of Europe and parts of East Asia, reaching number one in several countries. The associated music video portrayed Alizée as an impoverished rustic teen visiting a dance club in the city with her little sister, pursued by a young man who had lent them the bus fare to get there, but whose romantic interest in her she never returned. The song was later used in the UK trailer of the 2006 film, A Good Year, and was a part of the film’s soundtrack.