“It’s a song that speaks of energy and resilience”: the singer Gala is “happy” to see her 1996 hit “Freed from desire” taken up by the French team (and many others) at the World Cup in Qatar.
We saw on social networks Kylian Mbappé and his band sing the chorus in the locker room after the victory in the round of 16 against Poland then against England in the quarter-finals.
The track was also chosen by the teams of Switzerland, Poland and England for their entry into the stadium during the competition.
It had been adopted by supporters of the Northern Ireland football team at Euro-2016, by those of the English club of Wigan, AC Milan. It also served as a soundtrack to English boxer Tyson Fury, among others.
“It’s not just the song of the winners, it’s that of the outsiders too, I even saw it taken up by supporters of Paquito Navarro, who had just lost in padel (racquet sport)”, recalls the singer. “And sung at the same time by supporters of two Australian rugby teams who are supposed to hate each other.”
“I’m happy that the French players sing it, because France has always received me well, I’ve been a diamond here and I’m there right now, but this song has had many other lives, has united so many different people, that’s what makes me happy,” she continues.
“Freed from desire” reads like a feminist anthem.
“Everyone says that, but initially it’s not feminist,” said AFP Gala, a singer born in Italy, who has lived in the United States and now spends time in Paris.
It’s a little-known story. At the age of 13, a doctor in Italy diagnoses her with a back problem and assures her that she will never be able to be a dancer, the dream of her life. But later in the United States, as she studies the photo, another doctor tells her that nothing can stop her from dancing.
The text, a hymn to liberation, has also been endorsed as she says by “the LGBTQIA + community or even environmental defenders, because the race for consumption is leading the planet to its loss”.