Creep Serving a Higher Purpose, Truly

Netherlands television includes a kids version of the very popular television franchise The Voice. No doubt that much of what they present is middling at best – not unlike our stateside version. All of that only makes what happened on this night all the more spectacular.

Teen sisters Mimi (15) and Josefin (13) bring something telepathic between them in their rendition of Radiohead’s Creep as maybe only two gifted people who share 50% of their DNA can. And as good as their performance is – and it’s flawless – the stunned, gaped-mouth reactions of the judges, and the audience, only push it further into the stratosphere.

Rewatch it and note how the sisters look to one another nervously before they begin. What you’re watching is them each seeing the other in that way for the last time. Because in less than two minutes they’ll be forever changed as they step out of what may prove to be the greatest moment of their lives.

Mimi starts strong but it’s Josefin that gets the judges to slam the button. As it is with great talent, it only takes a fraction of a moment to realize what she’s bringing. Then, when those two voices come together and climb up into the first creep, everyone in the room feels the magic including the last holdout judges who slam in. Also, that lengthening of the creeps from the original was a touch of genius. It was their sucker punch and secret weapon. The judges agreed. Mimi comes in soon after with a screech that overdrives the drama. Their trick bag is loaded.

I’ve watched this many times now. Clearly, there are moments here that are untamable, unfakeable, and certainly unrepeatable. Their fresh-eyed joy as teenagers is completely infectious. There’s no denying that they’ve created something brilliantly incandescent here. I hope the hype that follows doesn’t crush them. The expectations will be brutal.

Good Charlotte

 I'll admit, I've long had a crush on Charlotte Gainsbourg. It may've started when I saw The Little Thief. (Isn't that the one where she hums Mozart and we first realize she's getting it on with the rake?)

(IMHO, the video above—a scene from the French film Happily Ever After—works much better with the acoustic version from Pablo Honey. You can see it for yourself here. The embedding has been disabled.)

At 40 she still holds to a preternatural lankiness in body and reediness in voice, none the worse for wear after squeezing out three kids. Though her beauty may be about half of Square-jawed Johnny's, Charlotte's less refined and slightly feral appearance works to much better effect. Her air-filled voice is like a whisperier, French-ified version of Nico (sort of). It's the kind of voice you'd love to hear coming from the next pillow. For me, it's just another layer of crush honey.

Not a lot happens in the scene above. Two people make a micro-connection while listening to the same band on headphones and share a few swollen looks. Despite her wedding-ringed finger, in her eyes we see her fall into the same collective Johnny Depp longing shared by another million less pedigreed girls. Girls who might cut themselves over the possibility of tonguing Mr. Depp's poorly-shaved visage. (What spikes my longing is the idea of a music store I wouldn't have to drive across town to get to.) The only vestiges of drama here come from the stalking camera angles up from the floor and from behind displays. All the while Thom Yorke croons. Fittingly, Creep is also a song about longing for the unattainable. I suppose a music store is a good locale for that: What lonelier big city feeling is there than seeing the empty bins of your favorite bands while everything plus remixes from, say, Miley Cyrus, is available in overabundance.

Charlotte from her new album Stage Whisper, her feral looks in full flower: