Jenifer Yaël Dadouche-Bartoli (born on 15 November 1982 in Nice), better kn… Read Full Bio ↴Jenifer Yaël Dadouche-Bartoli (born on 15 November 1982 in Nice), better known as simply Jenifer, is a pop singer who has, since 2002, had a number of hit singles in the French and Swiss charts.

Living on the Côte d’Azur with her younger brother, Jonathan, her Jewish Algerian father (Michel Dadouche) and her half-Corsican, half-Belgian mother (Christine Bartoli), Jenifer came to inherit her family’s love of music. Her father got her listening to James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Janis Joplin while her mother introduced her to the ‘chanson’ classics of Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour and Serge Gainsbourg. Meanwhile, Jenifer’s maternal grandmother initiated her into the art of Corsican polyphonic music.

When Jenifer turned seven, her parents treated her to her first course of singing lessons. And the budding young singer took whatever opportunity she could to exercise her vocal talent, singing in the shower, with street buskers and at all the talent contests organised in the region. In 1993, Jenifer got to support C.Jérôme in concert when the latter performed at a Bastille Day firemen’s ball in Corsica (where the family holidayed every summer). By the age of thirteen, Jenifer had vowed to become a professional singer one day. She participated in the Graines de star television broadcast in 1997, but this was a failure.

Jenifer decided to go to Paris and attend the casting for the first series of Star Academy in France . She was selected, and eventually won. The hit single "J'attends L'amour" (I'm waiting for love) soon followed. After the tour with her band that followed her victory, she went on the road as a solo artist from October 2002 until January 2003, and eventually performed at the Paris Olympia, which she had dreamed of as a child.

Her debut self-titled album went on to sell over three quarters of a million copies. The album featured a song written by Marc Lavoine and a duet with fellow Star Academy student Mario. The second single "Au Soleil" became one of the "tubes de l'été" (Summer hits) of 2002 in France. The album was re-released later to include two new tracks: "Entre Humains" and "Des Mots Qui Résonnent". The latter became her third top ten single in France and Jenifer stated that it was more her style of music, being more pop/rock. Finally a fourth song, the ballad "Donne Moi Le Temps" was released. The re-released album sold over a million copies.

In 2004 Jenifer returned onto the scene with her second, more personal, melancholy album "Le Passage". Among others, this album contained songs written by Calogero, Kyo, Tina Arena and one song Jenifer co-wrote. This album contains the singles "Ma Révolution" (My Revolution), "Le Souvenir De Ce Jour" (The Memory of This Day), "C'est De L'Or" (It's Golden) and "Serre Moi" (Hug me). The album was supported by an extensive tour across France and was followed by the release of a live album "Jenifer Fait Son Live" and an accompanying DVD.

Jenifer previously lived with Maxim Nucci, the author-composer with whom she has had one child, named Aaron, who was born on 5 December 2003. The couple separated around the end of 2005 but have since reunited. She has stated that she also wants to produce music in English outside of France.

2006 was a quiet year for Jenifer, the singer making only a few public appearances at award ceremonies, “Enfoirés” concerts and other charity fund-raising shows. That summer, she dubbed the female lead in the French version of the animated film “Over the Hedge”, posing for a series of promotional photos with the American actor Bruce Willis who was involved in dubbing the American version.

Jenifer’s third album, "Lunatique", a vibrant mix of pop, reggae, ska and ‘60s rock, hit record stores on 12 November 2007. The 24-year-old singer was joined in the studio by two VIP collaborators: the French actor Guillaume Canet (who guested on "Nos futurs") and her friend, the singer and musician M who added his famous pink guitar to "Touche-moi" and the album’s title track.

Là Où Tu Rêves
Jenifer Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Même si certain sourires
Nous peinent
Quand la différence les gêne
Comment sentir moins de haine
Et pardonner
Quand les nuances
De ton histoire
Trop souvent te laissent à part

Que les autres te trouvent bizarre
Sans même t´aimer

{Refrain:}
Là où tu rêves
Là où tu vis
Nos larmes se meurent
Un monde se lève
Refait d´envies
Et de lueurs
Là où tu rêves
Là où tes cris
Ne font plus peur
Dans tes sommeils
Soudain tes nuits
Ont moins de pleurs

Même si l´oubli parfois t´appelle
Ton désert est moins rebelle
Que leur ignorance cruelle
Qui t´a caché
Mais où se trouve la différence
Dans l´injustice et l´absence
Quand leurs gestes prennent
La distance sans même t´aimer

{au Refrain}

A qui faut-t-il qu´on ressemble?
A qui faut-t-il qu´on ressemble?

{au Refrain}

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Jenifer's song "Là Où Tu Rêves" address the struggles of being different and experiencing rejection or isolation as a result. The first stanza acknowledges that some smiles can be hurtful when they come from people who are uncomfortable or judgmental about what makes someone unique, and asks how it's possible to feel less hate and forgive when the various shades of one's story often leave them feeling left out and strange to others. The chorus offers a vision of hope in a place where individual dreams and lives can come together without tears, a world that's built on desires and light. The second verse notes that even though forgetting one's differences can sometimes seem appealing, it's ultimately easier than dealing with the cruel ignorance of those who have hidden someone away because of those differences. The bridge poses the question of who people are supposed to look like or be like, but the chorus returns to the idea that in the space where one dreams, one can find a way to live free of fear and suffering.

Line by Line Meaning

Même si certain sourires
Even if some smiles

Nous peinent
Cause us pain

Quand la différence les gêne
When the difference bothers them

Comment sentir moins de haine
How to feel less hatred

Et pardonner
And forgive

Quand les nuances
When the nuances

De ton histoire
Of your story

Trop souvent te laissent à part
Too often leave you aside

Que les autres te trouvent bizarre
That others find you strange

Sans même t´aimer
Without even loving you

{Refrain:}
Refrain