Despite receiving a lukewarm reception in France, they have become one of the most successful French-language musical groups in the U.S. Apart from their two albums, they have also made appearances on songs by the Black Eyed Peas, Talib Kweli, and Yerba Buena.
Website: http://www.lesnubians.org/
September: Third Album "Nü Revolution" is released!
An unconventional female duo that came out of Bordeaux, France, in the 1990s, Les Nubians offered a jazzy, sophisticated style of R&B that combined French lyrics with the influence of Sade, Soul II Soul, hip-hop, and African pop. The duo consists of sisters Helene and Celia Faussart, who were born in France to a French father and a Cameroonian mother. After living in France as children, the siblings moved with their parents to the African country of Chad in 1985, when Helene (born 1975) was ten and Celia (born 1979) was six. The sisters lived in Chad for seven years before returning to France as teenagers. Helene and Celia had been singing most of their lives, and when they first formed Les Nubians, they were an a cappella group that specialized in covers of R&B, reggae, and African songs. Eventually, they started working with bands and performing original material. Helene and Celia absorbed a variety of music along the way, and they have expressed admiration for artists ranging from Ella Fitzgerald and Abbey Lincoln to the Fugees and African icons Miriam Makeba and Fela Kuti. Their promising debut album, Princesses Nubiennes, was released by Virgin worldwide in France, Switzerland, and Belgium in June 1998 before coming out on Omtown/Higher Octave in the U.S. in September of that year. It became America's most successful French-language album in more than a decade, and Les Nubians also graced recordings by Talib Kweli and Black Eyed Peas, as well as a Red Hot tribute to Fela Kuti, Red, Hot & Riot. Sessions for their second album brought the pair to Jamaica, Cameroon, London, and Paris, including a host of intriguing collaborators: top underground rapper Talib Kweli, fellow Cameroonian Manu Dibango, pianist Ray Lema, and broken-beat maestro IG Culture. The results appeared as One Step Forward, released in March 2003 by Higher Octave. In 2004, they recorded the track "Going All the Way" featuring reggae star Beres Hammond for UNITY: The Official Athens 2004 Olympic Games album. In 2005, Les Nubians issued Nubians Present Echoes, Chapter One, a collection of spoken word pieces by poets and hip-hop artists from the U.S., France, and Africa. The duo also covered "With or Without You," for inclusion on the compilation In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2, in 2008. Les Nubians finally re-entered the recording studio in 2010, emerging with the EP Nü Revolution Nubiatic in the latter part of the year and the full-length, Nü Revolution in the spring of 2011. ~ Alex Henderson and Thom Jurek, Rovi
One Step Forward
Les Nubians Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Quand il faut juste les jeter
J'ai oublie de vivre
Je survis
Oublie de vivre
Ma vie
Et je survis
Dans une cage de stress
Le regard eteint, un spliff à la main
Je m'oublie, je n'entends plus rien
Tout est ennui, tout n'est qu'envie
Et ces bonheurs qu'on m'a promis
Où sont-ils ?
Le ciel m'a puni
Les anges ont-ils brûle mes ailes ?
Et j'implore le ciel qu'il m'entende
Qu'en cet instant meme
Il me rende
Ma joie
De vivre
One step forward
2 steps backward
One step forward
3 steps backward
One step forward
4 steps backward
One step forward
Meme les caresses n'ont plus le goût do miel
Je drive dans des vies qui ne sont pas les miennes
A trop fermer les yeux
On devient sourd
Et l'amour se perd dans les detours
Do silence
Et see'est ça qui blesse
De l'absence, de la distance
Perte d'assurance
Trouver le moyen
De reprendre consistance
De me sourire
De me lever vetue demain de ma confiance
Pour paver d'or le chemin
Que les anges me rendent mes ailes.
Et j'implore le ciel qu'il m'entende
Qu'en cet instant meme
Il me rende
Ma joie
De vivre
One step forward
2 steps backward
One step forward
3 steps backward
One step forward
4 steps backward
One step forward
Les Nubians's song "One Step Forward" speaks about a person who is struggling with their life and seems to be lost. The lyrics suggest that the person is trying to get rid of the old debris in their life but is too afraid to do so. They feel like they have forgotten to live their life to the fullest and are just going through the motions. The person's life is consumed by stress and sadness, and even drugs can't help them escape these feelings.
In the second verse, the person realizes that they have been living someone else's life and not their own. They have been blind to their own desires and love is lost in the detours they have taken. The person has lost their confidence and is looking for a way to get it back. They want to pave their own way with gold and regain their wings so they can fly once again.
The chorus repeats "One step forward, two steps backward" to show that the person is trying to move forward but is constantly facing setbacks. This line could also suggest that they are taking small steps towards their goal, but the setbacks are slowing them down.
Overall, "One Step Forward" is a song about self-discovery, personal growth, and overcoming obstacles to live your best life.
Line by Line Meaning
Rever d'vouloir virer de vieux debris
Dream of wanting to get rid of old debris
Quand il faut juste les jeter
When you just need to throw them away
J'ai oublie de vivre
I forgot to live
Je survis
I survive
Oublie de vivre
Forgotten to live
Ma vie
My life
Et je survis
And I survive
Dans une cage de stress
In a cage of stress
Effluves d'ivresse et de tristesse
Fumes of drunkenness and sadness
Le regard eteint, un spliff à la main
The look gone, a joint in hand
Je m'oublie, je n'entends plus rien
I forget myself, I hear nothing anymore
Tout est ennui, tout n'est qu'envie
Everything is dullness, everything is just wanting
Et ces bonheurs qu'on m'a promis
And those happinesses that were promised to me
Où sont-ils ?
Where are they?
Le ciel m'a puni
The sky has punished me
Les anges ont-ils brûle mes ailes ?
Have the angels burned my wings?
Et j'implore le ciel qu'il m'entende
And I implore the sky to hear me
Qu'en cet instant meme
That in this very moment
Il me rende
It returns to me
Ma joie
My joy
De vivre
Of living
One step forward
One step forward
2 steps backward
2 steps backward
One step forward
One step forward
3 steps backward
3 steps backward
One step forward
One step forward
4 steps backward
4 steps backward
One step forward
One step forward
Meme les caresses n'ont plus le goût do miel
Even the caresses no longer taste like honey
Je drive dans des vies qui ne sont pas les miennes
I drive in lives that are not mine
A trop fermer les yeux
By closing the eyes too much
On devient sourd
We become deaf
Et l'amour se perd dans les detours
And love is lost in the detours
Do silence
Of silence
Et see'est ça qui blesse
And that's what hurts
De l'absence, de la distance
Of absence, of distance
Perte d'assurance
Loss of confidence
Trouver le moyen
Find a way
De reprendre consistance
To regain consistency
De me sourire
To smile at myself
De me lever vetue demain de ma confiance
To rise tomorrow dressed in my confidence
Pour paver d'or le chemin
To pave the way with gold
Que les anges me rendent mes ailes.
May the angels return my wings to me.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Celia Victorine Faussart, ,helene Martine Faussart, Ian Grant
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind