Christine and the Queens, courtesy Paolo Roversi.

For someone from a country that loves to analyze art, French singer-songwriter Christine and the Queens is not one to be put in a box. Instead, the artist chooses to express himself through theatricality, authenticity and self-expression. Last year’s operatic and fantastical Redcar les adorables étoiles turned out to be the prelude to PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE.

The new album is more of an intensive soul search. It’s a love letter to both a love interest and the artist (born Héloïse Letissier) in the sense of a revelation. It has the feel of an awakening in an otherworldly ancient cathedral. The ’80s flamboyance, a recurring theme and inspiration in Christine and the Queens music, is still present here, but it’s presented in a drastically different way than the previous album.

Again taking on the persona of Chris (no longer Christine), Letissier’s vocals are sometimes heavenly and soft, and at other moments hauntingly robotic. But what truly shines through is the incandescent emotion; something in which he thrives as an artist. This is more powerful since this album is oftentimes stripped back, such as on “Flowery Days.” On this song, the only instruments accompanying the vocals are a simple piano and percussion. It lets Chris’ singing take center stage, sometimes layering multiple vocal tracks.

The first single, “To be honest” is no exception. Chris uses his vulnerability to tell a story of finding power in moments of insecurity, and how easy it can be to get lost when being made to feel small.

“Broken and yet tender/ Always in and always out/ Heading to the water/ Drowning in what it can hide,” Chris sings.

The song transitions seamlessly to penultimate track “I feel like an angel,” a chilling, joyous and triumphant revert to the ’80s sound for which Chris is known.

Madonna appears on three tracks: “Angels crying in my bed,” “I met an angel” and “Lick the light out.” Her strong presence balances out Chris’ energy beautifully, and it’s a sweet nod to the viral video of the two of them dancing together on stage in Paris back in 2015. In fact, some of the songs on this album evoke Ray-of-Light-era Madonna with their airiness and light synths. Bjork appears to be another influence.

New Jersey artist 070 Shake also shows up on two songs, including single “True Love,” where she and Chris explore how to love through music itself, alongside a deep backing track by Mike Dean, who coproduced the album with Letissier.

“Tears can be so soft,” also a single, is an addictive sensual ’90s-style downtempo song. The ballad muses on missing and reminiscing things both past and in the future, as well the healing power of the tears: “Tears are so soft/ When you dive in them/ Oh let them sail.”

“Full of Life,” on the other hand, samples Pachelbel’s “Canon In D,” with Chris echoing, “Pain shifting, rising.”

More often than not, Christine and the Queens have addressed gender identity and sexuality in the music. On PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE, we find Chris using the artistic process as a way to explore identity as a construct, and becoming more than ones’ physical self, jumping into the water and shedding all that was for the personal greater good – and for the art, of course.

This album (as was Redcar) is inspired by the play “Angels in America” by Tony Kushner, which focused on loss and the political and health-related turmoil of the AIDS epidemic. Just as with the play, the album is broken up into three separate parts, each seven songs (with exception to the last portion, which is six). It’s a raw, stripped back chapter in the story of Christine and the Queens, giving us a representation of the human experience—Chris’ experience.

Follow writer Vera Maksymiuk at Twitter.com/veramaksymiuk.