No hidden messages - Carla

2008-11-20 22:25

Rebekah Kebede

New York - Carla Bruni's new album shot to the top of the charts in France, but anyone looking for clues about her love life with her husband, French President Nicholas Sarkozy, won't have any luck.

"They are only songs. It's not so precise about life... It's not exactly your own real life," Bruni said during an appearance on NBC's Today Show on Wednesday.

Italian-born Bruni, a former supermodel-turned-pop singer who wed Sarkozy in February after a whirlwind romance, released her third album, Comme si de rien n'etait (As if nothing had happened), in July.

She performed live on the morning news show as part of a tour to promote the album.

Some of its lyrics have caused a stir and prompted a search for hints about past love affairs with intellectuals and rock stars, including Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, and her marriage to Sarkozy.

Some apprehension

One song with the lyrics "You are my drug, more lethal than heroin from Afghanistan, more dangerous than Colombian cocaine," prompted Colombia's government to criticise the song as "hurtful".

Bruni discouraged close analysis of the songs, describing them as simple folk songs that "you play just sitting in your living room... by the fireplace".

Bruni, who has two earlier albums, admitted to some apprehension about releasing the album after becoming France's first lady.

"At the beginning, I got worried that people might take it wrong, because they are not used to it. Usually first ladies have been supporting their husbands," Bruni explained.

"I thought that maybe for a woman nowadays, you know, it's important to have a job and to keep it," she added.

Bruni said France was enthusiastic about the election of Barack Obama and she is looking forward to meeting his wife Michelle.

"She looks like she's a great, strong intelligent woman," she said.

- Reuters