"Les Mots" (English: "The Words") is a 2001 song recorded as a duet by the French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer and the English soul singer Seal. It was the first single from her best of album, Les Mots, and was released on 13 November 2001. It was Farmer's third duet, after those with Jean-Louis Murat in 1991 and Khaled in 1997, and her first international duet. "Les Mots" is a bilingual song, containing verses in French (sung by Farmer) and in English (by Seal). In terms of sales, "Les Mots" is Farmer's fourth biggest success in France, behind "Désenchantée", "Pourvu qu'elles soient douces" and "Sans contrefaçon". Background and writing In October 2001, the release of the second single from the live album Mylenium Tour, "Regrets", was cancelled because sales of the previous live single "Dessine-moi un mouton" were disappointing (however, the video of "Regrets" was shown for one week on M6). But since the summer, various rumours were launched on the Internet about her next single. Some said that she would record a song as a duet with an international star, perhaps Bono (singer of U2) or Elton John, since they are close friends of the singer. Seal was eventually chosen to sing with Farmer and, on 10 October, the promotional CD single of "Les Mots" was sent to radio stations. In an interview, Seal explained that Farmer had proposed to record a single as a duet with him. He felt flattered, but as he knew nothing about Farmer, he watched her DVD and listened to her albums to see if their voices blended well. Cover photographs and the recording were made in Los Angeles while Farmer was visiting the city. However, Seal said in another interview that he did not want to record other duets of the same kind because, according to him, his fans did not appreciate "Les Mots" and have called this collaboration a "trick". Three new photos made by Isabel Snyder, showing a half-naked Farmer in Seal's arms, were used as cover for the single. The only official remix available on the media, the "strings's for soul mix", was directed by Laurent Boutonnat. Following the success of the song, a CD maxi was launched in Europe about one year after the release of the single, which contained as a third track the single version of Farmer's previous single, "L'Histoire d'une fée, c'est...". Music and lyrics This melancholy