1996 Lyrics in English Pomme
Maladroitement means 'clumsily' or 'awkwardly'. It's a less common adverb that adds a nuanced layer to the lyrics.
In the song, Pomme sings, "Que, maladroitement, tu m'aimais" (That, clumsily, you loved me). This word beautifully captures the idea of someone expressing love in an imperfect, perhaps even hurtful, way, highlighting the complex relationship dynamics explored in the song.
"1996" is Pomme looking back at a painful relationship from her past, likely a parent or someone close from her childhood, and choosing to forgive them.
She opens with sense memories: a voice, tall pine trees, the cold. Then she names what actually happened — being hurt, fleeing through walls, feeling unprotected and "without armor" against someone who frightened her.
The turn is the chorus: she forgives them, twice over, because she has come to understand the person's cruelty came from their own inner struggle, not from anything she did. "It wasn't me you hated" reframes the whole song from a story about her wound into a story about their pain.
It's a quiet, generous song about the work of forgiving someone who hurt you as a child, without pretending the hurt wasn't real.
