The song was a standalone single when it was released in July 1989, as it was previously unavailable on Farmer's albums, apart from a live version on En Concert.

Farmer would probably wrote the lyrics of "À quoi je sers..." during this tour, as she was incredibly surprised by her success on stage and she expressed doubts about the direction of her musical career.

[2] Mais mon Dieu de quoi j'ai l'air Je sers à rien du tout Et qui peut dire dans cet enfer Ce qu'on attend de nous, j'avoue... French author Erwan Chuberre said "À quoi je sers..." is "a song with desperate lyrics but a dance rhythm that incorporates one of the favorite phrases of depressive people".

[8] The black and white cover's photograph shows Farmer in her dressing room after one of her concerts at the Palais des Sports (Paris) drying a tear with a handkerchief.

It is a Requiem Publishing production which was shot for two days in August 1989 on the Lac de Grand-Lieu (Loire Atlantique, France), with a budget of about 30,000 euros.

A man with large dark circles around his eyes appears on a boat through the fog and Farmer climbs aboard, sits down and seems to be very sad and thoughtful.

[1][13][14][15] According to some analyses, the video is based on the text La Maison des morts, composed by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire.

In this case, the pond would represent the death;[16] it also may be an allegory of the Styx, one of the rivers of Hell in Greek mythology, referring to the Farmer's passage from world of the living to that of the dead.

[17] As for the walk of the characters in the pond at the end of the video, it would evoke the idea that everyone is forced to continue his own life with his memories and his anxieties without asking too many questions.

[19] Graffiti described "À quoi je sers" as "a fluid, slight and fast unforgettable song (...) which will arouse the interest of the crowds".

In the lyrics, it addresses the theme of the singer's artistic death:[3] Farmer personifies her experience of the stage in May 1989, which was her first tour, under the traits of this insect and lists some of its characteristics.