Qu'elle est ____, versus Elle est ______

Question

Yet another of the beautiful songs by my recently favorite French language singer, Angèle, has me confused by the lyrics. The song is Jalousie. Here is a link! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhhXegAbgrU.

The lyrics sing, "Jalousie me dit qu'elle est belle, qu'elle est belle" and later the same, except ending with either "qu'elle est là" or "qu'elle est seule."

If these mean, 'She is beautiful, she is here, she is alone' then what is the reason for the 'qu'? Why is it 'qu'elle' instead of just "Elle est belle" etc?

Second, how do you know whether "qu'elle est là" means 'she is here' versus 'she is there'? I thought here was 'ici'?

Again, thank you very much for helping me.

Answer 1

The meaning can't be but Jealousy tells me that she is beautiful and later Jealousy tells me that she is here but that is optional in English.

Here, là means close to the speaker (here), not away from her (there).

Answer 2

Jalousie me dit qu'elle est belle can be understood in two ways depending if it's direct or indirect speech (que/qu' may have multiple meanings and uses)

• Direct speech: "Jalousie me dit <<Qu'elle est belle>>" means

Jalousie tells me "she's so beatiful"

• Indirect speech: "Jalousie me dit qu'elle est belle" means

Jalousie tells me that she's beautiful

Now without the qu': "Jalousie me dit << Elle est belle >>", it would be direct speech for sure, meaning:

Jalousie tells me "She's beautiful"