ML is the moniker of Maria-Laetitia Mattern, a Belgian singer who was featured earlier on this blog. Her music and voice refer to Hardy, Feist, Jacklin. ‘La fête’ is a delicate song, written in one go on a national holiday, about how everyone around you is happy, and you’re just not feeling it.
Also very nice, from 2022, this collab with Flore Benguigui (ex-L’imperatrice):
Very tender song by Aure, a French singer who writes in French, Spanish and English. This track, from her upcoming album, is in French and English. “Two people are looking for shelter, and the storm is still close. This song evokes a flight and tries to capture the fleeting moment of a break in the clouds – uncertain how long it will last, yet filled with a particular kind of grace. English and French answer each other throughout, leaving us unsure whether we’re hearing two voices or just one, inviting the other to join in their escape.” explains the singer-songwriter.
There’s a guy with a fish head mask in this video by ‘franco-italienne’ artist Adèle Luisa. To show you she likes it odd, psychedelic even. The music is sunny, laaaaaaid back, you want spring to start early. Check out the four songs on her EP, released last December. And remember her, when the sun starts shining.
So, i got this cover of Françoise Hardy’s Message Personnel by ElodieO. An updated version, with the desperation of the original in tact.
It’s one of the most gorgeous songs of Hardy, and covered many times. Here are a handful of remarkable versions. Like this one, in English:
A duet version, by two great vocalists:
France covering Françoise:
This is what they call a ‘sad banger’, crying in the discotheque:
Lots of fx, almost shoegaze:
New name on the block (ok well, new to me, she’s been making records since 2020), with a lotta soul & sexuality. Oddly enough, this video is just a fragment of the full song:
This is the full song:
I was clicking away on Spotify, when I suddenly heard this GEM of a song by Kolinga. Kept listening. And again. What a voice. What emotional depth.
Kolinga writes about this track: ‘This is the most necessary song I have ever written. In the midst of perinatal grief, while I was still bleeding, these are the words and sounds I needed to put down. Amidst the taboo, the pain, the guilt that we are told never to feel. I wanted to bring all these emotions to life, to freeze them forever, not only for myself but also for all those who couldn’t do it, all those who no one wanted to listen to. This song is also for that wonderful soul who did me the honor of accompanying me on this journey, a request for forgiveness on behalf of our societies that violently reject everything that cannot be seen. All this, in the most complete vulnerability of just a guitar and a voice.’
Are we @ FillesSourires HQ shocked that an artiste called Sale Gamine releases a song about cunnilingus? Surely not. La langue au chat (which means a lot of things in French, from ‘I give up’ to, exploring a partner’s private parts with your mouth) is the new, punching hit by Sale Gamine. Clip is coming up, until then:
Belgian singer Selah Sue recorded a cover of the Gainsbourg-penned Harley Davidson for a new documentary on Bardot. It sounds very 90s rock-triphop:
Of course, it’s not the first Harley Davidson version. Here are a few strong versions. This one by Mick Harvey & Anita Lane:
This one by Canadian duo Lola Dutronic, electronic, fetish-y:
From the just released new album by Waxx. All covers, ranging from Seal’s Kiss from a Rose to this classic by Joe Dassin (with the lovely Lubiana).