If you have been following me on Instagram in the past few months, or if you’ve talked to me once or twice, you’d know that I’m completely in love with French music, whatever tidbits I've heard of. I’ve been slowly collecting my favourite little pieces and normally I wouldn’t share because I like things to remain mine but why the fuck not?
If you’re wondering where this love stems from, Paris is my dream city, I’d really go right now if I could. If in the coming time we become friends, I’ll tell you the embarrassing scenarios I’ve thought of.
And I’m quite serious about moving to Paris too, once I’m done leaning Korean to an acceptable level, (lower/higher advanced at least) I’m going to learn French. [There’s a thick book on French Poetry kept on my bedside table and I’m devouring it slowly though the translations don’t seem as appealing.]
Paris seems magical, you know? I know it’s a real city and my expectations probably won’t be met, but what if? You never know.
I don’t know nearly enough about the culture or the people to be analysing and presenting an article on it like I’ve done with K-Pop so I’m going to give you eight of my favourite French songs, with excerpts that I imagine playing in my head when I listen to them.
Let’s experience it all, shall we?
Spotify Link.
Apple Music Playlist Link.
1: 1,2,3 by Amel Bent & HATIK:
(This is that one song that is in my Instagram stories the most.)
You’re in love with someone who has a questionable, morally grey job. He’s saved your life enough times for you to be madly in love but he never seems to show what feels, even though you have an idea that he might feel the same. You keep telling him time and time again that you want to be with him but he never quite reciprocates. Not by his words and not by his actions. It’s such a shame that you don’t know every time he’s tried to buy you flowers, finally trying to let you in after the countless times he’s told himself he does not deserve you, the night has ended with another cold blooded murder. He had no choice, it was you or the world. And he’d always choose you.
[For English lyrics, click here.]
2: Un Homme by Jérémy Frérot
(This is for the FEW men who’re trapped in the different notions of what’s right, and what they’re taught.)
After years of training and drilling into your skull about your manhood and how you’re meant to be a savior for everyone, because you’re a man, you’ve sublimated into a routine of thinking about your free will as a supposed being on the top of the food chain, as you carry out the orders from the world’s expectation. It feels like you’re emerging out of water after so long, you’ve forgotten what the gravity of being a saviour and being the one who does right by everyone feels like. It’s dragging you down, but you’re hoping, in an ironical turn of events, that if it’s no one else that you’re capable of saving in the end, you can at least save yourself.
[For English lyrics, click here.]
3: Ivre by Marie Plassard
The ding of the luxurious elevator you’re in snaps you out of the repeating whispering remnants of every rumour, every taunt, and every derogatory comment you’ve heard today from everyone you know. They’re probably right. You know it a little too well. They’re right. You both won’t have a happy ever after. You can’t even agree on an ice cream flavour. But you still stand in front of his door, a prelude to the kind of evening that marks the only connection you both have left, a fragile thread joining you both. He opens the door to mirror the same expression as yours. He’s had a bad day too, what a fucking relief. It’s ironic that this is the only time you can remember being on the same page in a while. The night seems to grow darker and his eyes speak of an impendence.
“Tomorrow,” you whisper with all the longing of a future too far away wrapped around a single word.
“Tomorrow,” he whispers back, and let’s you in.
[For English lyrics, click here.]
4: Nombreux by Angèle
I’ve come to the realisation that it’s not the toxicity I’m attracted to, not the volatile, though it’s probably a little late to know this now. It’s the hope in midst of the destruction and devastation, the lies and trickery. Like the theme song of a villain with a few seconds of beautiful piano melodies right after the crescendo. The human emotions of protectiveness, of care, and of sincerity. The hopelessness that reflects for just a second before everything goes to shit, the mirror of the question “How the fuck did I get here?”, that quickly is masked by “It doesn’t matter now.” The sharp splinters of morality cutting through sin just enough to feel, but never show.
So when he comes to me after the murders he’s committed, after every time I’ve told myself I’ve had enough, after every wound that I have the scars to show for, after the destruction of everything I was. When he comes to me, I hear the piano.
-meera// i just can’t tell if it is love, or the melody played at a funeral
(This is a piece I’ve written under the name ‘toxicity’. It’s here on the website.)
[For English lyrics, click here.]
5: Cœur noir by Eva
As the flight starts to take off, you breathe a sigh of relief. You’re finally leaving everything that happened behind. You’re done. You’re free. You don’t have to think about him or his new conquest anymore. You don’t have to be on the lookout. His last endeavour didn’t go quite well, you’re not an easy casualty after all. You suspect he’ll get right back at it to soothe his ego when suddenly a whiff of a cologne he wore sweeps up your entire resolve. Your blood goes cold as very specific memories run through your mind, souvenirs of your blind idiocy. One would expect that you’d feel nostalgia, probably wonder what could’ve been. That one would be wrong. There might be some feelings of wishful thinking somewhere buried deep within but the white hot anger is coating your entire body with a hum of an energy so strong you’re worried you’ll explode. And just then, a notification dings on your phone when you’re just about to turn it off.
It’s from him.
[For English lyrics, click here.]
6: à perte de vue by Pomme
The brave maniac sailor fought everyone to find the treasure that was never his to find. He sacrificed people and their trust that were never his to give up. The oceans rebelled, the moon shone too bright. His ship wrecked, his bones weak, but his eyes ever so sharp as he sees a siren sitting on a rock in the middle of the monster that surrounded all of him and the last of his possessions. She sings a song about fate and defeat, her voice the silk of the sand that he hasn’t felt in months. He gets lost in the words, in her voice, in her beauty. Too entranced to notice she’s singing about his final demise, a giant shadow lurking just below his ship. It’s finally going to be over.
[For English lyrics, click here.]
7: Je Te Laisserai Des Mots by Patrick Watson-
She writes a love poem to the one she can never have, admiring his kind eyes, the mischievous smile, and the soul full of love from a distance.
[English lyrics are included in the video below.]
Wasn’t that just the greatest self-promo?
Hehehehe.
Alright, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the songs. I’m so glad I could share them with you!
If you liked this, please do share it with your friends. I do have a novella currently being written and being released chapter wise.
I think it’s a pretty interesting novel but what do I know, except the rest of the story and all the major twists. Oh, well.
Hope to see you here again!
Love,
Meera.
