Vanessa Paradis - Les épines du coeur

A new video for a frankly funky piece by Vanessa Paradis from her 2025 album Le retour des beaux jours.

Les épines du Coeur follows Bouquet final which emerged as a clip in June, the album being released in October. Le retour des beaux jours is her eighth album, her first since 2018’s Les Sources.

She's a unique artist, who is probably one of the best-known French performers in the anglophone world on account of her early international hit. Although her status as a model and brand representative, her involvement with Johnny Depp and her acting career have probably helped maintain her profile outside France more than her subsequent musical career.

Paradis collaborated with Etienne Daho on the new album, Paradis having appeared on Daho’s 2023 album Tirer la nuit sur les étoiles, duetting with him on the album’s title track.

She’s touring extensively in arenas across France from March, two dates in May at the Zenith in Paris are already sold out.  

Additional dates later in the year include a show at the Accor Arena in Paris in November

M & Vanessa Paradis: La Seine

 Love this clip of M. M and Ms Paradis on a Facebook live.

Two talented artists in a relaxed and informal setting looking like they're genuinely having a lot of fun.

The song was originally from the soundtrack of the 2011 movie A monster in Paris. The soundtrack was, of course, originally created by M and Vanessa Paradis, La Seine being the stand-out track which was released as a single.

There's a lot to be said for artists being able to create their own broadcasts on platforms like Facebook. It's less formal and intrusive, and lets them perform in a comfortable and accessible environment even during the current Coronavirus restrictions. 

It may lack the budget of television or even the art and craft of some of the high-quality online session performances that have emerged in recent years, but it gives access to artists in a new way and allows them direct involvement in the creative process.

Hopefully we'll see much more of this kind of thing!

 

Vanessa Paradis: Ces mots simples

A new video by Vanessa Paradis for the track Ces mots simples, the first cut to emerge from her forthcoming new album.

While the song first emerged in September, the accompanying video came out just a couple of days ago.

The song was written by her husband Samuel Benchetrit, the video directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

It's a charming and low key song with a quite tasteful and minimal video by Mondino, an artist who has worked with some of the biggest names in music since the 80s, and most recently created the cover of the new Mylene Farmer album.

The new album by Vanessa Paradis sees her working with author and musician Fabio Viscogliosi, as well as Adrien Gallo from BB Brunes.

Her album Les Sources is due to be released on November 16 and is available to pre-order on digital platforms.

Vanessa Paradis: Ces mots simples

A new single from Vanessa Paradis, with the track Ces mots simples emerging ahead of the release of a new album later this year.

The song was written by her husband, film director Samuel Benchetrit. The couple met during the making of the movie Chien in 2016, Paradis starring in the film that Benchetrit directed.

While musically best remembered in the UK for a hit single she had in 1987 at the age of 14, Vanessa Paradis has gone of to a career that has seen the release of six studio albums so far, collections that have included collaborations with Serge Gainsbourg, M, Benjamin Biolay and Lenny Kravitz.

She's won multiple Victoire de la Musique awards over the years, including best female artist, best pop album, and best music video.

As an actress she's had similar success, from her César award for Most Promising Actress in 1990's Noce blanche to multiple awards for her performance in Café de Flore.

Her new album follows 2013's Love Songs, a double album produced by Benjamin Biolay that reached number one in France.

Les Sources is released on November 16.

Shy'm: Tandem

A new track by Shy'm, with the song Tandem one of two bonus tracks n a new Best Of album
marking the ten years of her career.

Her debut album  Mes fantaisies was realsed in 2006, her most recent 2014's Solitaire, a platinum selling album in France.

The song is of course a cover of a track initially recorded by Vanessa Paradis on her 1990 Variations sur le même t'aime album. It was written by Serge Gainsbourg.

The new version of the song comes from a forthcoming greatest hits CD by Shy'm, who is embarking on the second leg of a major tour.

The album À nos dix ans is released today amd Shy'm plays at Bercy in Paris on November 17 and 18.

Commercial break: Vanessa Paradis - Mi Amor

Another left-field but high profile sighting of some French music, with the song Mi Amor by Vanessa Paradis being used in the latest advertising campaign by perfume Chloé for their scent Love Story.

It's been around a few months, but I've only recentkly seen it in TV and on the cinema screen.

 Mi Amor was the third single from Paradis's 2013 Love Songs album.  It is a collection that was not only a successful comeback six years after her  last studio album, but it has proved to be a durable album of songs that have borne repeated listening well.

 Mi Amor was written by BB Brunes singer Adrien Gallo

Paradis has recently released a live collection documenting the  tour that followed the release of Love Songs.

Carl Barât Culturethèque interview

Nice to see a brief interview with Libertines legend Carl Barât talking about his French favourites.

He namechecks Brel, Dumas and Méliès, and discussed his working with Vanessa Paradis and Benjamin Biolay.

Barât  featured on the title track of Biolay's 2012 Vengeance album and on the track The Dark, It Comes from Paradis's 2013 Love Song album.

The interview was done by the good people at the Culturethèque French cultural website, who also posted an interview with Barât's fellow Libertine Pete Doherty in September last year.

Vanessa Paradis and Benjamin Biolay: Pas besoin de permis

A new video has emerged for the track  Pas besoin de permis by Vanessa Paradis and Benjamin
Biolay.

The song Pas besoin de permis is a previously unreleased track that emerged towards the end of her recent tour.

The pair collaborated for Paradis's Love Songs double album, a collection that sold over 200,000 copies, the singer subsequently embarking on a  major tour across France and elsewhere that saw her even perform in the UK over the summer

A live collection documenting her tour is due to be released at the end of the month, in a variety of editions including DVD and CD.

The new video comes ahead of the release of the live collection, and while the live collection looks back on the tour, the new song suggests that the successful collaboration between the two artists has a strong future.

Benjamin Biolay: La Révolution

An interesting archive clip of Benjamin Biolay has surfaced, with the song La Révolution from 1997 emerging
online.

Biolay is of course currently one of France's most successful solo artists, his 2012 Vengeance album his most recent.

He collaborated with Vanessa Paradis on her most recent album Love Songs and has previously worked with some of the biggest established names in French music including  Henri Salvador, Juliette Greco ,  Françoise Hardy and Carla Bruni.

He recently featured on the La Bande à Renaud compilation, with his interpretationof the Renaud song Deuxième génération.

The clip for  La Révolution  predates Biolay's 2001 Rose Kennedy debut album by several years.

The song La Révolution hasn't featured on his albums, and the video shows M. Biolay cutting a very different figure to the one he does now.

The track has not been made available to embed, but it can be seen here on YouTube

Live in London: Vanessa Paradis

An outing in London tonight for Vanessa Paradis, playing at the Forum as part of the extensive tour that
follows the relase of her Love Songs album last year.

It's a rare UK show for the singer, although she's still better known here as the former partner of Johnny Depp, fashion icon and singer of Joe Le Taxi in the 80s than for any of her recent musical work.

Love songs was given a good reception both critically and commercially, the album a  double LP produced by Benjamin Biolay.

Its three singles. Love Song, Mi Amor and Les espaces et les sentiments getting considerable attention, the album reaching number one in France.

She's got more live dates over the coming weeks, including her first show in Spain on June 26, playing at the Solidays festival in Paris on June 29.

Victoires de la Musique 2014

This weekend saw France's most significant music awards ceremony, with the Victoires de la Musique ceremony being held for the 29th time.

The good year for Stromae continues, with the Belgian picking up three awards, and Vanessa Paradis, Phoenix, Johnny Hallyday and Woodkid picking up some new ornaments for their trophy cabinets.

Male artist: Stromae
Female artist: Vanessa Paradis



Breakthrough album: La Femme - Psycho tropical Berlin



Breakthough artist: Woodkid

Chanson album: Stromae - Racine carrée



Rock album: Phoenix - Bankrupt

Urban music album: 1995 - Paris sud minuit


World music album: Ibrahim Maalouf - Illusions



Electronic or dance album: Kavinsky - Outrun

Original Song:  Johnny Hallyday - 20 ans


Musical / tour / concert: M - Îl(s)

Video: Stromae - Formidable



Music DVD: Shaka Ponk - Geeks on stage



It seemed a fairly obvious selection of winners. It wasn't hard to predict that Stromae might do quite well, for example.  But the list of winners doesn't really give the whole picture by any means, as there were some great performances during a programme that showcased some of the best music that France has to offer.



Among the performances were the likes of Cats on Trees, Zaz,  Etienne Daho, Indochine, Christine and the Queens and Grand Corps Malade, along with Vanessa Paradis, La Femme and Shaka Ponk.



I'm sure it's easy to criticise the list of winners, but the talent on show during the ceremony shows that French music is without a doubt in great shape and that there are acts that are not only delivering the best work of their careers at the moment and there are new acts creating some of the best work around.



In short, a great showcase for France's musical talent after what has been an historic year for French musical talent.

Vanessa Paradis: Mi Amor

A video for the track Mi Amor by Vanessa Paradis, her recently released single.

It's the third track from her Love Songs album to be released as a single since it came out last year.

The album was a continuation of her previous musical style but with a willingness to embrace more modern sounds.

The celebrity tabloids are reporting that Paradis has a new hair style, short brown and curly, with quite a different image from her look in the video.

It comes amid reports that her celebrity ex Johnny Depp is engaged to is new partner.

While it may be a change in her image, as an actress she'll be used to embracing new styles and if the success of her albun last year is anything to go by, she's going into 2014 on a high.

Vanessa Paradis: Love Songs

The new album by Vanessa Paradis - Love Songs - gets a UK release this week.

The double album came out in May in France, and the near-title track gave her a top ten hit in France, a fair achievement for an artist who despite her continued hight profile, hasn't released a full album in six years.

The new collection sees her work with a variety of collaborators including Benjamin Biolay.

While a UK release is unlikely to see the album repeat the success it enjoyed across the channel, it's always positive to see a French artist take the chance to release a French language album in the UK.

Paradis remains one of the French artist whose name is widely known in the UK, albeit for work decades ago, but the release of this new collection shows that the work she's doing now certainly deserves attention.

 If you want to take a more detailed look back at Vanessa's career, there's an article I wrote on the Institut Français' Culturethèque website here

Vanessa Paradis: Love Song (clip)

The video has emerged for the new Vanessa Paradis track Love Song.

 The song's been out for a while, and it's already been a top ten hit in France, the video, in all its day-glo psychedelic glory will probably help sell a few more copies of the track

 It comes just ahead of her new album, a double album entitled Love Songs, released on May 13.

Paradis has most recently been a face of clothes company H&M, and it's been six years since her last full album.

 If you want to take a more detailed look back at Vanessa's career, there's an article I wrote on the Institut Français' Culturethèque website here > 

 The new work sees her collaborate with a number of people, although principally with Benjamin Biolay, whom she appeared on the track Profite on his most recent album Vengeance that came out in November 2012.


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Benjamin Biolay: Profite

No sooner do I feature more details of the new Vanessa Paradis album that a video emerges of a track by Benjamin Biolay that she features on.

However, neither Paradis nor Biolay feature in the clip.

The song
Profite comes from Biolay's most recent collection Vengeance, released in November last year.

Its the second video to be released from the album, the track Aime mon amour coming out in October.

Biolay is of course one of the main collaborators on Paradis's new double album Love Songs, her sixth, due out in May. Biolay  writes, produces and also duets with Paradis on two tracks.

Biolay is on tour in France at the moment, with dates throughout the country and shows at festivals over the summer.

He also plays in London on June 27 and the Olympia in Paris on November the ninth

Vanessa Paradis: Love Songs

More details have emerged of the forthcoming Vanessa Paradis album Love Songs.

The singer, who has recently been seen in an advertising campaign for H&M, releases her new collection on May the 13th.

The first track Love Song has already been released as a single, reaching the top ten in France.

It's been six years since her last album Divinidylle, so the new release has certainly been long awaited by fans.

If you want to take a look back at Vanessa's career, there's an article I wrote on the Institut Français' Culturethèque website here >

The double album features 20 tracks, an extra two on the deluxe edition, and there are two duets, one with Benjamin Biolay - who produced the album - on the track Les roses roses, an another with former Libertine Carl Barât on The Dark, It Comes.

Biolay is one of the main songwriters, but there are also contributions from Mickaël Furnon, Mathieu Boogaerts, Adrien Gallo from BB Brunes and Ben Ricour. Paradis is involved in the wroting ofa number of songs, the track Doorway on her own, while Rocking Chair and Love Song are co-written with Biolay. Être celle is co-written with Marcel Kanche.

Meanwhile, the song New Year sees writing credits for Vanessa Paradis alongside ex-parter Johnny Depp and their daughter Lily Rose.

Vanessa Paradis: Love Song

Great to hear a new single by Vanessa Paradis, which comes out ahead of a new album to be released in May.

The track Love Song is a sophisticated slice of seriously funky electro and certainly a stylish return for the singer who has since the 80s been one of the iconic French music stars.

Her forthcoming album, her sixth studio collection, sees her collaborating with producer and composer Benjamin Biolay, along with musical input from Mathieu Boogaerts, Adrien Gallo and Carl Barât.

It's hard to believe listening to her new single that her most recent full studio album was her 2007 Divinidylle collection.

True, she's not exactly been idle in recent years, with a live album, an acoustic album and a very busy film career that amongst many highlights included her part in the animation Un monstre à Paris, which also saw the release of the song La Seine, one of the biggest selling singles of 2011 in France.

Listening to this new track she's obviously kept up with what's been happening in the world of music. Rather than taking things easy, she's taken up the challenge of releasing something with a freshness that artists half her age would be pleased with.

Her new album Love Songs, which is expected to be a double album, is released on May 13.

Vanessa Paradis is also reported to be touring in the Autumn.

Vanessa Paradis & Johnny depp

With the news that Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp have split, I though a look at her musical career was in order.

Most of the focus in news coverage on their split is in on Johnny Depp, without her career getting much of a mention. Depp and Paradis were together for 14 years, and have two children together.

Despite being a huge star in France, with a music and film career, she remains best known in the UK for a single released in 1987 when she was 14.

It reached number one in France, and number three in the UK, and remains one of the best known French language songs in recent years.

While none of her other work made such a mark outside France, her music career has continued there with some considerable success.

Following her 1988 debut album M & J that featured Joe le Taxi, her 1990 Variations sur le même t'aime album saw her collaborating with Serge Gainsbourg. The song Dis-lui toi que je t'aime probably being the best known from the collection.

Her third, self-titled album, was released in 1992. It saw her working with her then-partner Lenny Kravitz, leading to songs like Be My Baby, a top ten hit in the UK and another of her best-known works.

She didn't release a studio album again until 2000's Bliss, which included input from Matthieu Chedid (best known as -M- ) Chedid would go on to win two Victoires de la Musique awards that same year for his own work.

Johnny Depp also made a musical contribution to the album. Depp's musical ventures included playing with Oasis and in the band P, which he formed with Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers.

Bliss went on to be  a number one album in France, despite not having a hit single on a par with her previous albums.

Her next studio album came in 2007, with Divinidylle, her most recent studio work. The cover, a stylised portrait of her was pained by Johnny Depp. It again featured collaborations with Matthieu Chedid. It too was a number one in France.

Over and above her studio albums, there have been live albums, mostly coming out following a tour in support of her studio work, including Live in 1994, Au Zénith in 2001 and Divinidylle Tour in 2008. The most recent of these Une Nuit à Versailles came out in 2010 and featured acoustic interpretations of her work.

Most recently she recorded much of the soundtrack for the animation film A Monster in Paris, in which she also starred. The track La Seine - a collaboration with -M- a hit single for her in France.

Meanwhile, her acting career has seen her win a César Award for her part in Noce Blanche in '89 and a Genie Award and a Juntra Award for her part in 2011's Canadian film Café de Flore, with memorable parts along the way including The Girl on the Bridge (La Fille sur le pont) and the animation A Monster in Paris.

2011: Année Gainsbourg

With 2011 being the 20th anniversary of the death of Serge Gainsbourg, it was inevitable that there would be a number of 'commemorative' releases to mark the occasion.

Perhaps I'm just a fan, but it seens that the releases have been of a remarkably high standard, from the re-issue of Melody Nelson as a 2CD/DVD extended package, to the album by Lulu Gainsbourg of his father's work to the Alain Bashung release of his version of L'Homme à Tête de Chou, there have been a succession of works that have not only marked his anniversary, but also added significantly to his legacy.

Meanwhile, a great video has surfaced of Lulu Gainsbourg and Vanessa Paradis duetting on the Gainsbourg song Sous le Soleil Exactement.

Off Tv, Universal music group web channel was there to capture this unique music moment.

The duet took place at the Casino de Paris in November, at a concert that also saw -M- and Jane Birkin on stage celebrating the work of Serge, as well as Dani and Sly Johnson.

Gainsbourg had himself played the Casino de Paris, and Lulu's mother was pregnant with him at the time. Paradis of course having collaborated with Serge in his later years.

The performance could have been a rather stilted veneration of an icon, but a figure like Gainsbourg would probably sit uncomfortably on an altar, so this was a celebration rather than a memorial.

And one that marked the continued vigour of one of France's greatest ever musical legacies.

Vanessa Paradis and -M- sing La Seine in A Monster in Paris

If there is any contemporary French singer that is well known in the UK, it is Vanessa Paradis, on account of her late 80s/early 90s hits in the UK and her relationship with Johnny Depp.

She features in a new animated movie Un Monstre à Paris (A Monster in Paris), where she stars with Mathieu Chédid, better known as -M- , who also duets in this song, La Seine, from the soundtrack.

The 3D film, which is set in Paris in 1910 tells the story oa young film projectionist who along with inventor Raoul sets off to track down a monster that has been terrorising the city. They team up with Lucille, a cabaret singer, and an eccentric scientist and his monkey to save the monster from the local chief of police.

Others who lend their voices to the film include Matthew Géczy, Eric Judor and Ramzy Bedia.

The English language film also features Vanessa Paradis, but with other names including Catherine O'Hara, Danny Huston, and Adam Goldberg.

I'm not sure how they'll work songs into the English version, but if they miss them out it will be a pity. Be nice if they did an English audience version with the original singers, as it would give -M- a much- deserved higher profile outside the French-speaking (and French-singing) world.

It's a great song and if the English version of the film misses it out it will be much the poorer for it.

The film is directed by Bibo Bergeron, who has previously worked on films like Shark Tales and The Road to El Dorado, as well as Asterix in Britain and Asterix and the Big Fight.

The release of the film has been put back a couple of times, and was originally planned to have been released in April 2010, but is now expected to be released in October.