Emji: Lost

A new EP by singer Emji, with the track Lost released as a clip to promote it.

The 27 year old Parisian was a winner of the most recent series of TV series Nouvelle Star.

The new EP, entitled Préliminaires, follows her debut EP which came out at the end of April. It featured some of her performances on the series, with versions of the songs Toxic, Crazy in Love,  Chandelier, The Show Must Go On along with the the title track Toboggan.

Her appearance in the final saw her interpret Toboggan, as well as Kiss song I Was Made for Lovin' You, the Bjork track Bacherlorette and Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. An eclectic selection for sure.

Her debut album, Folies Douces, is expected to be released in January 2016 and before then she has a series of live dates, including  a sold-out show in Paris at the Café De La Danse tonight and another at L'Alhambra on April 6.

Emji: Dur dur

 A new single by Emji, with the kind of a video that's not a million miles away from something that Mylene Farmer might come out with.

Emji was the winner of the most recent series of Nouvelle Star, the reality TV show. The final of the show saw her perform songs by Kiss, Leonard Cohen and Bjork. Nothing if not a varied selection.

The new single follows the relase of her Toboggan EP wich came out in April, featuring the title track that she performed on the show, along with covers of Crazy In Love, Toxic, the Show Must Go On and Chandelier, all tracks that she performed during the season of the show.

Dur Dur will feature on her debut album, which she is currently working on. 

She's touring in October with a show in Paris at the café de la dance on October 19.

Julien Doré: LØVE LIVE

A new live collection has been released by Julien Doré, documenting his tour that followed the release of his 2013 LØVE album.

That album spawned the hit singles Chou wasabi and Paris-Seychelles and went on to sell over 200,000 copies.

An extensive tour followed, and the show at the Bikini in Toulose in 19 juin 2014 has now been released as a CD and DVD, the new collection being somewhat aptly entitled LØVE LIVE.

Doré is of course a previous winner of the Nouvelle Star TV series, coming first in 2007. Since then he's developed into one of France's most interesting artist

If you like what you see and hear, Doré is playing live over the next few months in France and Switzerland.

Doré plays Le Grand Rex in Paris on March 4, and returns to play at the Zênith on April 11.

Before then though he is set to perform at the Victoires de la musique awards on February 13.

Luce: Polka

A new single and clip by the singer Luce entitled Polka.

Luce, Lucie Brunet to give her full name,  was one of the artists who originally came from the Nouvelle Star TV show, winning  through the 2010 season of the programme

The Perpignan born singer , performed songs by France Gall, Dutronc and Édith Piaf in the rounds of the show, along with songs by Tina Turner, Christina Aguilera and The Mamas and the Papas.

She performed Brel's Ne me quitte pas and -M-'s Je dis aime in the final.

She released her first album, Première Phalange, in 2011, reaching number 11 in the French charts.

Polka is a quirky and likeable number, not a million miles away from the likes of Zaz, with an appropriately charming video.

The song features on her album, entitles Chaud, which is expected to be released on February 23.

Julien Doré: Chou Wasabi

I forgot to give a mention to the new single Chou Wasabi by Julien Doré when it first came out, so no
 time like the present to catch up.

The track features Doré duetting with Australian singer Micky Green and it was included  on his Løve album, a top five hit in France, which came out in October last year.

Since its release the album has gone double platinum in France, selling over 200,000 copies.
Choux Wasabi is the third single to be released from the collection.

Doré first established himself as an artist when he won the fifth season of TV talent show Nouvelle Star in 2007.

He's since released three albums, each showing that he's a much more interesting artist than his TV heritage might at first suggest.

Doré plays three sold-out shows at the Olympia in Paris on November 15,16 and 17.

 

Camélia Jordana: Ma Geule

A suitably atmospheric  video for the song Ma Geule by singer Camélia Jordana.

The singer from Toulon came to the public's attention when she came third in Nouvelle Star in 2009. Her debut album came out in 2010, the collection reaching the top ten in France.

Her debut single Non Non Non (Écouter Barbara) reached the top three in France.

Ma Geule is an interesting track, a soulful trip hop affair that perhaps expresses some of her experience as a French person of Algerian origin.

The track comes from her second album, Dans la peau, which is out on September 15.

Amandine Bourgeoise: Ma Gueule

A new track ahead of the release of Amandine Bourgeoise's new album Au Masculin, an album that collects
her versions of songs made famous by male artists.

The first is Ma Gueule, a song that has become one of Johnny Hallyday's key songs.

Bourgeoise represented France at the Eurovision song Contest last year with the song l'enfer et moi, and while not winning, certainly gave a good account of herself in front of an international audience.

The choice of a song by Johnny Hallyday is an interesting choice for  afirst track from the album to be released, as she supported Hallyday at a number of his shows during his L'attente tour.

Bourgeois was the winner of the sixth series of Nouvelle Star, the French version of the TV series Pop Idol, in 2008.

Other tracks on the album, the singer's third,  include L'eau a la bouche, the Serge Gainsbourg song, and Alors on danse by Stromae.

The album is due to be released on May 5.

New: Julien Doré - Kiss Me Forever

A new video by Julien Doré, for the song Kiss Me Forever, a song from his new album Bichon.

The album was released on March 21, and is the follow-up to his debut album Ersatz, which reached number two in France on 2009, the song Les Limites making it to number one.

Not bad for the winner of TV talent show Nouvelle Star - the French version of the UK's Pop Idol - which Doré won in 2007.

While Will Young has gone on to have a music career in the UK, Michelle McManus, the other Pop Idol winner, has in recent years concentrated on her TV career in Scotland.

I can't imagine any TV talent show winner in the UK coming up with something like this, perhaps the kind of thing that someone like Jarvis Cocker might come up with, with a not to Sébastien Tellier and Serge Gainsbourg.

It's both pretty funny and pretty clever, but given that he covered Alizée's Moi...Lolita and Britney Spears's Baby one More Time on Nouvelle Star he certainly showed a sense of humour and a self-awareness that the likes of Darius were lacking in the UK version of the show.

The album cover is great, but I wonder how many listeners outside France don't realise he's being perhaps just a little bit tongue in cheek.

But what we area seeing once again is an artist who, given the initial exposure of a TV talent show, has gone on to show that there's a lot more to their talent that being able to do a passable cover of a Beatles song with a big band backing on live TV.

In the UK the TV talent show contestants seem to be chosen just to fulfill the expectations of the programme, and once the momentum of that exposure expires, they can't offer enough to sustain a career.

A song like this shows Julien Doré has much more to offer, and has gone well beyond the expectations of TV music shows. I suspect we are just seeing the beginning of a long career.