Lopez Blogs

Over the last few years many international artists have recorded special versions of their hits for the French-language market. Enrique Iglesias has turned "Tired of Being Sorry" into a duet with Nadiya, and rather good it is too. The French record buyers also agree as it's no.1 in the French singles chart.

"C'est Chelou" by Zaho is yet another of those very-popular-at-the-minute French language r'n'b songs by yet another new female singer. It's ok, but how many of these new acts will have the career longevity of many other French female singers?

One very popular new star of that French r'n'b genre is Sheryfa Luna, and I have rather liked her singles to date. "D'ici et D'ailleurs" is her latest top 20 hit and is quite good, but doesn't look as if it will repeat the no.1 success of her debut.

Is there no end to the horror of French kiddie-pop? Bebe Lilly is back in the top 10 with "Dans L'espace" which is as bad as you would imagine. Dum-dum-dum-dee-dum-dum indeed.

"Je Veux Te Voir" by Yelle sounds as if it could go big outside France, even if that shouty minimalist style reminds me of the (currently big in UK) Ting Tings. Not really my cup of tea though, but it does take a long time for songs to grow on me.

I was beginning to worry that more 'traditional' French music was disappearing from the French chart, but at least Raphael is back with the very nice "Le Vent d'Hiver" which might be one of his best songs yet.

For me, David Guetta made two of the best dance records of recent years - "Love Don't Let Me Go" and "Love Is Gone". His latest French chart hit - "Delirious" isn't as classic as those two, but it's reasonably euphoric and summery once it gets going, but it just takes a bit too long to get going.