Lopez Blogs

The original French 'pop idol' is back with a new single, "Je Danse". This is the first single from her forthcoming fourth studio album which will be released on 29th November. More info about this at http://www.idolesmag.com/article-340-Jenifer-Je-danse.html

You can also hear a short clip of the new song at www.chartsinfrance.net and in full at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm1Jg2gaw3k (no video yet but I guess this is still to come?) As usual with many of Jenifer's songs, it didn't really make an impression on me after one hearing, but I've heard it about three times now and it's already beginning to grow on me. Some choppy guitars, some well-placed handclaps (and you know I'm partial to them!) and even a bit of talking/rapping too = a catchy foot-tapper, although it's a long, long way from the original Jenifer-style. (If you heard this and didn't know who it was, you wouldn't really guess it was Ms Bartoli).

I'm feeling so 'out of the loop' with French music now, and really need to catch up. Maybe I'm missing out on something special. If anyone has any tips on good new French pop music then these would be very welcome.

The annual NRJ Music Awards ceremony took place in Cannes on Saturday night. As I've been so busy lately and not had much time to blog or keep track of all things European and musical, it kind of passed me by this year and I even forgot to vote!

Album français de l’année: Caféine - Christophe Willem
Album international de l’année: One Love - David Guetta
Artiste féminine française de l’année: Sofia Essaidi
Artiste féminine internationale de l’année: Mariah Carey
Artiste masculin français de l’année: Christophe Willem
Artiste masculin international de l’année: Robbie Williams
Chanson internationale de l’année: I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas
Chanson francophone de l’année: L’Assasymphonie - Mozart
Groupe/Duo/Troupe français(e) de l’année: Mozart, L’opéra-rock
Groupe/Duo/Troupe international(e) de l’année: Tokio Hotel
Révélation française de l’année: Florent Mothe
Révélation internationale de l’année: Lady GaGa

Well done Christophe Willem, a well-deserved two awards for him. Glad that Sofia won best French female artist too. As I haven't paid too much attention to the French music scene over the last 12 months (with very few exceptions), the whole Mozart-thing has also passed me by, although I'm not surprised by its success if you bear in mind how well the likes of Cleopatre and Le Roi Soleil have done over the past few years.

I don't make new year resolutions, but one thing I must do over the coming year is rediscover French popular music, which was something I completely loved for so long: it's only over the past couple of years that I've drifted away from French music so I really need to get back there :)

• The fallout from Britain's Got Talent continues as the media is now giving us daily reports of Susan Boyle's meltdown on tour, resulting in her being unable to appear every night. I don't know whose idea it was for this lady to enter BGT in the first place - but whoever it was, they should share the blame for what has happened to her. Yes she has a very good singing voice, but it's very clear by now that the limelight is not the most appropriate place for her to be. For her own sake, she should take some time out, go home and chill with her cat. At which time the media should also leave her in peace.


• Wimbledon starts tomorrow, and as usual I won't be watching as I lost interest a long time ago, around the time of John McEnroe's retirement :( Anyway, expect Murray-mania, a bit like Henman all over again, the only difference being that Murray might have a realistic chance of winning.


• Summertime is in full swing, and despite our usual quota of rain I'd have to say that it's probably been better than the last couple of years. We should be booking my summer holiday within the next 4 weeks - we've made our decision about the destination. Can't reveal anything yet, but I'll tell you more when we're booked. (Clue: it's outwith our usual comfort zone!)


• It's Fete de la Musique in France today, which I always thought was a great idea - 21st June every year brings a national celebration of music across France. French TV usually broadcasts a big outdoor concert from Paris and this used to be televised on TV5 a few years ago then they stopped doing this for a couple of years. I checked TV5's website and it looks as if it's back on this year, so I'll set my video later tonight and will review the show on here in the next couple of weeks. This year's line-up of 30 French and international stars includes Calogero, Jason Mraz, Eros Ramazzotti, Milow, Christophe Willem, Seal, Alesha Dixon and James Morrison.


• Both Anders Lundin and Lotta Engberg are playing it down, but the Swedish tabloid press is enthusiastically talking-up the impending Allsång-war between "Lotta på Liseberg" (starting tomorrow night on TV4) and "Allsång på Skansen" (Tuesday on SVT1), Lotta is firing out of the blocks with Nanne Gronvall, Christer "I Love Yoo-rup" Sjogren and something which is more up my street - Brolle and Ola. As if that's not enough Swedish summer TV entertainment, "Sommarkrysset" is also back on TV4. Talking of Brolle, he appeared on last week's season-premiere of the show doing a tribute to Buddy Holly! Unfortunately - I've said this before and I'll say it again - TV4's webstream gives me internet-rage as it takes so long to get the video clips going (and this is with super-duper fast Broadband too!), unlike SVT Play which I never have any bother with. So get your act together TV4 because I want to watch Sommarkrysset and Lotta without any problems!!! Allsång kicks off its new season on Tuesday with special guests Tomas Ledin, Henrik Dorsin, Måns Zelmerlöw, Anna Maria Espinosa and Owe Thörnqvist. Not that we need a reason for a gratuitous pic of Måns of course....here he is in a publicity pic for this year's Allsång, picture courtesy of www.svt.se.

Not long now till the release of "Cafeine" but you can get a little preview of some of the tracks in the meantime if you go to http://www.nrj.fr/op/christophe_willem_extraits_0509/ecoute1

Yes, the latest long-awaited tour by my favourite French musical icon is kicking off at the Palais Nikaia in Nice tonight. As Mylene herself continues to be a woman of mystery, giving absolutely nothing away, the web is awash with rumour and counter-rumour about the stage, the costumes, the setlist....all will be revealed after tonight.

One thing's for sure, she will certainly put on one spectacular live extravaganza, and I can't wait to see the live DVD, which is expected to be released towards the end of this year.

(In the meantime, if you were at the show and you read this blog, then please feel free to leave a comment!)

As if a good new Calogero album isn't enough, I've just found out that Emmanuel Moire has a new album out too, "L'équilibre" is its name, it was released last week.

Emmanuel has had a drastic image change since his last album, he's shaved off all his hair :( you know I don't go for that look, but strangely enough he seems to carry it off....!

Anyway let's focus on the music (based on the short clips available at http://musique.fnac.com/a2639687/Emmanuel-Moire-L-equilibre-Inclus-DVD-bonus-CD-album?Mn=-1&Mu=-13&Ra=-28&To=0&Nu=1&Fr=0)

There's a more contemporary electro-pop production this time which may win him some new fans. It may be a little overproduced at times, verging on my pet-hate-of-the-moment (the dreaded autotune) however it's really good to hear him trying a more updated style. He is a very good and talented singer and deserves success with his second album.

(Yet again) more to follow...

I've been so much out of the loop with non-Swedish music of late that I've had a couple of pleasant (French) surprises in the last couple of days.

Firstly the always-wonderful Poster Girl told us that Christophe Willem was on the way back; now I've just discovered that one of my all time favourite French singers Calogero will release his new album next month. I'm hoping it is a return to form after Pomme C, which although OK, wasn't up to the standard of "3" or "Calogero" (IMHO) anyway I need to investigate further...

One of France's most prestigious awards ceremonies is due to take place on 17 January 2009. I should have mentioned this here a while ago but you know how it is...anyway here are the categories and nominees in this year's NRJ Music Awards.

Artiste Masculin Français: Christophe Mae; Renan Luce; David Guetta; Laurent Wolf; Martin Solveig.
Prediction: Christophe Mae should win this one.

Album Français de L'annee: "Blonde Comme Moi" - BB Brunes; "Comme a la Maison" - Christophe Mae; "Ersatz" - Julien Dore; "Repenti" - Renan Luce; "Point de Suture" - Mylene Farmer.
Prediction: Christophe Mae.

Album International de L'annee: "This Is The Life" - Amy MacDonald; "Viva La Vida" - Coldplay; "Rockferry" - Duffy; "One Of The Boys" - Katy Perry; "Funhouse" - Pink.
Prediction: Coldplay or Pink.

Artiste Feminine Française de L'annee: Jenifer; Nadiya; Shy'm; Zazie; Mylene Farmer.
Prediction: Mylene Farmer.

Artiste Feminine Internationale de L'annee: Britney Spears; Christina Aguilera; Pink; Rihanna; Beyonce.
Prediction: Britney Spears.

Artiste Masculin International de L'annee: Chris Brown; Enrique Iglesias; Lenny Kravitz; Akon; James Blunt.
Prediction: Chris Brown.

Chanson International de L'annee: "Viva La Vida" - Coldplay; "American Boy" - Estelle & Kanye West; "I Kissed A Girl" - Katy Perry; "Beggin'" - Madcon; "Disturbia" - Rihanna.
Prediction: "I Kissed A Girl" - Katy Perry.

Clip de L'annee: "Womanizer" - Britney Spears; "I Don't Care" - Fall Out Boy; "C'est La Vie" - Martin Solveig; "La Debacle des Sentiments" - Stanislas & Calogero; "C'est Chelou" - Zaho.
Prediction: Britney Spears.

Groupe/duo Français de L'annee: Cleopatre; Enrique Iglesias & Nadiya; Magic System; Sheryfa Luna & Mathieu Edward; Stanislas & Calogero.
Prediction: Sheryfa Luna & Mathieu Edward.

Groupe/duo International de L'annee: Coldplay; Estelle & Kanye West; Fall Out Boy; Madcon; Pussycat Dolls.
Prediction: Coldplay.

Revelation Française de L'annee: Gregoire; Marc Antoine; Sheryfa Luna; William Balde; Zaho.
Prediction: Zaho.

Revelation Internationale de L'annee: Amy MacDonald; Duffy; Katy Perry; Jonas Brothers; Leona Lewis.
Prediction: Katy Perry.

I've just made my predictions the way I think the vote will go....of course I will be voting on the website and many of my choices will be different from my predictions of course :))))

Three weeks tonight in Cannes, all will be revealed!

Can it really be 30 years since Laurent Voulzy’s legendary French hit "Rockollection"? This was a song incorporating some of Voulzy’s favourite old hits, and you could say it was a forerunner of the hugely popular early 80s "Stars On 45" hit medleys.

Laurent Voulzy has felt the need to celebrate this anniversary with a new album entitled "Recollection". This takes the "Rockollection" theme right across the album with some very interesting results. Voulzy has always been one of my favourite French singer-songwriters over the years and once again he’s collaborated with songwriting partner Alain Souchon on this mix of the old and the new.


Delighted to see the release of Star Academy 7 winner Quentin Mosimann’s debut CD "Duel" which has a very original format - one CD of his jazzy/swing-style interpretations, the other has some great dance remixes which I prefer. Sadly, his Peter Cincotti/David Guetta collaboration on "Love Is Gone" which was so brilliantly featured in Star Academy, is missing from this collection - but there are some very intriguing cover version choices - Talk Talk’s "Such a Shame" and French classics such as "Cargo de Nuit", "C’est La Ouate" and "Mise Au Point". I don’t know how well this CD will do in France, but congratulations to Quentin for doing something so brave and different with his first album.


Mathieu Edward has also released his debut CD: "Entre Toi et Moi" is in that very popular r’n’b style and this is surprisingly quite nice as I hadn’t really rated him before. It includes "Comme Avant" a duet with Sheryfa Luna, whom I also quite like. The album made the top 10 of the French album chart, which isn’t too bad for a Star Academy runner-up.


Matt Pokora’s third album, "MP3" has now completely dropped out of the French album chart, I could only attribute this to the French record-buying public not being too excited about their version of Justin Timberlake going and making an album in the English language. I still love "Dangerous" though - expect to see that doing well in my end-of-year chart.


Being "Mrs President" in France hasn’t stopped Carla Bruni from continuing her recording career: "Comme si de rien n'était" is her latest album and guess what, she’s gone all thrash metal on us!! Only kidding folks, Madame Sarkozy’s back with the same mix of introspective acoustic/jazzy tunes which made her debut "Quelqu’un m’a dit" such a big hit a few years ago. It’s not really my kind of music, but she seems to have cornered this market in France and her elevated status as France’s First Lady will ensure worldwide success - I even saw this CD in my local record shop last week!

I wasn’t really aware of Renan Luce but I understand he’s become very popular in France over the last couple of years. He’s yet another performer in that 'new French chanson' Benabar/Vincent Delerm style, and sometimes I think he sounds like Raphael. His album "Repenti" hit the charts 2 years ago and is still in the top 20. Again not my style, but it could be a lot worse.

I guess "Best of Sinclair" by Sinclair is only out to fulfil some kind of contractual obligation, as he's already had a similar compilation ("Comme Je Suis", once of my Christmas presents in 2004 from faithful travelling companion, no less!!) but this one is a bit of a mixed bag, including stuff from the "Mon Idole" soundtrack whilst leaving out the likes of "Un Jour" and "Sur Le Vif". Now can we have some new material (please please please??)

(album cover photos courtesy of www.amazon.fr)

Checked the forthcoming French releases on www.fnac.com today and discovered that the end of August will see the release of three albums I'm very interested in hearing. All of them just in time for my trip to Nice in September so there is a strong possibility I'll end up buying all three, well, if they're good enough of course!

A Mylene Farmer album is always an event, to say the least, and it's been three years since the (IMHO) disappointing - by her exceptional standards - "Avant Que L'Ombre" which has been gathering dust in my CD rack as I haven't played it for a while. The first single from the new album, "Dégénération" hasn't really excited me in the way that a lot of her past material has, but maybe it just needs time to grow on me.

Star Academy 7 winner Quentin Mosimann finally gets around to releasing his debut - double! - album on 18.08.08 and he also has his own official blog at http://quentin.over-blog.com/ Is it just me or does he look a tiny little bit like Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy in some of his new photos?

Finally, I've been a big fan of Sofia Essaïdi since her debut album "Mon Cabaret". She now has the leading role in Kamel Ouali's musical "Cleopâtre" and should at last get the recognition she deserves in France. The soundtrack album is due out at the end of August and fingers crossed it'll be as good as the "Le Roi Soleil" soundtrack which I bought in Nice three years ago and which I couldn't stop playing for months, you'd have thought it was glued inside my CD player.

During the lead-up to the next series of Star Academy I'll be taking an occasional look back at some of the contestants from past years and find out what they're up to now.

I'll start with an old favourite from two years ago. Gael Garcia was the Star Academy 6 student who brought flamenco to the chateau. He also memorably walked off the show that year!

Gael released his debut CD "Barrio Caliente" earlier this year and I've also found a clip on YouTube of him bringing his own flamenco style to "Le Monde est Stone":




I don't have a start date yet for Star Academy 8 - hopefully it will be back to its usual time (beginning of September) and then I can watch it on TF1 whilst I'm in Nice. Auditions are currently in progress. No details have been revealed as to who will replace the profs who won't be returning this year.

As for Quentin Mosimann, his official site reports that his first single, the very jazzy "Cherchez le Garçon" will be released this week.

It would seem that the soundtrack to Kamel Ouali's "Cleopatre" musical - due on the Parisian stage in January 2009 - is full of, dare I say, cheeky little musical nods to other tunes. Firstly, "Femme d'Aujourd'hui" was rather reminiscent of "Umbrella" and now the follow-up song, "Une Autre Vie" by Sofia Essaidi and Florian Etienne, does have a little bit of Keane about that piano line. Charts In France today even goes so far as to name that tune...."Somewhere Only We Know".

Note: All this is a strange coincidence, as I was playing Keane's "Hopes and Fears" album today, which I hadn't played in ages and was commenting on how it was about time they had some new material out. Fingers crossed that it will be a return to form after the disappointing "Under The Iron Sea".

As I said already, sometimes it's better not to win a reality TV singing talent contest. Back in the day, winning "Star Academy" would automatically turn you into a big star in France. That's not guaranteed any more: series 6 winner Cyril Cinelu flopped big time - he only sold 8,000 copies of his album. That's even less than series 5 flop winner Magalie Vae!

Charts In France reports today that Cyril is now working on a gospel album, and in the meantime Universal is now pinning its hopes on three students from series 6, who will all release new material in the coming months.

First of these is Marina, whose single "Tout Me Revient" is very much in the "New-French-Acoustic" style which made her very popular during that series. They also promise new stuff from Dominique Fidanza (runner-up who should have won!) and Cynthia Brown (profs' favourite) so I'm looking forward to hearing that.

"Le Bonheur, Ça Fait Mal" is its name, it was released in February 2008, and from listening to clips of the tracks it’s a fairly decent collection of guitar-rock-pop tracks with a mixture of modern and classic French influences.

Mathieu was of course a finalist in Star Academy 4, (back in 2004) and was a notorious object of this blogger’s desire back then, and I guess he still is. Prior to going into the chateau he had recorded an album which was then shelved and never released, although at that time there were clips of the songs on the internet and they sounded rather good - correct me if I’m wrong, but only "La Plus Belle Fille du Monde" has survived that period and made it onto this album.

All in all from what I’ve heard, it’s a good debut, although far from outstanding. I’m still deciding whether or not to buy it at a later date.

Nevertheless, it is very good to have him back.

I became a fan of French singer/songwriter Gerald De Palmas back at the beginning of this decade, after hearing his song "J'en Rêve Encore" whilst listening to French radio stations on the internet. I immediately fell in love with his music and it wasn't too surprising therefore that on my next holiday to France in 2001 I bought his brilliant album "Marcher Dans Le Sable" which should be worn out by now as it was played so often! "J'en Rêve Encore" written by Jean-Jacques Goldman, the man with the Midas touch (!) resurrected Gerald's career. A brilliant song, which still sounds brilliant today:



He actually arrived on the French music scene in 1994 and his debut hit was this one, "Sur La Route"



After the success of "Marcher Dans Le Sable" his songwriting skills were much in demand and he wrote Johnny Hallyday's massive hit song "Marie". Celine Dion also recorded an English language version of "Tomber". Here is Gerald's original French version:



Gerald also toured in 2002 and a live CD and DVD was released. There was also one new song on this CD - "Elle S'ennuie" which was a more rockier sound from him. Some horrible things in this video, maybe best not watching if you don’t like insects!



His most recent album "Un Homme Sans Racines" was released in 2004, and one of the hit singles from it was "Elle Habite Ici":



When you think about how popular the laid-back singer/songwriter style of music has been over the past few years, I would say that Gerald De Palmas was definitely ahead of his time as he was making that type of music much earlier in this decade. If you listen to Christophe Mae's music for example, it's very influenced by De Palmas.

There is still no news of any new material from this very talented artist (now 40 years old) and his official website hasn't been updated either. Hopefully he will come back within the next couple of years with some new music - I'll certainly keep my eyes and ears out for this and will post any info on here when I get it.

Well, not just yet, but she will be soon - with a new album "Onirique" to be released in October, according to French music news sources on the web. Tracks on the album include "Onirisme", "Faire... Et Défaire", "Dans Ton Antre", "Ma Nature Est...", "Excaliburia", "Who's Mylène ?", "Aux Points Cardinaux", "Je M'Expose Et M'Impose", "Poésie Visuelle", "The Witch Of Dreams", "Voyage Au Bout De Tes Sens" and an acoustic version of "Rever".

As usual, Mylene is being her notoriously reclusive self so there is little other information available, but what we do know is that she will perform live on 12.09.09 at the Stade de France in Paris.

I am so excited about the prospect of a new album from her, mainly because I was so disappointed with "Avant Que L'Ombre". Not because it was a bad album (because it wasn't) but because she has set herself such an impossibly high standard, that such classics as "Anamorphosée" and "Innamoramento" would always be hard acts to follow.

Also, I didn't think she'd make any more albums after the last one, so this is really, really exciting news!! Can't you tell....I'm excited!!!!