Music has been accompanying humanity since the dawn of time and will probably, in one form or another, stay with us until the end. But the part of the world population most likely to take up making music is undoubtedly the youth.
There is creativity, innovation, strong emotions, and hunger to become famous, although some will state that the latter is only their side goal. Let’s not forget the power of the internet, undeniably the domain of youngsters, the best guerrilla promotion tool ever invented.
Millennials are those who grew up when computers and reality shows were already part of the culture. This inborn familiarity makes them comfortable with social media and proficient at self-promotion and fostering connections through online media.
The following article spots the five most interesting young music phenomena of French origin that quickly went viral, making the artists’ way through the oversaturated music market.
Ready to dig in?
Lolo Zouaï
Born in 1995, Laureen Rebeha Zouaï is a young R&B and pop musician born to a French mother and an Algerian father in Paris, France. They moved to San Francisco, California, when a to-be musician was a three-month-old newborn.
Her style and music represent everything we know about Millenials, from the “follow your dreams” approach to life to confidence and creative self-realisation in the first decades of life.
“A chill, emotional, sexy, fun”, — writes the British I-D. At just 23, Lolo Zouaï has already been awarded a Grammy. As she claims, her music combines all the places she is from, hip-hop from the Bay Area, the lo-fi gritty feel from New York, classical French chords, and exciting Arabic melodies.
La Femme
Even though the birth of La Femme dates back to 2010, this list would be incomplete if we didn’t mention this popular French band.
Here, the vibe is slightly different. This psych-punk rock band, described as synthetic and hypnotic, was established by guitarist Sacha Got and keyboard player Marlon Magnée. A bass player Sam Lefevre, drummer Noé Delmas, and Lucas Nunez joined along the way. There are also Clara Luciani, Jane Peynot, and Marilou Chollet.
La Femme mixes punk, cold wave, and yéyé. Their music brings to mind big names of the previous generations, such as Sparks, The Velvet Underground, and Kraftwerk. “Psycho Tropical Berlin” album released in 2013, on YouTube since 2015, is a proud holder of 2,787,372 views (namely almost three million), probably the most frequently party-played European album of 2010-ties.
FAUVE
FAUVE, established in 2010 similarly to La Femme, is a French collective of music and videography. FAUVE’s name was inspired by a 1992 French drama “Les Nuits Fauves” (“Savage Nights”), written and directed by Cyril Collard. The Parisian crème de la crème of creativity, inspired by the idea of an open collective, contains at times over twenty members, among which are not only musicians but also comedians, theatre technicians, and visual artists.
FAUVE represents a genre that appeals to a younger audience, considering the style and themes of lyrics ranging from heartache, the meaning of life, and work, to dealing with the anonymity of big city life. Their songs are accompanied by stripped-down musical arrangements and a melancholic atmosphere, underlining their French origins.
Their band’s popularity grew thanks to social media, constituting this way a solid network of fans. Published in April 2014, FAUVE’s “Infirmière,” until this day, got over 13 million YouTube views.
Spill tab
Her real name is Claire Chica, she’s in her 20s, and her net worth is approximately $50,000 -100,000.
Being such a young girl herself, one would say that the spill tab offers a journey through many shades of pop predominantly to youngsters. But that’s not the case because one can easily find her audience in every age range.
This artistically mature French Korean American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist knows she has much to add to the contemporary music scene. In describing her music, journalists use adjectives such as ethereal, gritty, lighthearted, and deep, underlining its contrasting qualities.
Her critically acclaimed “Oatmilk” EP consisting of four duality-drenched tracks, such as “Calvaire,” “Cotton Candy,” “Santé,” and “Name,” bagged over 20 million streams.
Yelle
Who is Yelle? If you haven’t heard of this one of the best-known Francophone French dance-pop bands of the last few years, it’s time for an update. The band consists of lead singer and namesake Yelle (Julie Budet), GrandMarnier (Jean-François Perrier), and Tepr (Tanguy Destable).
It all started when Yelle posted an early version of the song “Je veux te voir” on MySpace back in 2005, which skyrocketed quickly to France’s top five. The rest is history: the MySpace success attracted the attention of a record label, and the band’s debut album “Pop Up” was released in 2007.
Yelle’s “L’Ère du Verseau” (“The Age of Aquarius”) is their fourth studio album, typically described as dancey although melancholic, that revolves around loss in the middle of the pandemic (released on 4 September 2020).
