Friday’s French music break - Imany, “Don’t be so shy”

August 26, 2016

It hasn’t been easy to find a video to accompany this week’s Friday’s French music break that isn’t, well,  almost semi pornographic.

Little wonder really given the title, feel and not exactly concealed sexual nature of the song.

But hey.

It’s worth sharing because “Don’t be so shy”, the latest single by former French model Imany (Nadia Mladjao) and remixed by Moscow-based House and Deep House DJs Filatov & Karas (Dmitry Filatov and Alex Osokin) to become an upbeat European-wide hit which has topped the charts in several countries, is both contagious and a sumptuous delight.

Imany (screenshot Le Grand Studio, RTL)

This version (you can listen to it here) of “Don’t be so shy” combines class of her sublime and evocative voice with the remix which does the song complete justice.

The song originally featured on the soundtrack of the 2014 film “Sous les jupes des filles” (or “French woman”) and you can hear an excerpt towards the end of this trailer (yes, you’re really being treated to three different versions of the same song this week).

This isn’t the first time Imany has featured on Friday’s French music break (FFMB).

Back in 2011, she exploded on to the French music scene with her debut single, “You will never know”, a song which brought parallels with US singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman and had both commercial and critical success.

Enough words though.

As ever, FFMB is all about the music and the artist - sometimes good, sometimes bad.

Or in this case…excellent.

And here’s Imany with an acoustic version of "Don't be so shy" recorded in the studios of RTL radio.

Enjoy.

You will.

Friday's French music break - Faul & Wad Ad vs. Pnau, "Changes"

Friday's French music break this week is "Deep house".

Say what?

"A style of house music which fuses elements of Chicago house, jazz-funk, and Detroit techno." apparently, and whose "sonic qualities include slower beats per minute, fewer vocals, darker emotions, jazz-influences, and dissonant melodies."

Right well that's clear, if not a little...um...pompous.

And "Deep house" is reputedly the correct term to describe the music produced by French DJs Faul & Wad Ad as they "go up against" (versus) Pnau with "Changes".

Faul & Wad Ad (From Wikipedia - author Amolithis)

It's all in the art of "mixing" and "sampling" it seems, with Faul (Maxime - who seems to lack a surname) and Wad Ad (Camil Meyer) nabbing the "best bits" from the chorus of "Baby" by the Australian dance music duo Pnau and then doing their stuff in the studio.

The result?

A "Deep house" classic and an instant hit, variously described as a "beautiful dance monster" "with an irresistible warm vibe, impossible to stand still to" and which just calls out to us "to move and shake... with its tingling sax-riff that sits on a gorgeously structured beat.

Yes, clearly the song has not failed to prevent those apparently "in the know" from waxing lyrical without a hyperbolical care in the world.

Don't you just love music reviews?

Anyway, "Changes" might be familiar to some of you as it has been a commercial success in more than one sense of the word.

It has been a top 10 hit in more than a dozen European countries (including Germany and the United Kingdom) since its release in November 2013 and is still lingering at number 11 in the French charts.

And Mercedes decided to use it in the current TV campaign for its C Class.

Anyway, forget all those somewhat puffed-up critiques of the song and decide for yourselves.

Oh yes, and should you want to delve further into "Deep house" try checking out this link for more gobbledygook on the genre.

Take it away Faul & Wad Ad vs. Pnau (try saying with a straight face).