Friday's French music break - Indila, "Dernière Danse"

Friday's French music break this week is a worm.

Not, not the slithery thing you'll find in the garden, but in the musical sense of "a song that gets stuck in your head and just won't go away".

It's "Dernière Danse", the debut solo single from Indila.

Indila (screenshot from "Dernière Danse" official video)

At first the song doesn't sound up to much.

It's almost as though the melody seems to be undecided as to what exactly it is and where it's going.

The production (by Indila's husband, DJ Skalp) "wanders" at times with the melody not quite knowing what it's supposed to be. But that's probably down to the oriental meets French chanson "fusion". It's a mix which lends the song a certain hypnotic feel.

Because there's a definite oriental flavour to "Dernière Danse" which make it more than the run-of-the-mill sort of French song you might well be used to hearing.

In addition, the 24-year-old (although at the moment she refuses to disclose personal details and her exact age is "whatever the person interviewing her" wishes to give her), who has already sung on releases from the likes of Youssoupha, Rohff and Soprano, also has a pretty "interesting" voice. And that's not being dismissive

What comes across initially (to some ears perhaps) as a somewhat whiny pitch (oh dear, this really isn't "selling" the song or the singer is it?) in fact develops into something very distinctive and well-suited to the unusual melody.

Indila most definitely has a sound which sets her aside from many other female artist you're likely to hear on mainstream radio stations in France.

Perhaps though the comparison to (Edith) Piaf, which she finds flattering, is a little far fetched.

Finally there are the intelligent lyrics which, as Indila says, "recount the history of a young person of foreign origin (in France) facing everyday racism and how that makes her feel."

Anyway, "Dernière Danse" has - with reason - been getting plenty of airplay and is currently at number two in the French charts, only being kept off the top by Pharrell William's "Happy".


And Indila is apparently preparing an album, also produced by her husband.

In the meantime though, here's the official clip of "Dernière Danse" which has already been viewed more than four million times on YouTube.

Give it a listen - and maybe then another.

Bon week-end.

Friday's French music break - Melissa Nkonda, "Nouveaux horizons"

Friday's French music break this week is proof - if it were needed - that there's occasionally life after TV talent shows - even for those who don't win.

It comes from Melissa Nkonda - an "also ran" in the now defunct Nouvelle Star, the French version of Pop Idol.

Melissa Nkonda (screenshot from "Nouveaux horizons" video)

Nkonda took part in season seven of Nouvelle Star in 2009, making it through to the final 15 and then the top 10 but being but eliminated just three weeks into the show's run.

That obviously didn't stop her though and a year later she entered the (non-televised) search for talent launched in 2010 by the French record label AZ, which belongs to the Universal group.

The 20-year-old ran out one of the joint winners of "Je veux signer chez AZ", landing a contract with the label and the chance to record an album.



Since then Nkonda has been on roll.

The album, "Nouveaux horizons", was released earlier this year and includes a track, "J'ai fait tout ça pour vous" featuring one of the most recently rising stars of the British music scene VV Brown and a version of Nkondo's first hit single also entitled "Nouveaux horizons" with the critically acclaimed French rapper, Soprano.

The original of that first single is a catchy, funky uptempo number with an infectious beat and sung in a mixture of English and French which has already been a Top 30 hit in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Not bad going from a singer who was all but overlooked by the voting public during Nouvelle Star.

Melissa Nkonda (screenshot from Je veux signer chez AZ video)

Oh yes the winner that year - Soan.

Now that was a triumph of audience power in determining a commercially successful artist.

Oh well, Nkonda, along with a fellow contestant from the same season - Camélia Jordana - is proof that TV talent shows certainly don't always get it right.

Here's "Nouveaux horizons".

Try not to tap you foot as you listen.



Bet you enjoyed that.

If you want to catch her in concert, check out the dates on her official website.