Soundtrack

Second Life Disco and France's Alternate Musical Universe

Disco is different in France - and so are a lot of other genres

Keith Christiansen

01 Jul 2025 — 4 min read

I wrote about She Can’t Love You by Chemise before - early 80s boogie-funk with cute vocals over a light groovy synth line. But it’s a one-hit wonder. If you look on Spotify for Chemise, you’ll find 4 version of the same song 1 - and that’s it. In France, I feel like I am rediscovering some musical genres. It’s not just that they listen to different artists - it’s a whole different world of songs soemtimes.

One “hit” wonder, sorta.

Chemise didn’t really hit in the U.S. and the duo (a married couple) never released a follow-up. Blink and you missed it, but it captured the musical moment.

But even though Chemise was from LA originally, I never heard of it in the US.

same music, different universe

Here, Chemise has had second life among DJs digging for rare grooves with a nostalgia hit that aged well. The track resurfaced sometime in the 2010s thanks to crate-diggers and tastemakers like Radio Nova.

It’s not just Chemise. It’s genre after genre. Especially disco.

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In the U.S., disco got killed off. Too commercial. Too gay. Too Black. “Disco Sucks” and all that mess. A bonfire of records got torched in a baseball stadium, devolving into a riot that was televised.

But in France? Disco just… kept going.

It morphed into French Touch, slipped into pop, got piped into grocery stores and chic bistros alike.

In pharmacies. In offices. In ads for regional cheese. Not ironically. Not nostalgically. Disco is just woven into life.

I wrote about it in the post below, which features a survey of modern French disco and some classic tracks.

radio & Rediscovery

Radio stations here seem to pride themselves on obscure tracks. It’s funny to be introduced to American music I’ve never heard before. It’s not just that they focus on different genres, it’s that they focus on the genres differently. If I hear a disco track, it might be Italian, or American or Nigerian.

I’m not sure the last time I ever heard an Italian disco track in the US, but I can be pretty sure it wasn’t in my dentist’s office.

One night it’s Chemise. Another, some Japanese city pop. A few weeks ago I heard a Nigerian disco cut from ‘81 on a café terrace and then had to spend a few hours getting into that.

In the States, retro tracks can show up with winks or irony or be “rediscovered” in some soundtrack. I think I heard Kath Bush’s Running Up That Hill another thousand times thanks to Stanger Things.

How many other songs are having secret second lives here?

Any songs you hear all the time that no one else seems to? Have you ever heard a sing while traveling that you never hear at home, even by artists you know well?

Lemme know.

Enjoy Your Life Oby Onyioha (1981)

Oby Onyioha’s “Enjoy Your Life” - Nigerian disco, 1981. Sparkling strings, great bassline, beautifully orchestrated. Like Chemise, it’s another part of an alternate disco universe.

These aren’t knock-offs: they’re whole other worlds. Nigeria had oil money, fresh studio tech, and a hunger for global sound. Tracks like Oby’s never hit overseas, but in France, a few folks have rediscovered them and they’re finally getting their encore.

1980s Nigerian studios were stocked with fresh gear funded by oil money and skilled artists returning home. Producers like Nkono Teles and Lemmy Jackson built Afro‑boogie and disco sounds that rivaled U.S. imports—even if the world didn’t notice then.

Oby Onyioha’s Enjoy Your Life hits that sweet spot—warm strings, a melody that sneaks into your head and I love the retro key work that starts after 1:30 or so.