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What the Fuck is Chanson, Anyway?
How France’s most poetic genre turns heartbreak into performance—and why it still sounds familiar if you grew up on soul and sad ballads.
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From Ballads to Trap: Six Decades of French #1 Singles
From orchestral ballads to trap beats, what France was listening to tells you as much about the culture as the charts themselves
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Mutant Disco -The Other Side of the Mirrorball
Cristina’s bizarre bilingual disco debut wasn’t just satire—it was the only disco song made by a member of the Velvet Underground.
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Songs I Brought With Me, Songs I Found Here
A look back through my own writing on French music—from NYC to Marseille rap to lost and found disco crates
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Scopitone - France’s Atomic Video Jukebox from the 1960s
The Technicolor jukebox movie machine that brought pop, glamour, and risqué charm to cafés and bars—decades before MTV.
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Le Scopitone Francais
France’s short-lived 1960s video jukebox that brought pop music to life in Technicolor
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Contact and the Strangeness of Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot, bad singing, curated rebellion, and what music taught me about France
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Still Learning the lingo /Awkward in Translation
French Coldwave, mispronunciations, and Franco-British cross Channel punk
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Petula Clark & Funky Monologues - Songs About England
Housesitting chez les Rosbifs, chasing rain, and collecting weird tunes along the way
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Second Life Disco and France's Alternate Musical Universe
Disco is different in France - and so are a lot of other genres
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The Immortal Schmaltz of Johnny Hallyday
Ubiquitous, committed and completely without irony, Johnny was France's rock icon
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Charles Trenet and France's Start of Summer
How “La Mer,” a seaside anthem born inland, became the sound of French summertime