I listen to a LOT of French music. I'm really familiar with all genres in French music. Alizée is one of my favorites, so of course all of my friends know about her. They don't dislike her, but no one has taken to her as a new favorite. They won't buy her CDs, but if Alizée did an American tour, they would go to see her.
It's not unreasonable that our friends don't love Alizée. Creating fandom for her in the Anglophone world has many hurdles. First, there is an overwhelming amount of music available: people are not pressed to choose their favorites. If someone doesn't like Alizée, they still have a million other artists to listen too, not only across genres and cultures, but across time. Second, Alizée's image may just not be attractive to people now. Truly foreign music has never been popular in the States. Alizée's once popular (in France anyway) visual image is just old-fashioned, reminiscent of the early 2000s and associated artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, and Avril Lavigne (so yes it is a good thing Alizée is manipulating her image). Third, Alizée never had good publicity in the States. Once something is popular, its easier to become more popular. The media also forces what they want onto the public. These two together are how Britney is still on top: the media promotes her and lots of people continue to adore her in a kind of pack mentality.
All Alizée needs is for some famous American to mention that he enjoys her music. Someone like Obama, or even Britney herself.
But as far as our friends taking on our French pop interests, they will take it if they like it. Alizée's music did not become very popular among my friends but "Pomme C" by Calogero and "Tchend'Kow" by SR Dancehall 2k4 did.
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