France's music market is tough for French singers.

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Mr Coucou

That's got to be the reason that Alizee isn't doing anything. Perhaps its also a primary reason for the dance studio--- the dance studio is something that Alizee can do without leaving Corsica.

I guess we'll have to wait 4 years for something major to happen.

Here is what we don't know - whether Annily has enough talent and interest to pursue a career in music or dance? If so, maybe we don't have to wait 4 years. If Alizee had a music project going that would require her to travel, she might bring Annily along during times when school is not in session to give her a taste of what the entertainment world is like. Maybe Annily is a brainiac and will choose the scholastic route. Either way I'm sure Alizee would support her.

[CleverCowboy]

Interesting read from an article:

France’s MPs have voted to reduce the country's legal quota of French songs played on the radio amid complaints the rule forces DJs to repeatedly play ‘boring’ old French ballads.

Imposed in 1994 to protect France from what the government saw as the “Anglo-Saxon cultural invasion”, the 40 per cent quota is increasingly making life difficult for programmers because a high proportion of young French artists such as Daft Punk are now singing in English to attract a more international audience. The quota will now be lowered to 35 per cent.

Many stations have resorted to repeating the same songs ad nauseam, with the culture ministry saying in September that only 10 songs accounted for 74 per cent of the French titles aired on NRJ radio, and 67 per cent of those broadcast on another station, which has the English-sounding name Skyrock.

Responding to increasing pressure from stations opposed to the quota, MPs voted on Wednesday to reduce it from 40 to 35 per cent. For stations specialized in foreign music, such as Radio Latina, it will be only 15 per cent.

[Scruffydog777]

So in a way, they have to force the radio stations to play French music.

[Mr Coucou]

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

So in a way, they have to force the radio stations to play French music.

That's what I've been saying--- outside of Boudennat, French music is rather blah. The government has to force the stations to play it. French singers have it tough because French songwriters are unable to come up with good songs.

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

the 40 per cent quota is increasingly making life difficult for programmers because a high proportion of young French artists such as Daft Punk are now singing in English to attract a more international audience. The quota will now be lowered to 35 per cent.

I don't think its just a matter of "attracting a more international audience". I think the English language itself is just better for writing songs. A songwriter who is English/French bilingual can write better songs in English than in French--- English being more flexible in terms of both melody and rhyming/semantics.

(Speaking of Boudennat, is he the most successful songwriter of modern French music? Is Boudennat in a league of his own, or are there others?)

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Mr Coucou

That's what I've been saying--- outside of Boudennat, French music is rather blah. The government has to force the stations to play it. French singers have it tough because French songwriters are unable to come up with good songs.

I don't think its just a matter of "attracting a more international audience". I think the English language itself is just better for writing songs. A songwriter who is English/French bilingual can write better songs in English than in French--- English being more flexible in terms of both melody and rhyming/semantics.

(Speaking of Boudennat, is he the most successful songwriter of modern French music? Is Boudennat in a league of his own, or are there others?)

I'm going to reverse the question. How far back do you have to go to think of the last good US/UK pop song? Not rock, but pop. I know this is a question of personal taste though. If you like hip-hop, there are still "good" songs being made today. To me it is the same recycled garbage except maybe for the occasional one that stands on its own merit as something creative and unique.

I've done a little bit of surfing on this topic and found a site called Best France Forever who admits that the French people are highly critical of the music coming from their own country. It then made some comparisons of artists coming out of France compared to US/UK and whether the music is any worse, or just get the snub by the French people cause the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." They mention the name Pierre David Guetta, who is a very prolific DJ, record producer, and songwriter in France. As far as modern music (the last 10-15 years), he might be more in touch with music trends than Boudennat. He writes lyrics in English. You make good points about it being better for lyrics because of semantics, but there is always the marketability standpoint. If you are a French songwriter and you know that your home country is not supportive of home-grown artists, why not expand into bigger markets?

The site pointed out one of Guetta's songs sung by Nicki Minaj from 2015. From a hip-hop standpoint, there is nothing inferior to this tune compared to US hip-hop, and the video is high quality (kind of looks like something from Mad Max). The only this missing is constant twerking, which is welcome in my book. The lyrics of US hip-hop is also disgusting. Guetta doesn't seem compelled to copy that.

It has over 1 billion views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=uO59tfQ2TbA

[CleverCowboy]

Wiki lists Alizee's Gourmandises album selling 4,000,000 copies, which is remarkable considering France's fickle music consumer. What makes it more remarkable is that figure is double the sales of Mylene's best selling album. You would be hard pressed to find many albums selling more than 4M copies in France by any artist. By the high bar that Gourmandises set, MCE might have seemed like a disappointment selling "only" 1.5 million copies, but that figure is still exceptional.

[Mr Coucou]

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

I'm going to reverse the question. How far back do you have to go to think of the last good US/UK pop song? Not rock, but pop.

Here is a 2017 song by the Canadian group "Alvvays":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXu6q-6JKjA

I discovered this song about 2 weeks ago, and fell in love with it the first time I heard it. To the best of my knowledge, French artists don't produce anything like this.


I try to keep an open mind; but so far, two things stand out to me:

1) from what I've personally experienced, French music-- outside of Boutennat-- is nothing to write home about; its lovely, but its not *fun*

2) the French people themselves seem to reject French music

Originally Posted by CleverCowboy

I've done a little bit of surfing on this topic and found a site called Best France Forever who admits that the French people are highly critical of the music coming from their own country.

Is this the website:

http://www.bestfranceforever.com/

I didn't see the article that you're talking about.

[CleverCowboy]

Originally Posted by Mr Coucou

Is this the website:

http://www.bestfranceforever.com/

I didn't see the article that you're talking about.

http://www.bestfranceforever.com/is-...ally-that-bad/

[Bamagirl]

The French language is beautiful, and some of literature's most lovely poetry (and prose) is written in French. If you read the classic poetry of poets like Pierre de Ronsard, Charles Beaudelaire and Jean de la Fontaine, for example, you will realize that it is not due to any deficiency in the language that currently produced French songs are not as widely known and popular as those written in English. It is a function of the music industry machine of today. Simply put, most of the mass production of popular songs/music is found in English speaking countries. The reasons for that could be economic, geographic, or due to population size. Or perhaps it is a combination of those things, or due to some other factor entirely. But I believe anyone who has studied literature would agree that the French language is richly descriptive and emotive, and fully capable of expressions in verse as deep, varied and substantive as anything that can be found in the English language.

[Scruffydog777]

Originally Posted by Bamagirl

The French language is beautiful, and some of literature's most lovely poetry (and prose) is written in French. If you read the classic poetry of poets like Pierre de Ronsard, Charles Beaudelaire and Jean de la Fontaine, for example, you will realize that it is not due to any deficiency in the language that currently produced French songs are not as widely known and popular as those written in English. It is a function of the music industry machine of today. Simply put, most of the mass production of popular songs/music is found in English speaking countries. The reasons for that could be economic, geographic, or due to population size. Or perhaps it is a combination of those things, or due to some other factor entirely. But I believe anyone who has studied literature would agree that the French language is richly descriptive and emotive, and fully capable of expressions in verse as deep, varied and substantive as anything that can be found in the English language.

I always thought French was the most beautiful language and there fore would lend itself easily to poetry and song.