A fun way to prepare for your road trip around France is to compile a playlist of French music to listen to on your drives between stops. You can also listen to these before you travel, and choose your favorite songs. Immerse yourself in the French lyrics, melodies and rhythms, as you look forward to your vacation!
Search for the following songs on iTunes, Spotify, and Deezer. You can also listen to them on YouTube, just to see if you like the style!
Oldies
Yves Montand
Edith Piaf
Edith Piaf was one of France's most famous international starts of all time. A singer-songwriter, cabaret performer and film actress, her life was recently depicted in the film 'La Vie en Rose', with Marion Cotillard playing Edith Piaf.
Charles Trenet
Louis Mariano
Joe Dassin
French singers from the 60s-70s
Claude François
Comme d’habitude (My Way)
Dalida
Dalida was a French singer and actress, born in Cairo, Egypt to Italian parents. She began a singing career in 1956 that spanned over three decades, selling 170 million albums and singles worldwide. There is a famous bust of Dalida near where she lived in the Montmartre district of Paris.
Serge Gainsbourg
Bonnie & Clyde (with Brigitte Bardot)
Sylvie Vartan
Singers from the 80s-90s
Michel Berger
Michel Berger wrote many songs for the most famous French singers of the 70s to 90s.
Starmania (musical).
Michel Sardou
La maladie d’amour, et mourir de plaisir
Charles Aznavour
Johnny Hallyday
Maybe the most popular French singer (of all generations) alive today.
Patrick Bruel
These are some of his modern songs, but he also has a nice album with old French songs from the 30s called Entre-Deux.
Patricia Kaas
Jean-Jacques Goldman
Maxime Leforestier
Téléphone
From the year 2000 onward
Yannick Noah
Former tennis player and one-time winner of the French Open, Yannick Noah has released a few songs and performed all over Europe and in the US. He released his first singles in the 90s and continued through the 2000s.
Dany Brillant
Louise Attaque
Les Innocents
Contemporary singers
Christophe Maé
One of the most famous pop singers in France today.
Stromaé
He is a very successful singer from Belgium.
Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni is also the former First Lady of France, as the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozi.
Patrick Sébastien
Patrick Sébastien has some good music for wedding parties - you might enjoy this if you’re in France on your honeymoon or celebrating a wedding anniversary!
Alizée
Alizée is a French singer, dancer and musician, who was born and raised on the French island of Corsica. Her first pop album Gourmandises went platinum within three months, and her first single Moi...Lolita went to number 1 in many countries in Europe and East Asia. It also reached number 9 in the UK charts in 2001, a great feat for a foreign-language song.
Christine and the Queens
Christine (‘Tilted’ in English)
Damn, dis-moi (‘Girlfriend’ in English)
MC Solaar
La belle et le bad boy was played in the final episode of the ‘Sex and the City’ TV series, when ‘Mr Big’ is searching for Carrie in Paris.
Kendji Girac
Kendji Girac, also known just as ‘Kendji’ won season three of The Voice in France. He has had three successful albums, ‘Kendji’, ‘Ensemble’ and ‘Amigo’. He is ‘Catalan Gitano’ - gitano means ‘gypsy’ in Spanish - and his first language is Catalan. He grew up in the Catalan region of southern France and sings in both French and Spanish.
Color Gitano (in French and Spanish)
Indila
MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS
Soundtrack from the movie ‘Amelie’
‘Midnight in Paris’
‘Les Choristes’ (The Chorus)
Songs from Brittany, France
Nolween Leroy
She released an album called Bretonne.
Tri Yann
Look for his album Tri Yann an Naoned
From Overseas France
France has five regions overseas, known as ‘Départements d’outre-mer - DOM’. These are Guadeloupe and Martinique, both islands in the Caribbean; French Guiana in South America; and La Réunion and Mayotte, both islands in the Indian Ocean.
La Compagnie Créole
This group’s music is often played at wedding parties. Its members are from the French Caribbean islands and French Guiana.
Francky Vincent
He is a famous singer-songwriter from Guadeloupe, famous for his very ‘hot’ lyrics!
Corsica
You can try any “Symphonie Corse” songs, men’s choirs singing Corsican songs in a traditional style - quite moving when they are all singing together in many different harmonies.
