French Letter Music Blog
French Letter
Jul26

Written by:aidan
Thursday, July 26, 2007 

Sick of having your number one single going on and on about rain and umbrellas? Check out what the French have popped on top of their charts - a fantastic bit of sunny disco-pop by a TV talent show winner. The weather's better here too. Coincidence?

1) The video for 'Double Je', the first single by Christophe Willem, winner of 'Nouvelle Star' (France's version of 'Pop Idol'), comes on television and I immediately zap elsewhere before hearing a second of it. After all, no talent show winner has ever made a decent record (Girls Aloud being the exception that proves the rule), and the video - singer sings his woes to a self-help group - looks about as funny as Monday morning. Zap!

2) A wonderful cut of stomping '80s disco-pop is playing on the radio of every shop and café I visit, but I keep missing the title. 'What', I ask myself, 'is that fantastic song? Who sings it? And how come I never see it on the telly?'

Naturally, the song in question is 'Double Je', the first single by Christophe Willem, winner of 'Nouvelle Star' (France's version of etc etc). So much for your eejity blogger's pop snobbery (just to be sure, we listened again to Rhianna's 'Umbrella' - still a boring song, as we've always thought. Get over it, English-speaking world!).

Tall, gangly and square-spectacled like Jarvis, Willem is nicknamed 'La Tortue' (the turtle) for his strange way of hunching up his shoulders when he sings, often while wearing a turtle-neck sweater (i.e. a polo-neck jumper). He's clearly a Michael Jackson fan, right down to the moves and the falsetto voice - and 'Double Je' is as good a pop single as those by Justin Timberlake, that other Jackson-influenced pop idol.

The video is still crap, though, so here's Christophe Willem singing 'Double Je' on a French TV show recently. Yes, that's his real voice:

 

 

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3 comment(s) so far...

Re: New French Music: Christophe Willem

It's like Jarvis Cocker on helium! It's a brilliant little slice of pop perfection though. Much better than those rubbish "girlfriend" and "umbrela-la-la-la-la" songs doing the rounds this side of the low pressure weather system.

By Idiot Kid on   Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Re: New French Music: Christophe Willem

fabulous site, only found by accident as trying to work out who the woman was who sung on this amazing song! Ooops, je suis desolee! I love french pop and find it hard to download or find becuase places like uk itunes are so narrow minded and we are only allowed english and yank tunes!! I'm a big listener of french radio and pick up on tonnes of french pop. Also rate Nadiya's stuff too, am sure she is deeply uncool now But Double Je is very cool and even now i know its a boy i still love it!

By tabitha on   Sunday, August 05, 2007

Re: New French Music: Christophe Willem

Tabitha, glad you like the blog (don't forget to check out the rest of CLUAS!) I first thought the song was being sung by a woman too!! What's more, some cult female artist from the 1980s! As for Nadiya, I liked 'Et C'est Partie' because it was the first song of hers that I heard when I moved to France (for anyone reading who doesn't know her, she sings radiofriendly Rn'B over hard rock guitars) but since then all her singles sound the same to me (although 'Roc' is hard to not like!). What other French pop do you like, Tabitha?

By aidan on   Sunday, August 05, 2007

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