[Free Talk]

[Celef]

Bonjour!

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post but my question is French specific.

I'm looking for some inspiration to create a French inspired character and I'd like to get some advice from the perspective of people who speak French. Do you have a favorite artist or band that features a French vocalist? What are some of your favorite French songs and do you have any suggestions that would include artists that engage particularly cerebral or deeply emotional material?

Thank you and I'm sorry if it's a faux pas to type in English on the French forum.

Merci!

Hi there, not sure we can really help regarding this, we are not THAT different from non french people ^^" (can't think or anything "special" unless you want some clichés ^^')

[Akisa]

I will give you another answer : French are the same as the others Europeans, Quebeckers are the same as the others Canadians (loyalty to the british queen less).

[Rhomagus]

Hi there, not sure we can really help regarding this, we are not THAT different from non french people ^^" (can't think or anything "special" unless you want some clichés ^^')

I can see how this may have come across wrong. I'm most interested in finding french music rather than looking for french cliches. I'm not expecting this music to be stereotypically representative of France or even french speaking people, just spoken in french.

For example, I wouldn't say that Metallica represents, even stereotypically, English speaking people. I wouldn't even say that they stereotypically represent the United States. Regardless, their lyrics are depicted in English and they are from the United States among a bunch of other English speaking American artists. I could say that they represent a slice of American culture, and are a part of the whole, and to a lesser extent, represent some music that is available in English.

My problem is that I don't know any french speaking artists, even off of the top of my head. I'm a bit inundated in one language and I'd like to hear the soundscapes that can come from musicians who speak french primarily.

Now to what extent would this inform the writing of the character I'm thinking of? I couldn't tell you precisely, but I'd say it would inform me, at most, as much as some of the English speaking artists that have informed my other characters. When I think about the types of things inspired by the music I've listened to they tend to be artist specific, but one aspect that has never entered the equation was the language depicted in the music. I could name some music that depicts a german vocalist. I could name some music that would depict a japanese vocalist. I honestly couldn't do that with french and I'm concerned I'm missing out, so I came here, not necessarily for a cliched depiction of french speaking people, but opinions from people who speak french on french music that depicts the language.

As an addendum, my question applies to all french speaking people, not just those from France. Think of it more as a stylistic modifier rather than a choice of nationality. Hopefully that clears that up.

[Watachy]

Facts

In facts, most of french people/speakers doesn't listen to french songs anymore. A large amount of french artist started to sing in english a few years ago, and yet the only french singers that still sing in french aren't that popular or have a huge carreer as singer behind them (which means a huge fanbase too).
But, you have some "idols" for each music style i guess, what are you interested in ? I can give some examples of people that marked rock'n'roll or pop cultures as french artists.