The Parisian singer’s take on traditional variété française includes confrontations with mental health, body image and bondage – and her challenge has struck a nerve
Accepting the award for the best newcomer at Victoires de la Musique (the French Grammys) on 12 February, Yseult said: “This is not just a victory for me, it’s a victory for my brothers and sisters. We have snatched this, our freedom, our independence, this space. We deserve it.”
Raised in the Bercy neighbourhood of Paris by Cameroonian parents, the 26-year-old represents the tension between a new French generation and an establishment that resists change. Yseult is a Black woman putting her own take on traditional variété française. “I grew up listening to Edith Piaf, Barbara, Jacques Brel, Lara Fabian, Patricia Kaas,” she says by phone a month post-Victoires. “The pared-down French classicism of their songs was what I always wanted my own music to be about.”
