Chargement… 🎶
Not sure where to start? Here are a few ideas to unlock your inspiration and help you find French singers similar to the English-language artists you love.
French artists like those you already adore
Searching for a French artist like Taylor Swift? Try Louane, who writes the same diary-entry pop, full of big feelings and choruses you’ll be humming for days.
- Dua Lipa or Rihanna → Aya Nakamura. The most-streamed French-language artist on the planet, and one listen to that effortless swagger tells you why.
- Billie Eilish or Lana Del Rey → Pomme. Hushed, dreamy, and just the right amount of melancholy. Pure headphone music.
- Ed Sheeran → Vianney. A guitar, a warm voice, and a knack for melodies that lodge in your head on the first listen.
- Adele → Yseult. Raw, towering torch ballads that hit you square in the chest.
- Elvis Presley → Johnny Hallyday. France crowned him its own king of rock’n’roll, and he wore the title for sixty years.
- The Rolling Stones → TĂ©lĂ©phone. France’s great rock band: loud, scrappy, and built for singing along at full volume.
- Kendrick Lamar or Eminem → Orelsan. One of France’s sharpest writers, equal parts clever, funny, and cutting.
- The Weeknd or SZA → Lous and the Yakuza. Silky, genre-blurring R&B carried by a voice you won’t forget.
- Cher or Donna Summer → Dalida. Glamour, drama, and disco for days from one of the most beloved stars France ever had.
- Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey → Céline Dion. You probably know plenty of her English hits and a few of her French ones already, but she has so many more great French-language songs than most people realize.
- Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen → Georges Brassens. Witty, poetic, and armed with little more than a bushy moustache and a guitar, Brassens is the patron saint for songwriting with a South of France sound.
- Frank Sinatra or Nina Simone → Édith Piaf. The timeless voice of France. “La Vie en rose” says the rest.
More French music stars to discover once you’re hooked
Fallen in love with an artist who sings in French and hungry for more? Here are some suggestions for who to listen to next.
Looking for more like Stromae? Start with Angèle, another whip-smart Belgian who tucks real melancholy under impossibly catchy pop.
- Aya Nakamura → Gims. Chart-conquering French pop with the kind of hooks that travel well past the border.
- Indila → Tal. Emotive, cinematic pop cut from the same sweeping, melodic cloth.
- Daft Punk → Justice. The other titans of French electro, all swagger and stadium-sized riffs.
- Édith Piaf → Charles Aznavour. The classic French chanson pairing that never goes out of style.
Finally, if you’re searching for singers like CĂ©line Dion, give Lara Fabian a listen. Belgian and Canadian, this fellow francophone has the same soaring, full-throttle voice and a deep catalog of French-language ballads.
Don’t stop discovering
But this is just the beginning. For the full lay of the land, dig into our guide to French music and its tour through every genre, from la chanson française to French rap, or browse more of our music articles for playlists and deep dives.
