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The 20 Best French Love Songs (Modern and Old)

The 20 Best French Love Songs (Modern and Old)

From the internet and other blog posts when it comes to writing about French love songs, refer to old French songs that are beautiful but not modern at all.

For this article, I came up with a list of twenty great French love songs from the last few years, and the last decades.

By creating this blog I wanted to fight the clichés about France but I guess with this article I will embrace the image of the French people seen as crazy romantic people with those popular French songs.


List of Modern French Love Songs

Here is a selection of ten current French love songs.

New French love songs
New French love songs @French Iceberg
  1. Mais je t’aime – Grand Corps Malade & Camille Lellouche (2020)

The two artists unite to sing one of the most beautiful French love songs of 2020. This song is sung by Grand Corps Malade who is one of the most famous slammers in France on one side and Camille Lellouche, a talented French actress on the other side.

This romantic song tells the story of a woman and a man who are madly in love and who realize the beauty and strength of love.


  1. Yeux disent – Lomepal (2017)
Lomepal
Thesupermat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This is probably THE French love song that helped the French singer Lomepal to become a mainstream artist and rise in the French music scene. The single is part of his great album named FLIP released in 2017.

In this song (perfect if you are in a breakup), Lomepal is telling one of his love stories where he broke the heart of his partner by being too selfish by spending too much time on his personal projects. I would recommend you watch the video clip, it is pretty artistic.


  1. Toi et Moi – Paradis (2016)

Paradis released this French love song in 2016 with the Album “Recto Verso”. This song has some electro-disco vibes. The French duo Simon Mény and Pierre Rousseau wrote an ode to the fusion of bodies.

This is the story of two characters where one is in love with the other one.  After meeting in the past, the two persons meet again. The one in love is confused about his feelings and has trouble expressing it. In the second verse, it became clearer. He expresses without ambiguity what he would be able to do for love for the second character.

Read also: “I Miss You” in French: Definition, Synonyms, and Examples


  1. L’amour avec toi – Vendredi sur Mer (2017)

Swiss singer Charline Mignot is assisted by the French artist Lewis OfMan (composing the songs). Vendredi sur Mer released this romantic French song in 2017 with the album “Marée Basse”. The woman singing is telling a story of a woman deeply in love with a man from a long time ago (or maybe a woman) and she cannot wait to make love with this person.


  1. Un rêve à deux – Jean Tonique & Bleu Platine (2016)

French single released in 2016 on the EP “Plage d’or”. This French love song is the result of a collaboration between the French artist Jean Tonique and the mysterious band Bleu Platine (mysterious because I couldn’t find any information regarding this emerging French band).

In this French song, the two characters imagine a blue and peaceful future together. This is a perfect song for relaxing and chilling with smooth instrumental and peaceful voices.


  1. Je suis fan – Alice et Moi (2021)

The French electro-pop artist “Alice et moi” is back with a powerful love song in 2021. In this song, she is in love with a person, so much in love that she is being a stalker, spying on him on social media or on the subway. For example, she knows by heart his phone number and wants so badly his perfume on her clothes.


  1. Euphories – Videoclub (2020)

French band that is trendy at the moment in France. They are a duo of young French artists that sing with eighty vibes and electro-pop instrumental. I was surprised at how young and talented they are. The group is composed of Adèle Castillon born in 2001 and (I learned while writing this blog post) she was famous before Videoclub by being a YouTuber and acting in the French movie “Sous le même toit” with the famous actors Gilles Lelouche and Louise Bourgoin. The other member, Matthieu Reynaud, also born in 2001, learned during his childhood to play many instruments like the bass guitar, synths, and drums.

They sing mostly about love and relationships in a very French way. Their first album was released in 2021 named “Euphories”. They started with some great EPs. The group released the French love song, in 2018, “Amour Platique” (lyrics) telling the story of two teenagers falling in love, like them.

Yes, because they met each other at a party and fell in love many times after. They realized that they were sharing some interests and decided to create this French music group. Their relationship influences a lot of the lyrics in their songs. As the result, the main singing topic is love. I could recommend many other songs from Videoclub about love such as the songs “En nuit” and “Mai”, but if I had to choose one it would be “Euphories”. Sadly, they decided to split in 2021, two months after the release of their album. They both wanted to go on solo projects.


  1. Elle ne t’aime pas – La Femme (2016)

La Femme excellent French band released in 2016 the song “Elle ne t’aime pas” in the album “Mystère”. As the second song on this list with “Yeux disent”, this is a perfect song to listen to after a breakup, “Elle ne t’aime pas” translated into English gives, “She doesn’t love you”. In this sad romantic song, the person tries to convince the lover to forget about his ex and that he should move on in his life.


  1. Mon âme sera vraiment belle pour toi – Terrenoire (2020)
French bands
Terrenoire French band @French Iceberg

This EP was released in 2020 by the rising duo of two French brothers Théo and Raphaël Herrerias from Terrenoire, a suburb of Saint-Etienne. They sing and dream of an ideal relationship, and worry about the pureness of their souls to satisfy their loved ones.

I wrote about them in my selection of French songs of 2020. I could recommend another good French love song from this band “Margot dansait sur moi”.


  1. Candide Crush – Thérapie Taxi (2019)

After becoming a well-known band in France with their hits “Salope” in 2016 and “Hit Sale” in 2017  probably the biggest hit of 2017. Lucky you, I wrote an article with the lyrics translated from “Hit Sale”. Anyway, Thérapie Taxi came back in 2019 with a new album “Cadavre exquis” with the song “Candide Crush”.

Behind this allusion to the famous mobile game, Adelaide exposes herself by revealing her feelings to the boy she had a crush on during a party. I could recommend a less-known song from Thérapie Taxi with “Naïve”, “Rupture 2 merde” or “Friendzone”. Sad news, the group slip up at the beginning of 2021 with a final concert at the Olympia in Paris and an album from this concert.


List of Old French Love Songs 

Here is a selection of ten classic French love songs. 

Old French love songs
Old French love songs @French Iceberg
  1. Edith Piaf – Hymne à l’amour (1950)
Édith Piaf
Studio Harcourt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Francophiles and even French people tend to mostly know the two songs La vie en rose or Non, je ne regrette rien from Édith Piaf, but Hymne à l’amour is probably her most beautiful French love song. The lyrics were written by the singer and she was thinking about a French boxer, Marcel Cerdan, whom she met in New York in 1948 while touring in the USA.

Sadly, this French love song was premonitory. Indeed, the song mentions the eventual death of his love “si un jour la vie t’arrache à moi, si tu meurs, que tu sois loin de moi” (= if one day life takes you away from me, if you die, may you be far from me). The lyrics also mention the fact that the singer could not overcome this death “car je mourrais aussi” (= because I would also die). In the end, the boxer died in a plane crash in the Azores in 1949. The singer died years later in 1963 in France.  


  1. Ne me quitte pas – Jacques Brel (1959)
Jacques Brel
Jack de Nijs for Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A French love song by the famous Belgian singer Jacques Brel. He sings about a breakup and asks her loved one not to leave him. For the story, the love one was her mistress Suzanne Gabriello. The artist did not want to leave his wife and his three kids and Suzanne Gabriello decided to end their relationship. 

 


  1. La Bohème – Charles Aznavour (1965)
Charles Aznavour
Mariusz Kubik, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Timeless famous French love song from the talented Charles Aznavour. The song was adapted in total into five langues, English, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. In the song, the singer recalls his youth with his happy times, his “bohème” times. The Boheme is when you are totally free and are unconscious about life. 


  1. Je t’aime… moi non plus – Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin (1969)

The French love song was supposed a duo between Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot but they broke up and the song was not released. After meeting Jane Birkin during the shooting of the movie “Slogan” where they both played in it in 1968, they end up together.

The French singer and the British actress formed a couple and had a baby, Charlotte Gainsbourg (a famous French actress now). In the end, they sung in 1969 together the love song “I love you… me neither”.


  1. Les Mots bleus – Chrisophe (1974) 

This is the result between the old-school electro artist Jean-Michelle Jarre and the French singer Christophe. Jean Michelle Jarre wrote the lyrics of this eternal classic. The song translates the difficulty to express love feelings that can stir up the guts of a person. The singer decided to go for it and to express in a sophisticated way his blue words (= Les Mots bleus).


  1. Et si tu n’exsitais pas – Joe Dassin (1975)
Joe Dassin
Agenzia Pitre, published in Bolero Teletutto Magazine, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“Et si tu n’exsitais pas” (= and if you didn’t exist) tells how impossible it would be for the singer to live without her love one. It expresses an irrational love, or life would not be worth living if this love did not exist. The song was released the same year as the love song “L’été indien”. The singer was definitely inspired by love in 1975. 


  1. Requiem pour un fou  – Johnny Hallyday, Lara Fabian (1976)
Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday

First, the song was sung by the emblematic Johnny Hallyday in 1976. It was interpreted live in a duo with Johnny Hallyday and Lara Fabian in 1998 during his impressive concert Stade de France 98. This song is about the total insanity of a man who commits femicide. The man refused to lose his wife and preferred to kill her. He claims to have done it because of love.  


  1. Julien Clerc – Ma préférence (1978)

One of the biggest successes of the French singer Julien Clerc. The singer broke up with the artist France Gall (in a relationship from 1970 to 1974) and fell in love with the French actress Miou-miou (Sylvette Herry) in 1976. Unfortunately, she is with the actor Patrick Dewaere. In 1978, Julien Clerc sang about his disowned love story with the French actress. 


  1. Francis Cabrel – Je t’aimais je t’aime et je t’aimerai (1994)

This hymn to love (= I loved you I love you and I will love you) was a huge success in France with 4 million copies sold. In this classic French love song, the artist expresses his eternal and deep love. The acoustic guitar reinforces the beauty of the lyrics. I recommend you to listen also his French love song “Je l’aime à mourir” from this artist. 


  1. Céline Dion – Pour que tu m’aimes encore (1995)

Classic French love songs by the Quebec artist Céline Dion. It was written and composed by the French artist, Jean-Jacques Goldman. This is a breakup song that all of us can feel related to at a certain point in our life. The song became an international hit (in the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, Ireland, and Poland), and it will be even broadcasted on American TV. The English adaptation “Falling Into You” was an even bigger success. 


I hope that you liked this lovely selection. Is there a French love song that you cannot stop listening to? Let me know about it in the comment section! I might update this list with new French romantic songs in the future. If you want to read more about France and love, you should read our blog post about the best French romantic movies!

Do you want to discover other French artists? Yes? Great, you need to read my articles about current French music artists: