Poplin

'What makes a song sound French, besides the words? What is it that makes certain French pop music sound sophisticated or classy? Is it possible to write a French-sounding song without employing the usual clichés? Or even beyond the music itself – can one actually impart a metropolitan French character into the song – for instance their fashion and aesthetic sense, their joie d'vivre, or their knack for blending the classic and the modern?'

When someone poses these questions, an answer lies in either buying/downloading an extraordinary amount of French music (like me), or actually make the music. Guy Poplin from Singapore (no, it's not strange at all that someone from South-East Asia loves and makes this music, ever been here?) send me a link to an EP of his project, featuring four very elegant popsongs that refer to Francis Lai as much as Keren Ann.
Read Poplins musing about the production process on his site.
About the song posted here, he writes:

The EP's title track was born of a convoluted development of ideas. The first two verses were written almost eighteen months before the words for the rest of the song. The Cinderella motif proved to be the cornerstone, which lead to the concept of a Débutante ball, and finally the whole metaphor of a beginner's fumbling moves in the game of love. The switch to a 3rd-person speech in the chorus was meant as her inner demons voicing her insecurities. Beneath the seemingly mocking tone, the song is actually a tribute to the touching artlessness of a young woman in love for the first time. The idea to name the EP after this song became a no-brainer when it became obvious that the Débutante's story was already all over the four songs before the character was even conceived.

In an email to me, Guy (or Koi) writes: 'FS has been instrumental in helping me research on french pop music past and present for the past 3-4 years! Do keep it going!' Glad I could help, keep doing what you're doing too, Koi!

Poplin - Une Débutante Au Jeu (feat. Bridget Low)