Discover The Exciting French Indie Music Scene
An inspired look into the vibrant and diverse world of independent music in France.

What Is Indie Music?

To explore the French indie music scene, we have to first truly understand what indie music is in the first place.

Indie is not a genre, it means any music that is released independently from any major music label, commercial labels or their subsidiaries.Most underground or unknown artists are independent as they do not have the backing of the industry on their side.

However, being independent doesn’t only come with negatives. Being independent gives the artist complete freedom in the music they desire to create, whether it is pop, rock, alternative, electro etc. as an independent artist you are not bound by the decisions of a boss since you are your own boss. In addition, indie artists and bands have more diehard fans as they usually make music for their fans to relate to.

Now, French indie music like all indie music isn’t the easiest to find, which is why this article should hopefully serve as a good introduction to the French indie music scene.

What It’s Like Being An Indie Music Artist In France

In France, there are many popular indie artists that will be mentioned further in this article. And just like normal indie artists, the connection they have with their audience is more personal than mainstream artists as indie artists typically tackle harder topics and more personal ones.

There are lots of ups and down for being an independent artist in France, one of the upsides is the freedom that I mentioned above, but that can also be considered a downside. If someone has too much artistic freedom then they sometimes don’t know what they want to write about or what they want their music to be eventually hitting a block.

Another hardship indie artists go through is building hype around their music. Since they have no help from a company, they have to rely on themselves and their connections to build a fanbase and people who would listen to their music.

Another issue that independent artists face is the budget, the lack of it. The artists usually don’t have enough money for a good producer or good equipment for the whole song in general so their music will sound low quality as a whole even if the lyrics or the production isn’t bad.

However, even with all that, we always keep getting independent artists that make it through and come up with classics, hits or extremely popular songs that will be mentioned below.

(Source for the interview where an indie artist talks about the ups and downs: https://quipmag.com/independent-spotlight-south-of-france-discusses-building-a-career-as-an-independent-artist/ )

Now we can never understand a music scene if we don’t listen to the music of course which is why I researched many French indie songs and came up with a small introduction list of songs and artists you can listen to.

Popular French Indie Music

Like many artists, a lot of the French indie artists have a hit song that makes them popular, or one that gets trendy on the radio or on TikTok.

La femme – Où va le monde

Starting off with a popular indie rock single amassing over 18 million views on YouTube, we have “Où est le monde” by the indie rock band, la femme (the woman).
In this single, the band talks about how the world is changing for the worse carrying a dark tone throughout the song.

The lyrics are specific to society and human relations in general and how loyalty is disappearing from humans with time, where the singers are tired of being like others, what they call “la bonne poire” (the good pear), living a life that ends in tears and sadness.

This is a very good song to start with if you like a song that carries a message.
Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQDEUU1lyZQ

Feu! Chatterton – Monde Nouveau

Coming in second is another indie rock song by another French band named Feu! Chatterton.

Monde nouveau (new world) talks about how the world is changing and how humans are knowing less and less with time since they don’t have to. Saying that we do not know how to use our hands anymore since we don’t have to.
This song is good for dancing and for a calm listen as it serves as an all-rounder between a song for a hyper mood and a calm mood.

Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwJji0LBkwY

Kid Fransescoli – Moon

If you are not a fan of rock then maybe this song could be the one for you to start with. Produced by the French electro pop group “Kid Fransescoli”, “Moon” is a dance/electronic track on the band’s indie pop album “Play Me Again”.

With over 70 million views on YouTube, this can be fairly said to be their most trendy song even being used for a while on TikTok, YouTube shorts and Instagram reels.
If you appreciate good production and catchy beats then this song is a must.
Even if you aren’t fond of EDM (electronic dance music), this track is an exception as it uses many instruments at the correct time to create a unique flow.

Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdixQDPA2h0

Izïa – Mon Cœur

If those 2 genres don’t work, then maybe indie pop will? Which is why we have the song “Mon Cœur” (My Heart) by the French artist Izïa here. Coming in with an old school 80s pop style, Izïa delivers a very catchy song talking about her heart and the hits it’s taken leaving emotional scars. We can see the difference between this type of music and the first two songs is that the lyrics are more emotionally connected whereas the first two songs try to convey a message.

This song is very good if you like artists like The Weeknd (specifically Dawn FM), as the artist focuses on assisting the production with her voice and her flows.

Link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK9gvUCcm9U

Cabadzi – Bouche

Last but not least, we have the French rapper Cabadzi with his song “Bouche” (Mouth). The song has an aggressive and urgent tone that Cabadzi carries throughout the song trying to convey a message to the audience. The message mainly consists of him wanting love and other good things to happened but the world he lives in is too disconnected to listen to him or acknowledge him. If you are a fan of lyrical rap then this is definitely a good starting point.

However, I do have to point out a negative point in this track which is the production. As mentioned before in this article, the production budget is an issue for independent artists and we can see in this song how it affects the music. For comparison, we can take the production of “Pray For Me – The Weeknd ft. Kendrick Lamar” where it sounds so much cleaner in general

Link to the song (Cabadzi- Bouche): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFzzgTCsw7o
Link to the song (Pray for me – The Weeknd ft. Kendrick Lamar): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0pYq_Saf7g

Popular French Indie Artists/Bands:

Songs are of course a good way to get into a music genre but if you want to learn more about the French indie music scene, you should also discover artists and maybe you’ll find one you like and wish to listen to on a regular basis.
Which is why the third part of this article is dedicated to popular and respected French indie artists/bands, giving each of them a brief introduction.

La Femme (The Woman)

Founded in 2010 by Sacha Got and Marion Magnée in Paris, and then introducing the other members in their team: Sam Lefèvre, Noé Delmas, Lucaz Nunez Ritter, the band “La Femme” was completed with several member changes over the time. Their debut album, Psycho Tropical Berlin, earned them a Victoires de la Musique award for best debut album in February 2014, and their 2016 offering, Mystère, peaked at No 8 in the French albums chart.

And in the present, the indie rock band is one of the most famous of its time in France and is definitely worth a chance.

Link to their channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lafemmemusique

Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains

Next up, this band was formed in 2003 giving its fans French and English music with a unique blend of indie pop and afrobeats genre. It is not as famous as La Femme but it still has respect withing the French indie music space. These can also be a good starting point since there are also English music to listen to if you understand English better than French.

Link to their channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGYaR_po1Bii0t75qCLixNQ

Indochine

Formed in 1981 in Paris, another respected indie pop band that is older than the others mentioned here is the 80s pop rock band, “Indochine”. With a massive discography of 13 albums, the latest, named “13” being released in 2017, Indochine became very successful in the late 80s with their hit signles like “L’aventurier” (The adventurer) pushing them to the top of the fame ladder.

If you want to go back more towards the history of indie music and one of it’s leaders then Indochine would be a good pick.

Link to their channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMMM0zTGlwBQD5buZpDOzug

Conclusion

To conclude the article we can say a lot of the indie bands and artists are either from the south of France or Paris, mainly Paris. We can find a lot of different sounds the more we explore the realm that is the French indie music scene.

But, every journey has a beginning, and I hope that this article can serve as a guide for your beginning on your journey to discover the indie French music scene and French indie artists.

Sources:

https://www.rostr.cc

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7pSUsof5crZi6c4k8Hun3q#login

https://www.magneticmag.com/2022/08/french-indie-music/

https://www.last.fm/tag/french+indie/artists

https://www.chosic.com/music-genre-finder/

https://www.youtube.com/

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/france/articles/the-10-best-french-indie-bands/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indochine_(band)

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Femme

https://quipmag.com/independent-spotlight-south-of-france-discusses-building-a-career-as-an-independent-artist/