Je suis mignon. Je suis audacieux. Je suis tout, et un peu plus. C’est Yé-yé / I am cute. I am bold. I am all, and a little more. This is Yé-yé

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Southern Europe, throughout the early 1960s, brought a quaint pop music trend that blossomed on a global level. “Yé-yé”, a French derivative from the American term “yeah yeah”, gave the world a new take on “bubblegum pop”.” Yé-yé was prevalent in France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal, though it was predominantly prevalent in France.What Yé-yé consisted of was catchy, alluring stylistic spins on American songs.

In 1959, Salut les Copains, à French radio station, first premiered Yé-yé singers, in their segment “le chouchou de la semaine”, also known as “sweetheart of the week”, with sweetheart being the operative world. The first Yé-yé singers were cute, doe-eyed, young girls singing about love and a brush of the desired naughtiness within their admired innocence. These girls developed personalized quirks that pushed them in the business and led to their distinct identity in a culture and business of look a-likes and those who aspired to be the musical hits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juMCWEGqi-k

France Gall, however, rose to the top and asserted her identity as a Yé-yé artist through the exploitation of her individualism and high, breathy voice. Starting at the young age of 15, Gall was thrown into the musical world and released her first single. The instantly famous Yé-yé singer collaborated with many artists, including Serge Gainsbourg, who also contributed many dreamy songs to the Yé-yé genre. Other Yé-yé girls include Sylvie Vartan, Jacqueline Taïeb, Annie Phillipe, and Carmen Villano. While these girls worked day and night to develop a certain style that uniquely associated with their image, the image of Yé-yé music and girls was consistent. It was an image of innocence that gained the looks and love of all, but contrastingly astray from the so called innocence and representation of a subtle sexiness.

France Gall Album Cover

Yé-yé originally started off solely in France, but gradually traveled throughout Europe. The Yé-yé period brought Italy’s first female rock star, Mina; Spain brought the “Spanish Yé-yé queen” Massiel, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1968; Japan even emerged as a Yé-yé country.

Claude François. Getty Images

Though the Yé-yé movement was primarily run by females, males had their fair share of success. One of the most famous artists being Serge Gainsbourg, as mentioned earlier, who was both a lyricist and performer. Claude François was additionally a popular Yé-yé male singer, who created the song “Belles, Belles, Belles”, which was an adaption of “Girls, Girls, Girls”.

This French pop genre was additionally associated with Françoise Hardy and Jane Birkin, who emerged not only as French hits, but global hits. Françoise released numerous hit albums throughout the ‘60s, such as Ma Jeunesse Fout Le Camp and Comment Te DireAadieu?. She recorded in various languages, such as her In English album, featuring songs like “This Little Heart”, “Only Friends”, and “Another Place”.

Jane Birkin, another famous French Yé-yé singer, was originally from London. She then met Serge Gainsbourg and developed a romantic relationship with him. Through his affinity for music and general musical talent, Jane Birkin worked to develop her musical career. Collaborating on “Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus” with Gainsbourg, her soothing, romantic voice was cherished. While “Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus” was originally written for Brigitte Bardot, the blonde bombshell and singer from France, Birkin got the part in the duet.

Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin in 1974.

Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex

Francoise Hardy.

Photograph: John Pratt/Getty Images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aLoezucIzk

Brigitte Bardot, the beautiful French Yé-yé singer, was also an incredibly influential and beloved woman of the time. She was considered a sex symbol across the globe, but especially in France, and released pop songs such as “Moi Je Joue”. She began performing in 1960s and collaborated with Serge Gainsbourg, Bob Zagury and Sacha Distel. Some of her first songs were, “Je Me Donne À Qui Me Plaît”, “Bubble Gum”, “Contact”, “Je Reviendrai Toujours Vers Toi”, ”On Déménage”, “Tu Veux, Ou Tu Veux Pas?”, “Le Soleil De Ma Vie” (a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”), and “Je t’aime,… Moi Non Plus”. However, as mentioned before, the released version of “Je Taime,… Moi Non-Plus” was sung by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, due to the fact that Bardot didn’t want it released. One of her more well-known duets with Serge Gainsbourg was “Bonnie and Clyde”.

Yé-yé is continuously cherished, examined, and experimented with. Mad Men, AMC’s hit television show, included later renditions of Yé-yé music, such as Jessica Pare’s cover of “Zou Bisou Bisou” and Céline Dijon, a comical pseudonym, performed Yé-yé with bands Les Sans-Culottes and Nous Non Plus. The general sound and style of the music from the ‘60s (Yé-yé music) has served as a constant in the representation of musical contrasts: innocence, sexual and physical corruption, homogeneity and idiosyncrasies. These artists were the ripening embodiments of Lolita, while still maintaining their faithfulness to their winsome, sweet image. Yé-yé was it all, at the time, and has still managed to remain in the modern light.

 

EMMA WEAVER | KXSU Music Reporter

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