Do you like Julien Doré? Five French artists to listen to next
Julien Doré occupies a peculiar place in French music: popular enough to fill Zénith venues, yet quirky enough that you never quite know where to pigeonhole him. His sixth album, Imposteur, released in 2024, even went so far as to cover other artists’ classics – and his own.
If that’s the sort of mix you like – melody, irony, and a voice that isn’t afraid to show emotion – here are five French artists where you can find it.
A fair warning: we’re fourth on this list. This is a band’s blog, and we weren’t going to pretend otherwise. The other four, however, owe us nothing and weren’t given any heads-up.
1. Zaho de Sagazan
Born in 1999 in Saint-Nazaire, she released La Symphonie des éclairs in March 2023. It went gold in December of the same year and platinum in April 2024.
She has been described as standing ‘somewhere between Barbara and Kraftwerk’, and for once the description isn’t just a lazy cliché: she combines the diction of French chanson with electronic sounds that are, in fact, a world away from that tradition.
Why, if you like Doré: the same refusal to choose between tradition and everything else. And the same way of addressing serious matters without adopting a serious tone.
2. Malik Djoudi
Three acclaimed albums – Un in 2017, Tempéraments in 2019, Troie in 2022 – and an androgynous voice that has become his trademark.
His work strikes a delicate balance: meticulously crafted, almost cold electronic music, over which he lays melodies that are, in contrast, genuinely sentimental.
Why, if you like Doré: it’s the same vein. A production style that could come across as distant, but which actually serves to make the emotion bearable.
3. Terrenoire
Raphaël and Théo Herrerias, two brothers from Saint-Étienne, who took their name from the neighbourhood where they grew up.
Their debut album, Les Forces contraires, earned them the Victoire award for Best New Male Artist in 2022. They went on to play 120 gigs, then set up their own festival in Terrenoire in 2023 – in the neighbourhood itself, not in a venue in the city centre.
Their music blends electronic and organic textures, with machines interacting with strings, and lyrics that are both direct and devious.
Why, if you like Doré: for their sincerity without naivety. And because there are two of them, which changes the way a song is constructed.
4. TidyMess
That’s us, and this is our blog. We’re saying this rather than slipping ourselves onto the list and hoping no one notices.
A duo, two voices – a woman and a man – based in Béarn since 2016, with three albums to their name, including Yin Yang in 2025, and 145 gigs under their belt, mainly in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
Why we’re on this list: because we work with the same material – melodic French chanson, with lyrics that try not to take themselves too seriously. We’re a lot smaller than the other four. You’ll know in three minutes if it speaks to you: the albums are right here.
5. Voyou
They take the French chanson and transform it into electronic pop, with brass sections and a nonchalance that masks some real compositional skill.
It’s the lightest offering of the five, and that’s deliberate: this list needed someone whose irony leans towards joy rather than melancholy.
Why, if you like Doré: for the unapologetic sense of fun, which in both artists conceals songs that are better crafted than they appear.
And if you want to broaden the selection even further
Three more names, without further elaboration, because they belong to the same musical family: Feu! Chatterton, formed in 2011, for the literary side; Pomme, for the raw side; Clara Luciani, for the unapologetically pop side.
None of these lists is set in stone. This one reflects what we listen to on tour, between Pau and elsewhere, in a car where we’ve got time to spare.
Nelly and Thomas
Sources: La Libre – Zaho de Sagazan · Malik Djoudi · L’Éclaireur Fnac – Terrenoire