Her 2010 debut 'Je veux' turned heads, and she's kept writing songs that feel like Paris afternoons.
If you want to understand Zaz, put on 'Je veux' and then 'Tout là-haut.' One's all defiance, the other's a quieter climb, both feel unmistakably hers.
Zaz matters because she brought a fresh, streetwise energy to French chanson just when it needed it. 'Je veux' wasn't just a hit, it felt like a manifesto for a generation tired of pretense. Later tracks like 'Tout là-haut' and 'Éblouie Par La Nuit' show she never lost that mix of jazz inflection and plainspoken honesty.
She started with that self-titled album in 2010, which landed right out of the gate with 'Je veux.' Since then, she's put out records every few years, from Recto Verso to Isa in 2021, always circling back to chanson, jazz, and folk. The live band has included players like Vincent Segal on cello, which tells you something about the sound.
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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