Vanessa Paradis is one of those names that has popped up many times over, well, decades. I remember her as a teenager singing “Joe Le Taxi”, which was a hit in several countries across Europe, despite it being sung in French. At the time, I even think I may have heard her follow up single, but it never hit on and so I forgot about her again.
Well, forget? That’s just the thing with her, she’s actually managed to stay on the radar. In the eras of her career where I wasn’t hearing about any of her musical endeavors, I would still see her on TV as a model in various commercials and advertisements. And once that fell quiet, she would be the girlfriend of someone famous like Lenny Kravitz or Johnny Depp.
I’ve always thought of her being one of those artists who gets to probably pick and choose her projects, so she can jump from music, to modeling, to making movies, to going back on tour. I just assumed she must have always been big in France to give her that status. But I, personally, only know three of her songs: “Joe Le Taxi”, ”Tandem” (which I actually tried to teach me to sing myself in one of my vlogs from years ago) and “Be My Baby”.
However, now I can add one. Vanessa has featured on a song by indie ambient artist Oren Lavie. He is known for mixing relaxing music with high quality lyrics and music videos with a stop motion style. For some reason, it makes sense to add Vanessa Paradis to the mix. You may think of her as just your average pop singer with a light, childlike voice, but I quickly learned not to underestimate her. She’s artistic and artsy as well, and has tackled many music styles over the years.
The song, “Did You Really Say No”, is a great addition to her repertoire. Its alternative style captivates you, with or without the artsy video. The vocal combination works great on this track and makes it complete. I simply love it, even though you might think it’s so unbecoming, because alternative is not my thing.
