The meteoric rise of pop star Zaho de Sagazan: 'I'm not missing any step'

From the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival to the closing party of the Paris Olympics, the French pop star Zaho de Sagazan has been omnipresent the past year. The newly appointed Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters is now taking her fresh take on French chanson overseas.

A little more than a year after the release of her first album, La Symphonie des Éclairs, Zaho de Sagazan is certainly one of the most prominent personalities in France. Just look at the prize list of the Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent to the Grammy Awards, rewarding the nation’s best musical productions every year, to take your doubts away. No one had ever received four trophies in only one evening before her. And the awards she took home are among the most prestigious: album of the year, best original song, live discovery, and breakthrough female artist.

With one foot in electro and another in chanson, La Symphonie des Éclairs is today getting a reissue, with extra tracks, and a considerably modified title: La Symphonie des Éclairs (Le dernier des voyages). “I needed a year and a half to find out how to finish this album,” says the singer. “The first version of the record had a teenage feel to it. It was the story of someone discovering music, exploring love, sex, and life on the road. Tracks I added on the reissue are there to punctuate this story. At the end of 2025, my tour will be over and I’ll turn to something else. Because quite a lot of things actually happened to me in the past eighteen months…”

That’s the least you can say. In the past year and a half, Zaho de Sagazan has been through what some people will only accomplish throughout their whole life. She made a cover of David Bowie’s “Modern Love” for the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, reinterpreted Edith Piaf’s “Sous le ciel de Paris” during the Olympics’ closing ceremony in the French capital, sold out four tours, and what’s more, was awarded the title of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic.

On her first album’s reissue, the French star even shares a duet with the British singer-songwriter Tom Odell. “He is my favourite artist in the whole world,” she says with enthusiasm. “Listening to his music made me want to start learning the piano. Two years ago, I saw him live in Paris. I took a picture and I posted it on my Instagram account. That same evening, I received a message from Tom Odell saying: ‘Love your picture! Would you please send it to me?’ So I also took the opportunity to send him a love letter and one of my songs. A few minutes later, he reposted my picture on his socials, and told his fans to listen to my music. It was surreal!”

“When my album was released, he came to see me live. We saw each other again in London, and we quite naturally became friends. Our collaboration came together without any help from a manager or a label. I wrote ‘Old Friend’, the song we’re singing together, a long time ago especially for him, long before I met Tom Odell. I find it unbelievable that he is now singing it next to me.”

A committed personality

The rise of Zaho de Sagazan is quite meteoric. “I may be climbing the stairs very quickly, but I’m not missing any step,” she says, with a sharp sense of metaphor. “I am obsessed with the idea of crossing new thresholds, creating new things. I am a workaholic. I am constantly thinking about music!”

Born in Saint-Nazaire in December 1999, Zaho de Sagazan grew up with her mother, a teacher, and her father Olivier de Sagazan, renowned for his paintings, sculptures, and performances which brought him prestigious collaborations in films, plays, but also in music (from Mylène Farmer to FKA twigs).

“I always knew I wanted to become a singer,” asserts Zaho de Sagazan, “but my mum wanted me to go for an education. So I studied business and administration management to make her happy.” She got her degree but still moved towards hospital care. “I worked as a home carer. I would work with old or sick people and people with a disability to help them accomplish everyday tasks. I did that for a year. First of all because that’s what I wanted to do. I was always attracted to medical tasks. And also because I did need a little money to start making music…”

As a popular artist, Zaho de Sagazan also lets her voice be heard in the public space. Last July, the singer appeared on the Place de la République, during a big Parisian meeting against the far right. “Nobody was surprised to see me coming on that stage,” she says.

“I never hid the fact that I was left-wing. Even listening to my songs makes it obvious. ‘Les dormantes’, for example, is about violence against women, while a track like ‘La fontaine de sang’ is about ecology. These topics are rather on the left side of the political spectrum... But my songs are meant to unite, not divide. Who am I to judge the French people’s choices? When I talk in public, it is not against people voting for Rassemblement National (Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, ed.), but against the party itself, whose discourse often targets minorities and innocent people. Whenever I am confronted with some form of injustice, I just cannot keep my mouth shut!”

Europe’s greatest talent

Her opinions and commitment to them are also visible on social media, where Zaho de Sagazan does not hesitate to criticise radio & television presenter Cyril Hanouna’s opinions and “his methods of demonisation of the left, only to normalise the far right.” That statement has caused her a violent backlash. Following her Instagram post, radio stations Europe 1, Europe 2, and RFM – all three belonging to the media group of business man Vincent Bolloré – decided to take Zaho de Sagazan’s songs off their playlists. It was a scandal in France, and almost 600 artists rallied against the censorship through a petition.

Singer Angèle, actress Blanche Gardin, writers Annie Ernaux and Virginie Despentes, and pop band Feu! Chatterton were among the signatories. “It could be an emotional situation, we could find it unfortunate,” the singer remarks. “But in reality, I was fully aware of the reality: this media group is banning everyone going against its ideas. But these ideas are dangerously leaning towards the far right. And that is the real issue, the real damage that is being done. Not the fact that these radio stations are deprived of my music…”

Zaho de Sagazan’s music, precisely, carries on the great tradition of French songwriting. She says she was inspired by the works of Barbara, but also by voices from Brussels, like Jacques Brel or Stromae. “The latter really influenced me. He is the kind of artist I can be: an innovative personality, comfortable on stage as well as in the studio, able to make people dance to sad songs. My musical proposition is only the sum of my influences anyway.”

In the Zaho de Sagazan equation, an electronic component is necessary. “In the studio, when I am facing a creative dead end, I always use the same method: I listen to an album by Soulwax, Kraftwerk, or Nicolas Jaar. Their approaches help me to find solutions, to untangle inextricable situations.” The French singer also likes to listen to Pink Floyd or the swaying melodies of the late Lhasa de Sela. “I get my inspiration from all sorts of music. But since I spend time chosing my words to tell stories, it would be strange to deny the ‘French chanson’ label.”

Even more so when these days the music genre is reaching far beyond the boundaries of French-speaking territory. At the beginning of the year, Zaho de Sagazan stood out during the Music Moves Europe Awards, a ceremony awarding the best breakthrough artists on the European market. Adele, Stromae, Agnes Obel, or Dua Lipa feature among the former winners... “A prize like this is of course a good sign,” the singer observes. “Beyond the language, this shows that people are touched by the intention, the melodies, and the musicality of the project. After my concert in Brussels on 24 November, the rest of my tour will be abroad. I will be performing in the United States, England, and Germany, in the Netherlands, Ireland, or Scotland.”

This international breakthrough could easily lead her to a festival like Coachella. She settles the score: “I have zero desire to play there. Organising such a huge event in the middle of the desert goes against everything I believe in. No, playing at Coachella doesn’t excite me one bit. A concert at the Berghain, the Berlin techno temple, now that would be amazing!”

Zaho de Sagazan, 24/11, ING Arena, ing.arena.brussels