Cœur

Clara Luciani already had an impressive track record by the time she released her 2018 debut solo album, Sainte-Victoire. Having sung in the groups La Femme, Nouvelle Vague, and Hologram, and collaborated with Raphaël, Alex Beaupain, and rapper Nekfeu, the French singer funneled all that experience into a solemn yet festive LP about overcoming heartbreak. She takes it up a notch on this unabashedly groovy second album, exhibiting an icy cool as she sings of love while taking over the dance floor. “Le reste” is a cheeky tune that bounces to an irresistible disco beat, with Luciani briefly lamenting the lost intimacy of a relationship that has ended, then shaking it off with a thrilling exuberance. “Everyone looks the same, except you,” she coos on “Tout le monde (sauf toi),” a languorously funky love song about standing out from the crowd. She picks up the thread on the somber guitar ballad “J'sais pas plaire,” confessing that she doesn't know how to flirt or charm like other girls, and that she longs for a man who will love her for who she is: “a little gauche and fragile,” she admits.