The First Lady Who Really Sings ... Carla Bruni

When former supermodel Carla Bruni was announced as the new First Lady of France, right after her marriage to French president Nicholas Sarkozy, many thought that it would also meant the end to her music career that has just taking off.

Au contraire, the thoughts have turned wrong and being a First Lady does not mean she have to give up her interest as a musician, since music runs in her veins. Instead, her husband, the president, gave the green light to keep on singing and performing, as long as she wants.

After many years of gracing the hallowed pages of fashion glossies, ad campaigns, and walking on the runways across Europe and the Americas, Carla Bruni decided to say au revoir to fashion world and pursue a new career in one of her utmost interest – music.

A talented singer with sultry voice and plays several musical instruments including acoustic guitar and piano, Bruni started writing songs and lyrics in French and recorded them into her first studio album called Quelqu’un Ma Dit (Someone told me) in 2003 under Naïve Records.

If fellow supermodel Naomi Campbell failed to impress listeners with her first album (Baby Woman), Bruni’s effort turned the opposite way. The music fans loved it!

Topping the French album chart at number one spot, Quelqu’un Ma Dit, which is a compilation of folk pop songs, received race and amazing reviews among music listeners and top-notch dailies such as Le Figaro of France.

Bruni’s smooth musical composition mixed with her seductive singing voice and meaningful lyrics were the key factors that shot her debut album to stardom. At the same time, it also proved that Bruni’s foray into music was never a child’s play. To make her musical effort noticeable by the world, she also set up her own music page on Myspace, a social networking site cum music promotional tool where she received thousands of plays and visit every day.

Done with conquering the French and other European music charts at top 10 spots, Bruni recorded another album and this time, in English. Using poetry as the source of her inspiration, she reinterpreted renowned English poems into lyrics of her folk pop music and compiled them into one veritable recording of thoughts called No Promises.

Released in 2007, No Promises, her second effort under Naïve and first in English, was distributed in United States, United Kingdom, Japan and several other English-speaking countries.

With catchy titles such as “My Dancing Days Are Gone” and “Promises Are Like Pie Crust”, the pop folk album managed to win the hearts of music fans across the Atlantic and again, proved that Carla Bruni is more than just a face with inevitable beauty.

Now come July, Bruni is set to reprise her success on French and European music charts with the release of her second French album with Naïve called Comme Si De Rien N’Etait.

The obvious difference that will take place in this soon-to-be-released album is Bruni has ditched the folksy sounds in the favor of Sixties pop, plus a couple of controversial songs included inside.

And with the arrival of Comme Si De Rien N’Etait in stores, it will also mark another milestone in her life as the first singing First Lady in the world who cuts her own album and sell it to the masses.

So, if you are wondering how Carla Bruni’s new effort will sound like, then just wait for her new album to arrive in stores soon.

*Photos by Barhat Sikka, Iren-Jen from Flickr.com, and Exil.de.

Carla Bruni studio recordings – Quelqu’un Ma Dit and No Promises are available at leading online music stores now.