Anggun Stirs French Media Attention, Plans to Sing in French and English

Anggun, the French beauty of Indonesian descent who will represent France at Eurovision 2012, is proving to be quite the media darling.

She’s already received plenty of attention for her new single ‘Only Love/Mon Meilleur Amour’ because it’s the most played French-language track on radios around the world. But now that she’s singing for the frogs in Baku her profile is reaching still greater heights. The morning of the announcement she appeared on the cover of Le Parisien. And now she’s busy speaking to everyone from L’Express to RTL, one of France’s biggest radio stations.

Here are some highlights from the L’Express interview.

She says she is overhwhelmed by the honor of flying the French flag in Azerbaijan: “It’s tremendous. I’ve only been a French citizen for 10 years but this is the country I’m living in, the one which welcomed me….it’s beautiful.”

She is well aware that France hasn’t won in 35 years: “People keep on telling me that! I hope I can take up the challenge. I know it’s a real competition, with votes depending on many things: the song, the performance on stage, but also the way a country is seen by the other countries. It’s a question of affinity.”

Anggun hopes to deliver a more interesting stage show than her predecessors did: “The song is essential, but I also want to bring a great show. Many countries do incredible things. What I could see on the French side, back on Amaury, Patricia Kaas and even Natasha Saint-Pier, is that the performance was great, but it lacked something. It’s easy to say that, I haven’t experienced it yet. But Eurovision is a comparison with others. French are often trying another way: Amaury sang in Corsican, Patricia Kaas had a very calm song.”

She plans to go uptempo in 2012. “I still haven’t received songs, but I would like to have something rhythmic, in French and in English, with a great show around. I have just finished a series of concerts in Indonesia and I used several outfits, with special choreography. I know, I am usually criticized in France due to my showy and too short dresses. But that’s what a show is made of. You have to bring dreams to people.”

And she isn’t shy about her ambitions. “I secretly want to win of course… just like the others do!”.

Watch an interview with Anggun: