If you’re not listening to French-Algerian-American singer Lolo Zouaï, then it’s time to catch up. The Brooklyn-based artist has been turning heads since the release of her 2019 album, High Highs to Low Lows, an album with strong French pop and electronic influences.
Though she mostly writes in English, some of her songs, like “Moi” and “Beaucoup,” go the bilingual route, switching effortlessly between French and English. Her new single, “Galipette,” follows this trend. The title is a play on words, alternatively meaning “somersault” or “to fool around.” The music video uses gymnastics, boxing, and swimming motifs, which seem to hint at recent Olympic sexual assault scandals. Though the lyrics are very sexual, they also open with strong words: “Je fais des galipettes/Dans ma petite jupette/Ferme tes yeux ne regarde pas/Bébé ce n’est pas pour toi” (“I do somersaults/In my little skirt/Close your eyes, don’t look/Baby this isn’t for you”).
The video’s aesthetic mixes in some of Zouaï’s love for vintage attire, with strong 1960s elements countered with metal grills and slicked-back hair. It’s a melange all in all, but one we’re more than ready for, almost as ready as we are for her opening Dua Lipa’s delayed Future Nostalgia tour this fall.
