Luiza / A debut album and an exclusive playlist for What the France !

She always felt that words alone wouldn’t be enough to convey the intensity of her emotions. Too rigid, too narrow. So, Luiza sought to forge her own path. Guided by her voice, her lifelong instrument, surrounded by the languages and landscapes that shaped her upbringing, she found it and invites us to explore it in “Luiza,” her self-titled debut album, released on April 10th.

Where Luiza was born 30 years ago, art was everywhere. In the sensitive rigor of her father, a jazz bassist driven by interest, curiosity, and respect for music; in the instinct of her mother, a free and daring Brazilian contemporary dancer; and at the heart of a family where artists abound, even in her own sensitivity, which she was taught to embrace. As a child, she entered the Maîtrise de Bretagne choir school in Rennes. Eight years of intensive training followed, during which she discovered vocal technique. Later, she also studied piano, guitar, harp, and dance at the conservatory. Until her adolescence, her life revolved around the rhythm of classes and recitals of sacred music. It was demanding, extremely formative, but somewhat austere for the young girl who was beginning to dream of something else.

From Brazil to Reunion Island

Luiza was searching for a new lease on life, a new light, and this quest first led her to Brazil and the Amazon, to familiar territory. From a young age, she had spent long holidays there, surrounded by friends from the Yanomami communities, but at 18, she decided to settle there more permanently. There, she discovered the power of the forest, sometimes silent and sometimes so eloquent. She also understood, in the concerts and festivals of Brazilian cities, that music is sung from the depths of the soul. A year later, she was accepted to art school and moved to Reunion Island. For five years, she explored painting, documentary filmmaking, and photography. She frequented both the high mountain peaks and the vibrant sound systems. There, she reconnected with her musical and stage spontaneity and felt a light growing within her, nourished by all the energies that surrounded her.

The stage, Instinct

At dub parties, jam sessions, whenever she can and in every language—even those that don’t exist—Luiza starts singing. It’s visceral: her voice can no longer be silenced. Even when she attends concerts by major artists, she has to sing! So, even if it means throwing all conventions to the wind, Luiza joins them on stage. She snatches the microphone from Richard Bona, Emir Kusturica, La Caravane Passe, and Soviet Suprem, who are surprised by her audacity but also by her talent. Luiza has no choice: she must make this passion her profession.

The Turning Point

From 2019 onward, everything accelerates. She returns to France to train for this new artistic life. She, so spontaneous, must learn to channel her energy and flourish with new rules of the game, both in the studio and on stage. She also needs to find the words in French, a language that still intimidates her. But she absorbs it, patiently, and never loses sight of her originality. The following years are filled with inspiring experiences and collaborations that lead her to release her first solo EP under her own name. In 2025, “Fantastik” is released, a multilingual and syncretic work created with a group of collaborators led by Louis Thomas, one half of the band Ladaniva. The EP is a hit, as Luiza paints a world with colors and sounds that are uniquely her own.

The Soleil Bleu Phenomenon

This is what attracted the duo Bleu Soleil, convinced that with their melody and Luiza’s imagination, they could work wonders. Together, in a small room and with inexpensive microphones, they improvised and recorded a song, simply titled Soleil Bleu. A lucky gamble. The charm was immediate: the song, with its sunny beauty, appealed to everyone and went viral on social media, which the young woman was barely familiar with at the time. Almost every radio station picked it up, regardless of its musical style, from Radio Nova to NRJ, including RTL, Skyrock, Europe 2, and Fun Radio. The song became the third most played French-language track on the airwaves in 2025 (over 1 billion listeners), with over 180 million streams on various platforms. For Luiza, everything took off. In just a few weeks, she was invited to sing and share her story everywhere. A multifaceted artist, Luiza radiates on stage, thanks to her spontaneity, generosity, and creativity. Already brimming with new ideas and aspirations, this young artist dreams of what’s next and her self-titled debut album.

Her first album

“Luiza” was born in a single summer, with her characteristic spontaneity, between Paris and Salerno, on the shores of the Mediterranean, and with the collaboration of her friends and her producer, Victor Vagh. This album is a kaleidoscope in her own image, where nature, first and foremost, holds a central place. This was a natural choice for the artist, who maintains a mystical relationship with the living world and has learned, during her many travels, to contemplate both the veins of a dead leaf and the distant horizon. With her, we journey from sky to earth, from sun to winter, from day to night, and if everything begins by gazing at the sea, that is also where the album ends. Moreover, each song on the album is an echo of her odysseys: Manhã de Carnaval, a cover that carries Brazilian saudade, Étincelles, created in An afternoon with Carbonne, says the fire that doesn’t wait, Nuages (in collaboration with Ladaniva) embodies the strength of friendships and cultural fusion, while Western chinois sets imaginations ablaze.

Sometimes, the artist even speaks to us in her own language, where sound alone is enough to evoke meaning. From track to track, we let ourselves be lulled and hear how much Luiza loved jazz, world music, and contemporary electronic textures before creating her own. And we realize that “Luiza” is aptly named, reflecting all the artist’s lives; it’s a radiant album that celebrates the power of gentleness and reminds us how music, when it’s so sincere, fills hearts. Luiza sought to forge a different path, guided by her voice, her lifelong instrument, surrounded by the languages and landscapes that shaped her. She found it and invites us to explore it in “Luiza.” “, his first self-titled album.

For the occasion, Luiza has also curated an exclusive playlist for What the France, featuring some of her favorite « made in France » hits. The playlist includes tracks performed by: Charles Trénet, Jacques Prévert, Léo Ferré, Brigitte Bardot, Zoufris Maracas, Ladaniva, Biga*Ranx, Charles Aznavour, Bonnie Banane, Pat Kalla & Le Super Mojo, Aim’a Nou, Alain Péters, Danyèl Waro, Serge Gainsbourg, Deluxe, Maxime Laope & Benoîte Boulard & Narmine et ses Rythmes, DJ MiMi & Marshall & Sikem, AllttA & 20syl & Mr. J.Medeiros, André Minvielle, Polo & Pan, Youthie, Henri Salvador, Nicole Croisille & Pierre Barouh, Mayra Andrade, Flavia Coelho, Bleu Soleil, MPL, Féloche, Brigitte Fontaine & Areski Belkacem, Jean Corti & Rachid Taha, Full dub, Les Pythons de la Fournaise, Babx, Ousanousava, GuiB, Bamby & Maureen, Feu! Chatterton, Georges Brassens, Les Yeux Noirs, Soviet Suprem, Babx or Mezerg.