Anggun | The Franco-Indonesian star unveils her exclusive playlist for What the France!

Anggun’s destiny follows a musical, spiritual and geographical path. Her father, a writer, awakened her to the power of words and poetry. Dance, singing and the piano quickly became natural means of expression. And the stage, an extension of her playing fields.

Indonesia, her country of 13,000 islands, fell in love with her and watched her grow up. Starting out as a child celebrity, with a debut album at the age of nine, she later embodied a youthful fascination with the West and rock frenzy. Her records sold by the millions, her concerts filled stadiums and Southeast Asia was conquered, but the woman-to-be already dreamed of new horizons. To go beyond the ocean, to have the courage to start from scratch. London first, then Paris and its decisive encounters that led her to sign with a major French record label in 1997.

The first fruit of this new life, “La Neige Au Sahara,” produced by Céline Dion’s producer, became a huge success in 1999, crowned with a Double Gold Disc for the album Au nom de la lune. The English version, “Snow On The Sahara,” charted in thirty-five countries and reached the Top 20 of the prestigious Billboard Charts in the United States.

More than one million albums sold outside of France made Anggun one of the most exported French-speaking artists in the world. Having become French out of love for the culture and the language of Molière, Anggun traveled the world. She sang for three Popes at the Vatican: John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and more recently for Pope Francis. She met with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to champion the causes close to her heart. A UN Goodwill Ambassador, Anggun is a committed artist. She was made a Chevalier des Arts & des Lettres for her commitment to Francophone culture and her humanitarian efforts. Her social media following is booming, gathering more than seven million fans around the world who follow her continuously.

In 2012, her adopted country, France, chose her to represent it in the Eurovision Song Contest and she has fond memories of this extraordinary performance. Two years later, Anggun received the prestigious World Music Award in Monaco, celebrating her worldwide success. In 2015, the famous Madame Tussauds museum honored her with a wax statue of her own, which now stands alongside the world’s greatest artists.

As a judge on the world’s most-watched talent show, “Asia’s Got Talent,” alongside legendary American producer David Foster and Mel C of the Spice Girls, Anggun captivated hundreds of millions of viewers every week on this extraordinary TV show, which airs in 19 countries across the Asian continent.

In 2019, twenty years to the day after becoming the first French-Asian artist to break into the US charts, her international single “Perfect World” (unreleased in France) reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Dance Charts in the United States. This achievement marked her fourth consecutive chart-topping single in the US, a record for a French artist!

Anggun recently shot a feature film with director Wregas Bhanuteja, which will be released this fall after a tour of international festivals. She is also preparing to head to North America to film a major international series for a global platform: a new era in the rich career of this versatile artist.

A woman torn between two cultures, a messenger of musical unions, she opens a heart sometimes wounded by distance, often invigorated by adventure. Anggun is unique, both in her career and her talent.

We invite you to listen to the exclusive playlist Anggun has created for What the France. It brings together some of her favorite “made in France” tracks. You can hear songs performed by Justice & Tame Impala, Santa, Kavinsky & Angèle & Phoenix, La Fouine & RK, DJ Cam, Aya Nakamura & Joé Dwèt Filé, Rori, Pétrole Brut, Nicolas Maury, Amir & Indila, Michel Polnareff, Superbus & Hoshi & Nicolas Sirkis, Lulu Gainsbourg & Les Gordon, Françoise Hardy, Jane Birkin, Serge Lama, Isabell Adjani & Benjamin Biolay, Alien, Léman, Christophe Maé & Amadou & Mariam, Angélique Kidjo & Davido or Hyphen Hyphen.