Ever since Digital Technique introduced me to Julian Cely and his single "Pour Elle," I've half-followed him; as arguably shamelessly designed to "appeal to young girls" as "Pour Elle" was, it was still a completely adorable catchy mid-tempo piano-featuring pop song, one that stole my musical heart. Last year's "Billy" (also good, though musically not quite as much so) was both a lyrical and musical switch for Julian--a song about a boy in love with a boy who doesn't love him, who sees him as a just a friend, it was a little darker and more electronic. It was an interesting direction for him, but given the song's failure to properly take off in France (I think he's had a little more success in Indonesia)--fully in keeping with Julian's track record there so far--we've yet to hear anything more from him on the commercial release front...unless you count the more R&B "Plus fort," which was scheduled to be his next single. I'm not sure if it ever got a proper release beyond inclusion on a compilation album. It and "Mantra," presumably another song from his planned more R&B next album (edit: French Wikipedia says "Mantra" was released in Indonesia), can be heard on his MySpace.Luckily, in Julian's attempts to establish himself, he landed a small-ish role on Sous le soleil, a soap opera which has given him the opportunity to make a few more songs (though chronology wise they aren't post-"Billy"). My favorite of those is like neither "Pour Elle" nor "Billy," but rather that upbeat-yet-gentle pop-with-guitars I seem to keep mentioning these past few weeks.
Pour le présent--kind of pop-rock, but maybe more properly just pop with guitars, "Pour le présent" has this lovely melodic feel to it. Upbeat, uptempo, and uplifting (even if arguably cheesy), it's very pop, very accessible, and exactly the sort of thing I can never get enough of. It's absolutely not a song to change the world, not a song with an exciting new sound, but for me, it's a song that makes the sun seem like it's shining just a little brighter on a gray day, as well as the sort of thing I'd absolutely be singing along with if I knew any French at all.
I know of nowhere where you can buy "Pour le présent," but you can buy a few singles of his here (physical) and a few songs of his here (digital).
Next up: maybe something British and amazing but very well-known.
