Micky Green

I know, we've talked about her for a while now... But I only discovered her this week! Micky Green! Her hit "Oh" is this Spring's good surprise: fresh and subtle. The hot 23 year-old Australian recently settled in Paris. She's a former model turned singer with a rather experienced producer: the French-Lebanese Renaud Letang (who's already worked with Manu Chao, Feist, Gonzales, Alain Souchon or Mathieu Boogaerts). French daily newspaper Libération says Micky Green rocks our craddle with "a voice surrounded of purity, mediums and a few high pitches, a sweet melancholy and busting energy".



The album "White T-shirt" is not to be missed. Her website is here, her MySpace over here.

Shaun Tan

Born in1974 in Perth, Australia, this young artist will illustrate at first some fantastic or horror short stories for teenage magazines.


Later, Shaun Tan's work is recognized and wins a prize for the illustration of "The Rabbits", a children's book.


In 2008, Shaun Tan is granted a prize at the Angoulême Comics festival for the best book with "The Arrival".


This exceptional work is a mute comic with a very cinematic verve telling the story of a migrant who just arrives in a new country. With emotion, the book introduces us to a fantastic world, between an austere gray tone and a universe populated with magical creatures like Miyazaki's, enable each of us to identify...
Cet ouvrage exceptionnel est une bande-dessinée muette très cinématique relatant l'histoire d'un immigré arrivant dans une nouvelle contrée. Tout en émotion, le livre nous présente un univers fantastique, entre l'austérité d'un trait en teintes de gris et un univers peuplé de créatures fantastiques à la Miyazaki, permettant pourtant à chacun de se retrouver...


His website will introduce you further to his world.

Olivia!

Olivia Newton-John is not a well known icon in France. If the French audiences remembered her name, it's only from "Grease" (1978)...

"Hopelessly Devoted To You" (1978)


However, as far as I'm concerned, I remember very well "Physical"!
An interesting beat, a ridicule video that tries to be funny, a perfect hair and Olivia's smile were the key to its success. Fellow Aussie Kylie Minogue paid a tribute with a cover, 20 years later, during the "On A Night Like This Tour" (2001).

Physical (1981 - Olivia)


Physical (2001 - Kylie)


Olivia was born in Cambridge, England in 1948. She left for Australia with her parents 6 years later. Her carreer started in the 1970s with some minor hits that only charted in Australia and in the UK. She was a contestant to the Eurovision and had a nice success with "I Honestly Love You". With "Grease", she's a huge hit!

Then Came "Xanadu"! This cinematic UFO, with Gene Kelly, Olivia Newton-John, Cliff Richards and the neo-pop band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) will totally flop. The songs and the roller-skating apparently didn't seduce the audience then. The movie will get some recognition later, mostly due to its first degree kitsch dimension and its effecient tunes.

A musical is even created on Broadway in 2007, it will get rave reviews from the press and the public. Here are two songs from the movie.

"Magic" (1980)


"Xanadu" (1980)


In the end of the 1980s, Olivia Newton-John sings "The Rumour", an energy-driven hit written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin also in the back-singers.

"The Rumour" (1988)