After 2020 is all said and done, there will still be joy, there always will be love, and there still will be music. Carla Bruni, the international singer/songwriter and fashionista, takes a moment to reassure her fans that with “Un grand amour.” Released on Sept. 4, the second song from the French songstress’s upcoming album has her deliver this message against a warm melody. “We must search for love to save ourselves from terror,” Carla sings over the hauntingly serene track. “We need love just like we need to breathe … Sometimes we love against all hope, without the faintest advantage, Without the shadow of good fortune … When we find love again, it’s like a blank page … a great love is coming upon us.” It’s an enchanting song that, even if she wasn’t speaking in the language of her adopted homeland, would invoke the spirit of France, of Paris at night, of warm nights spent longingly gazing at an ever-expanding, starry sky.
“I was thinking one night about love,” Carla shares with HollywoodLife, “and that’s where I got the inspiration for ‘Un grand amour.’ I was thinking about the many different types of love in life. There are very small loves that are full of desire, that make you happy, that make you fly. But sometimes, you feel like you’ve really got something important, and that’s what this song is about. But it’s also about all the other love…love that lasts one hour or one night, but it still exists. The song is basically about the fact that without love, we don’t really have much. Nothing much to live for and nothing much to hope for. It’s important to love people and be loved by them.”
“Un grand amour” will be on Carla’s upcoming self-titled album. She announced its release date – October 9 – with the release of this new song, while also sharing the cover art to her half-a-million fans on Instagram. The self-titled album, out on Verve Records/Universal Music Group, will be a collection of French songs, plus one in English, one in Carla’s native Italian, and two covers – including one in Spanish. It’s a multi-cultural, international celebration. It also is Carla’s first album of original music in seven years, and her first project since 2017’s French Touch. That record, produced by musician/composer/producer David Foster, saw Carla bring her own spin to such classics like The Clash’s “Jimmy Jazz,” Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,’ and AC/DC’s “Highway TO Hell.” Though essentially a cover album, it found success in Carla’s home country, going Gold in France.
Though the Italian-born Carla began her professional life on the runway – becoming a world-renowned model from 1987 until her retirement in 1997 – she has found her second wind as a singer. The heiress to the Italian tire manufacturing company CEAT released her debut album, Quelqu’un M’a Dit, in 2002. Since then, she’s a loyal following of fans (while earning critical acclaim with such albums like 2007’s No Promises.) She also found her way into politics (in a manner of speaking) when she met French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. They were wed in 2008 and have remained a fixture in European pop culture ever since.
For those in the U.S. unfamiliar with her work, her upcoming album promises to transport them to a cozy, warm, and inviting French corner when its finally released on Oct. 9. You can preorder the album here.