By Claudia Moscovici

For several years, I have been on a mission to find the kind of contemporary music in which words truly matter. As a poet, novelist and literary critic specializing in French Romanticism, words are what I appreciate most, be it in poetry, literature or song. And yet, for quite a while, I have felt that music has relegated language to a secondary role, prioritizing loudness and formulaic verses to poetic, thoughtful and expressive lyrics. Perhaps in part due to my background in literature, I believe that words and sounds in songs should fit harmoniously together, complementing each other to create, whenever possible, musical masterpieces. A great example of this synergy are the songs of Leonard Cohen, who worked on his lyrics sometimes for over a decade to compose such moving and poetic music.

After years of seeking contemporary music that prioritizes language, expressivity, emotion and meaning, I found two French musicians whose songs blew me away with their poetic lyricism: Philippe Cohen Solal and Philippe Campion. Being a fan of the tango group Gotan Project, I was already familiar with Solal’s music, but what I discovered more recently was the sheer poetry of his solo songs. His first solo album, Paradis Artificiel(s) (2018), set the tone for placing emphasis on the power of language. Solal sang his own songs, translating into music with miraculous ease several of Charles Baudelaire’s most famous poems from Les Fleurs du Mal (1857) as well as the poet’s treatise on the creative effects of hashish and opium, Les Paradis Artificiels (1860). You can find out more about Philippe Cohen Solal’s diverse and poetic music in my article devoted to his solo albums:

https://panodyssey.com/en/article/culture/the-extraordinary-musical-journey-of-philippe-cohen-solal-sc8spkdq9b7d

In turn, Philippe Campion 2022 debut album Eternel été, which is the main focus of this article, was a big critical success in France. For both musicians, words clearly matter and that shows in the quality of their songs.

I. The Panodyssey’s Manifesto by Alexandre Leforestier: Why Words Should Matter in Music

Eternel été places emphasis on the expression of thoughtful emotions in exploring the theme of love, strongly resonating, as I plan to show, with the movement of Romanticism. But before turning to a detailed discussion of Philippe Campion’s love songs, I would like to first situate my personal quest for the type of music that prioritizes language in a broader context, via the global mission of the group I have closely collaborated with for the past seven years, Panodyssey.com. Panodyssey is an interdisciplinary and international cultural networking platform where writers, poets, musicians, artists, cinematographers and photographers can collaborate in Creative Rooms, complementing and enhancing each other’s strengths. It was founded by the French music executive Alexandre Leforestier, in collaboration with IT and innovation expert Yann Rigo and business executive and growth manager Valentin Bert. Given that Leforestier’s background is in music, interdisciplinary collaborations with and among musicians are a focal point of Panodyssey. Leforestier studied music at the conservatory in Rennes and later at the Sorbonne in Paris. He served as Managing Director of Abeille Musique from 2001 to 2014. In 2002, he launched the jazz record label Bee Jazz, producing over 100 albums, including collaborations with notable musicians such as Boulou & Elios Ferré, Alain Jean-Marie and Robert Wyatt. In 2007, he cofounded Qobuz, a high-resolution music streaming service, expanding the company’s operations throughout Europe.

In 2017, Leforestier came up with the innovative concept of a democratic, multilingual, multicultural and interdisciplinary cultural networking site, Panodyssey.com, where artists in every creative field and from all over the world can collaborate together on joint projects, complementing and translating each other's works. This platform provides a digital environment free from advertisements and fake content, in conformance to European regulatory standards, such as GDPR and the Digital Services Act. Panodyssey organizes cultural events through its sister organization, also headed by Leforestier, CREA (Creative Room European Alliance), which is funded in part by the European Commission. For the past two years, Panodyssey has also collaborated with the Instituto Cervantes on an educational project in music and animated film, working with several schools located in four European countries.

Launching an international and interdisciplinary cultural startup takes a lot of work and dedication, often with little or no financial benefit to the founders. Why is Alexandre Leforestier so committed to this project? Desiring to have an impact on culture generally requires the sense of a worthwhile mission: wanting to intervene in support of the cultural values one believes in, both to propagate them and to protect them from perceived threats. This set of positive and negative motivations describe quite well Leforestier’s quest in creating Panodyssey. For years, the former music executive has been considering how to support, or amplify the cultural resonance, of quality music with great lyrics and, conversely, how to reduce the noise of more formulaic music, which is far more prevalent and risks eclipsing the rest.

His concerns are all the more relevant and justified today, as Artificial Intelligence simultaneously nourishes and feeds on human creativity. And AI is not just here to stay; it’s here to grow and expand exponentially. Like any form of technological advancement, it can have both positive and negative consequences. AI can place a wealth of information at our fingertips in an instant. But, if we’re not careful, it can also cannibalize human creativity, effacing the concepts originality and intellectual property, which are essential to the survival of the fields of literature and music. I am not predicting the future. I am speaking of the present. Only a few months ago, using formulaic aggregates, AI has already created a country music hit, Walk my Walk, by the AI generated artist Breaking Rust. Hundreds of more such songs will no doubt follow. If we thought that the lyrics of songs composed by human beings were becoming too vacuous and formulaic, this trend risks being vastly compounded by AI, which engulfs human knowledge and creation, relying on formulas to generate music.

"Music is not only a string of notes. Music is, first of all, a text." Alexandre Leforestier, Panodyssey Manifesto

What will happen to our experiences, talents, feelings and powers of expression if we do not use this powerful innovation intentionally and thoughtfully? This is the important and timely question raised by Alexandre Leforestier in his Panodyssey Manifesto. The compelling answer he offers is that we must endow our music with meaning by once again prioritizing language. Leforestier also emphasizes that we should use AI judiciously, to propagate, aid and enhance rather than replace individual creativity. I am including below the links to his Panodyssey Manifesto (in both the original French and my English translation) as well as a short passage from this inspiring text.

https://panodyssey.com/fr/article/culture/manifeste-panodyssey-2026-quand-la-musique-retrouve-ses-mots-dbdmjjkjrh76

https://panodyssey.com/fr/article/culture/panodyssey-manifesto-2026-when-music-finds-its-voice-6vhf842uegvd

“For music that is read as much as heard

Music is not only a flow.

Music is not only an algorithm.

Music is not only a string of notes.

Music is, first of all, a text.

A purpose.

A thought conveyed through words, before being expressed thorough sound.

And yet, for quite some time now, words have been relegated to second place.” Alexandre Leforestier, The Panodyssey Manifesto

II. Love Songs and Poetic Expression: “If I knew where good songs came from, I’d go there more often” Leonard Cohen

So how do we create the kind of contemporary music that, as Alexandre Leforestier so eloquently puts it, “is read as much as heard”? Which is another way of asking, pure and simple, how do we create great songs? Leonard Cohen, with his attunement to language, showed us the way. The musician answered this question with characteristic wit and modesty by saying, “If I knew where good songs came from, I’d go there more often”. Despite his extraordinary talent as a composer, lyricist, poet and singer, it sometimes took Cohen several years and dozens of drafts to complete a single song.

There is something quite mystifying and magical about musical talent, which defies will power or rational analysis. Moreover, the process of artistic consecration itself, involving agents, producers and music executives who attempt to anticipate the public’s often unpredictable taste, adds further layers of complexity to achieving artistic success. A case in point is, once again, Leonard Cohen himself. His arguably greatest album, Various Positions (1984), which includes the hit songs Dance Me to the end of Love and If It Be Your Will as well as the much-covered anthem Hallelujah, was initially rejected by his record company. Walter Yetnikoff, the head of Columbia Records at the time, did not consider the album commercially viable. The reason he gave Cohen for this decision did not shed much light on his standards of musical value: “We know you’re great, but we don’t know if you’re any good.” To his credit, Yetnikoff got a lot of things right, overseeing at the helm of CBS/Columbia Records the meteoric rise of pop and rock stars such as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Cindi Lauper, Gloria Estefan and the group Culture Club. But he was wrong about Cohen’s Various Positions.

We know full well by now that Leonard Cohen’s music proved to be good as well as great, not only in reaching the general public, but also in inspiring thousands of musicians around the world. Generations of listeners connect with his genuine, thoughtful and emotive lyrics that explore universal themes such as love, heartbreak, faith and doubt, sin and redemption. In turn, critics admire the sophistication of his music and the philosophical depth of his lyrics, which explore the fluid boundaries between the physical and the spiritual and the sacred and the profane. His songs fundamentally touch us. “Music is the emotional life of most people,” Cohen declared. He lived and composed in accordance with this principle. Given his focus on expressing meaningful emotional experiences, it’s not surprising that many of his songs are about romantic love.

Love songs are special. They uniquely appeal to our emotions and aspire to universality, which is probably why they dominate every genre, from the Beatles’ classics to more current hits by singers such as Adele, Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran. These are some of the contemporary stars that have created great love songs. But they are quite rare. Precisely because romantic songs are so numerous and pervade practically every musical genre and period, they run the risk of being hackneyed. It’s quite difficult to compose original love songs, which sound fresh, genuine and meaningful, in a field that’s overcrowded and on a theme that’s overdone. Even Leonard Cohen, a genius lyricist and musician, worked very hard to create them.

As a scholar of Romanticism with a penchant for great love songs, as previously mentioned, I have been seeking for years another such resonant and authentic voice. I found it in Philippe Cohen Solal’s magnificent poetic music and, more recently, also in Philippe Campion’s debut album Eternel été, released on June 3, 2022 by the label Tôt ou Tard. The young French singer worked on this collection of songs under the guidance of the talented and experienced Scottish music manager and producer Peter Murray. Murray’s own career trajectory is itself quite interesting. After moving, almost on a whim, from Scottland to France in 1981, he began his musical journey busking in the Paris Metro, playing songs by Elton John and Stevie Wonder, which was quite rare at the time. For a couple of years during the early 1980’s, he was a bass guitarist in the pop/rock band British Colony, known for the hits Have You Ever Seen Me Dancing and Hold Me. He subsequently became a very successful music producer and manager in France, head of the label Murrayfield Music, launching the careers of several popular singers and bands, including Les Négresses Vertes, Sapho, Elmer Food Beat, The Mint Juleps, and Dr. Feelgood. (See Murray’s interview about the course of his career in The Record Business,https://therecordbusiness.com/2020/07/21/peter-murray-murrayfield-music-founder/). Having a vast experience in the music industry as well as a keen ear for great songs, he quickly spotted Philippe Campion’s talent.

Campion’s music is different from Cohen’s in almost every way, except perhaps for what counts for me most: the sensitive lyrical expression of genuine feelings that, as I will show, harks back to the tradition of Romanticism. Most romantic songs, unfortunately, do not. They trade in cliches and end up sounding banal. In depicting emotions that are superficially applicable to everyone, most love songs, such as To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before by Julio Iglesias and Willy Nelson (to offer just one example among many), apply to no one in particular. One might say that the girls, as well as the feelings expressed, are interchangeable. By way of contrast, one of the most important lessons of the Romantic movement, from which, after all, we borrow the enduring concept of “romantic,” was that transforming lived experience into art requires cultivated talent, deep introspection, calm contemplation, ineffable inspiration, as well as a lot of work.

III. Philippe Campion’s album of love songs, Eternel été

In listening to Eternel été, I had the distinct impression that Philippe Campion undertook this more challenging creative path to produce such a meaningful and moving collection of love songs. Of course, I don’t mean to oversimplify the process of composing by suggesting that his songs are an unmediated expression of his identity, personal experience and feelings. As Jonathan Bate stated with regard to Shakespeare’s sonnets, “The ‘I’ who speaks a poem, even an intimate love poem, is not synonymous with the person who writes the line. All poets rejoice in creating a persona” (How the Classics Made Shakespeare, Princeton University Press, kindle edition, 2019, p.1). So do all good musicians, of course. Campion channeled with great sensitivity, nuance and talent aspects of himself, and of his previous romantic experience, into the narrative voice, or persona, of his love songs in Eternel été. And, like all great music, his songs are open to interpretation. My textual analysis of his lyrics will therefore be just one possible interpretation out of many. Moreover, I am interpreting his songs as a fan of his music and as a literary critic, not as a biographer. The little I know about his life, which I will share with you next, I learned from reading several of his intriguing interviews, given mostly around 2021-22 as part of the promotional buzz for the album Eternel été.

From the start, Campion had the advantage of familial encouragement and manifested early a gift for music. As he recounts to Vincent Kheng in his 2022 interview with Justmusic.fr, he was brought up listening to great music, since his father was a fan of jazz and African-American music. (Seehttps://just-music.fr/interview-rencontre-philippe-campion/) Although he began composing at the age of 18, he tells Olivier Perot that he already enjoyed singing by the age of 3 or 4. (See his interview with Olivier Perot in La Nouvelle Republique, https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/a-la-une/philippe-campion-aime-parler-des-humains-en-mouvement). During his 20’s, his talent flourished and matured through fruitful collaborations with other accomplished musicians and producers. Most importantly, the synergistic creative chemistry he had with the talented composer Clément Ducol and with Vincent Frèrebeau, the head of the record label Tôt ou Tard, generated the magic of Eternel été. Frèrebeau started Tôt ou Tard in 1996, originally as part of the larger Warner Music Group then, beginning in 2002, as its own independent label that fostered the artistic careers of musicians working in a wide range of musical styles, including French pop, rock and chanson. Tôt ou Tard has promoted singers as diverse as Vincent Delerm, Yael Naim, Benjamin Biolay, Vianney and Shaka Ponk.By signing Philippe Campion, the label added a distinct voice, not to mention the exquisite lyricism of his songs, to one of its main fields, French mainstream pop and chanson.

Let’s begin our analysis of this album with its title, Eternel été,which is itself poetic and significant. Summer, perhaps the most beautiful season of the year, is unfortunately quite brief. Yet being in love makes time feel elastic, stretching out the moments by endowing them with greater poignancy and meaning, such that a mere three months can feel eternal: hence the well-chosen title, Eternel été, which captures the central theme of this collection of songs.The album is composed of eleven love songs that cover different aspects and attitudes toward a passionate summer relationship that ended too soon. The composer/narrator moves from an almost celebratory sense of gratitude that the relationship gave him so much pleasure and joy (Ces Années-Là, Je T’Aimerai Quand Même); to ambivalence, sadness and nostalgia about its end (On Ne Peut Pas Se Quitter Comme Ca, Au Minimum and Ma Solitude); to ruminations about why it might have ended (Remonter Les Heures, Milliers D’Excuses and La Prélude Et La Fugue); to resolving to move on but not without leaving open a path to reconciliation (Je Pars Mais Je Reste). As Campion explains in his 2022 Justmusic.fr interview with Vincent Kheng, “J’ai voulu aborder un message unique sous différents angles: le manque, l’hésitation, se souvenir des choses, gérer le manque au présent et comment envisager l’avenir avec l’amour que tu ressens…Le message est que je suis sûr que quand on aime quelqu’un de tout son cœur on va le revoir (sourire)” (Justmusic.fr, 2022).

Each of the songs in this album explores the delicate nuances of feelings that make up the complex and complicated emotion we call love. In my estimation, deeper romantic music addresses the universal theme of love without, however,expressing completely generalizable emotions that appeal only to the lowest common denominator. In listening carefully, several times, to Campion’s love songs, I identified with some of the experiences and attitudes described but not others. This left me with the exciting sense of discovering new insights about human emotion, which is precisely what great love songs do. They appeal to our sympathy not just our empathy, enriching our imaginations and expanding our emotional horizons. When asked by Kheng to summarize his album in just three words, Campion articulated what could very well be considered the mantra of Romanticism: “Sincère, amoureux et espoir” (Justmusic.fr, 2022). The musician’s sincerity, love and hope, along with all the subtle shades and variations of these core emotions, are apparent in his beautiful music.

And yet, as is well known, the most intensely passionate emotions, which include all infatuations, are ephemeral. Only the deepest and most mature forms of love stand the test of time. Though fleeting, passionate young love builds our repertoire of enriching emotional experiences. The songs of Eternel été are so finetuned to the singer’s own experiences of a summer relationship that they don’t even capture the composer’s current frame of mind anymore. In his February 2025 interview with Fabien Randanne for 20 Minutes France, Campion avows that a few years after completing the album, he could no longer fully recognize himself in these love songs, once the intensity of his feelings subsided and the vivid memories of the romantic relationship he depicted began to fade. He worked several years on this heartfelt album, and was very excited to launch it, but the Covid pandemic delayed its release. When Eternel été finally reached the public in 2022, Campion felt a strange disconnect from the album. As he tells Randanne, “Je n’arrivais plus à me reconnecter, tout bêtement, à ce que j’avais fait. Ce qui m’avait inspiré les textes, c’était une histoire d’amour qui commençait à devenir très ancienne. Et, bizarrement, au moment de devoir présenter ces chansons au public, je n’avais plus envie. Je ne ressentais plus le truc.” (See https://www.20minutes.fr/arts-stars/culture/musique/4138471-20250215-the-voice-deux-ans-apres-mesaventure-premier-album-philippe-campion-revient). For a while, even his desire to create music waned.

Campion indicates that he has not written any new songs since the release of Eternel été despite the album’s critical success. Only a recent guest appearance on the hugely popular French show The Voice may have given him the elan to compose again. As his recent interview with Maxime Birkin for the Huffingtonpost.fr reveals, “Avec The Voice, le jeune chanteur espère donc relancer sa carrière, après un premier album apprécié par la presse musicale et écouté par de nombreux auditeurs sans toutefois convaincre suffisamment pour lui permettre de s’épanouir entièrement dans son art.” (https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/divertissement/article/the-voice-philippe-campion-surprend-vianney-en-venant-tenter-sa-chance-dans-l-emission-de-tf1_246263.html) When Florent Pagny and Patricia Kaas, two of the iconic singers and judges on The Voice,recognized Campion’s unique voice as he sang to perfection Take My Breath Away by Berlin, their encouragement, as well as the exposure to the show’s large television audience, reenergized him. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4ZAP8kgIDY)

As the musician declared in a recent interview with VL Media, he is now seeking not merely the creative impetus for a new album, but a veritable artistic rebirth, or as he puts it, “une renaissance artistique”. (See https://vl-media.fr/qui-est-philippe-campion-ce-chanteur-qui-a-fait-son-come-back-dans-the-voice/) Such a comeback would channel his characteristic sincerity, life experience and complex sense of self into the effort to reach a wider public through his music. After all, a song, much like a poem or a novel, is not a journal entry but a form of communication, a bridge to others. With characteristic insight and self-awareness, Campion declares in his interview with Randanne, “Je pense que je ne me trouverai jamais vraiment parce que je ne sais pas s’il y a quelque chose à trouver mais, comme toute personne qui fait ce métier, je me trouve dans le regard des autres. J’ai juste à vivre avec la personne que je suis. Grandir, c’est aussi se rendre compte de qui on est.”(https://www.20minutes.fr/arts-stars/culture/musique/4138471-20250215-the-voice-deux-ans-apres-mesaventure-premier-album-philippe-campion-revient) To better understand the delicate and complex process of artistic creation of genuinely romantic music such as Philippe Campion’s love songs, before we turn to an analysis of the album Eternel été, it would be helpful to go back in time to their conceptual precedent: the movement of Romanticism itself.

IV. Eternel été and the Tradition of Romanticism

Romantic poets connected the sentiment of passionate love to artistic expression more closely than any other literary movement. William Wordsworth’s famous definition of poetry in his 1800 Preface to the Lyrical Ballads as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" that “takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility” contributed not only to a new understanding of artistic creation, but also to a new formulation of human identity and emotion. Indeed, Romanticism created the concept of individuated “romantic love” (supplanting the medieval ideal of courtly romance), which we inherit in one form or another to this day.

The importance of Wordsworth’s influential prefaces to The Lyrical Ballads, as well as his and Coleridge’s poems in the collection, cannot be underestimated. They helped launch the Romantic movement internationally and provided its theoretical framework. For the Romantics, the artistic expression of love is complex and fragile. Wordsworth mentions not once, but twice that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” The poet situates emotion at the core of human creativity. He places value not upon immediate reactions, however, but upon feelings recalled and evoked in moments of quiet contemplation, or as he puts it, “from emotion recollected in tranquility”. As the contemporary writer Jean Rouaud would later explain by way of analogy, the (post)romantic poet, musician or artist is not the being creating natural flowers, but rather the florist artfully arranging them in an elegant vase. With this analogy in mind, let’s take a closer look at Wordsworth’s fuller definition of the poetic process:

For all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings but though this be true, poems to which any value can be attached, were never produced on any variety of subjects but by a man, who being possessed of more than usual organic sensibility, had also thought long and deeply. (William Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads, Edited by William Richey and Daniel Robinson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002, 393)

Romantic poetry’s truth and power consists of its ability to capture a contingent meaning that may not be everlasting, but that touches us through its very contingency. This deeper insight springs from the imagination of a talented artist through a kind of solitary séance that combines what may be called, before its time, subconscious thought and what Wordsworth calls volition. The intense yet calm contemplation of love, the evocation of feelings, ignites creativity. Through their thoughtful and carefully selected words, the poet or lyricist awakens our aesthetic sensibilities, giving us visceral pleasure while also intellectually revealing a deeper sense of meaning. Ultimately, however, then as now, the real quality of Romantic poetry and music is tested by time. Only the accumulated responses of readers or listeners, mediated, as we’ve come to accept, by what the sociologist of culture Pierre Bourdieu calls “the field of cultural production” (agents, producers, publishers, distributors and promoters), give art, literature and music their enduring value.

I believe that Philippe Campion followed a similar creative process to the one sketched by Wordsworth for the Romantic movement. A sensitive person and talented musician and lyricist, the composer captures the most moving aspects of an earlier romantic relationship, with its subtle shifts of mood and perspective; with its fragility and uniqueness. As Campion tells Olivier Pirot in an interview given on May, 2022, “C’est juste vital pour moi d’écrire des chansons. Même si, dans le fond, on a tous un cœur et des sentiments, chaque interaction est unique et bouge tout le temps. Parler des êtres humains en mouvement, c’est que j’aime.”(See https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/a-la-une/philippe-campion-aime-parler-des-humains-en-mouvement) Each song in Eternel été conveys a unique and complex range of feelings, crystalized into sheer poetry through the distillation of art from lived experience.

V. Textual Analysis of the Songs in Eternel été

1.Ces années-là

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAK3TCbirJI

My introduction to the first love song of the album, Ces années-là, was its spectacular music video on YouTube (https://youtu.be/FAK3TCbirJI). This short film made a very strong impression on me, especially growing up during the 1980’s, the era of MTV. The video was directed by cinematographer Mathieu Spadaro, celebrated for making films for luxury brands such as Hermès and Chanel, and produced by the talented Julien Le Goff (Sapari Productions). This stunning artistic video seemed like a throwback to 1950’s films, such as Bonjour Tristesse, which capture breathtaking scenes of a town by the sea in Provence. The picturesque setting of the coast of Southern France contributed to the nostalgic and romantic mood of the video. It was the perfect place to stage this lovely song, which evokes a sense of wistfulness for the best years of a youthful romantic relationship that, as so often happens, began almost ideally (“On était si souvent d’accord, Et tout marchait dans ce décor, Comme si le ciel se mettait à nos pieds”), only to gradually dissolve once the lovers grew up and grew apart: “En grandissant dans nos pensées, On veut les taire les coups du coeur, On était moins souvent d’accord”.

While the experience of infatuation may be universal, the nuances of feelings expressed, along with the intensity of the passion (“C'était la vie, c'était le feu”) and the longing to recapture it, render Ces années-là a uniquely poignant and memorable song. The film, itself a work of art, matches the mood of the song in all its subtle details, such as the scene that begins with a closeup of the closed hand of the male protagonist (Philippe Campion) standing by the seashore and shifts to a play of shadows that stages, like in a surreal dance, the silhouette of his female partner slowly detaching from him. The footing of Campion driving through the stunning panoramas of Southern France, as well as the scene of him hastening to the cafe they frequented together only to find himself there all alone, accentuate the wistful tone of this love song and music video. While the relationship may have ended, the song concludes on a note of optimism and gratitude. After all, without such bittersweet yet formative experiences of young love, what would we be as human beings? (“Sans elles tu serais qui? Sans elles on serait quoi?”)

2. Remonter les heures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeJ05bSY4cA

As we age, we often want to recapture the freshness and energy of our youth. That is when human experiences, particularly romantic relationships, feel most poignant. To my mind, the second song of the album, Remonter les heures,isas much about the impossibility to wind back the clock to our youth, or “remonter les heures”, as it is about the impossibility of recreating the intensity of young love. This song, in both lyrics and musical style, has a note of sadness rather than just nostalgia. Youth, with all its novel and intense experiences, is irretrievable. As much as the singer seeks to recapture not just the inebriating sense of being in love (“je veux retrouver nos ivresses”), but also the past itself (“Je veux remonter les heures, Tu as filé trop vite, Sous tes nuits de pierre, Que se cache t’il?”), it is not possible do so. Time, and with it all of our fugitive, short-lived life experiences, irreversibly moves only in one direction: forward. Only our most meaningful moments, sifted from the rest by memory, remain alive in our imaginations: “C’est seulement dans mes rêves, Que tu restes en vie”.

Of course, our memories, however idealized in retrospect, often pale by comparison to lived experience. They often just remind us of what we once felt and lost, leaving us empty and yearning: “Regardes mes yeux, est-ce que tu vois le vide? Les larmes ou le feu, c'est pas moi qui decide”. Recreating the intensity, novelty and impressionability of youthful passion is a fantasy. And only in fantasy is everything possible: “C’est seulement dans mes rêves, Que rien n’est interdit”.

3. Milliers d'excuses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZzbhpFR52w

Philippe Campion’s love songs are not only incredibly beautiful musically, but they also have a rare psychological depth lyrically, offering an almost Proustian minute analysis of human nature and emotions. Although universal in theme, they are particular and nuanced in their insights, which gives them depth. This is why, as I describe them, I find myself constantly moving from his singular narrative voice, or persona, to inclusive, plural pronouns. Which is precisely what I will do here, in analyzing the third song, Milliers d’excuses. The abrupt end of a romantic relationship, particularly if we are not the one to end it, is a shock. Even if we saw it coming. For a while, we tend to dwell on the past. Time appears to freeze as we struggle to accept this new reality. At first, we experience a disorienting sense of disbelief, or denial.

Milliers d’excuses traces the psychological process of coming to terms with the end of a romantic relationship with someone we cared about. It takes time to recover from the initial sense of stupefaction; to rediscover our own identity and let go of the concept of “us” that had shaped our daily reality: “C’est après tous ce temps, Que je m’anime enfin, Pour oublier ton nom, Et réapprendre le mien”. When a relationship ends prematurely or unilaterally, the sense of loss is particularly powerful. It is, in some respects, at least for a short while, akin to the process of mourning a loved one’s death. We mourn not only the romance we lost, but also the experiences we will never have with that person. The end of a relationship robs us not so much of its past, which we can still recollect, but perhaps more painfully, of its future: “Peu à peu je fais face, Et peu à peu j’effacerai, Ce qui aurait pu se passer, Entre nous je dois m’en passer”.

Afterward follows the almost inevitable process of rumination, as we look back to identify the warning signs of the deteriorating relationship, which we may have been too blinded by love to perceive. These red flags are eye-opening. If we don’t dwell on them for too long, or with too much bitterness, they help us heal. They are a necessary step in de-idealizing the lover and the love itself. Which is why they often take the form of casting blame: “J’ai décelé la ruse, Sous tes milliers d’excuses, Tous ces mystères autour de toi, Ne me regarde plus”. The de-idealization of the lover enables detachment from the relationship: “Peu à peu je retrouve, Tout ce qui m’était isolé, Ce qu’on aurait pu se donner, Je dois m’en passer”. In turn, when we no longer envision a future with someone (who is still alive), we also care less about hyper-analyzing our past with them: “Tous ces mystères autour de toi, Ne me regardent plus”. After all, as Elie Wiesel famously stated, “The opposite of love is not hate it’s indifference.”

4. Au Minimum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKXngAnfcZw

Healing from lost love is not a simple process. You think you are over the relationship and have moved on and then you experience a renewed longing for the past, a fresh pang of pain. The song Au minimum takes a step back from accepting the end of the romantic relationship. It’s a far cry from indifference. The singer begins with an imagined dialogue with the woman who left him, wondering how she could have ended their relationship in just a few messages after everything they felt and lived through: “Alors c’est comme ça qu’on se quitte? Deux, trois messages et puis rien”. This song also explores the nature of the traces of a romantic relationship that has ended. What lasting impressions do meaningful experiences of love leave us with? At the very least, the narrator hopes, the couple is left with the powerful memory of a somatic, erotic impression that is also sentient, emotional: “J’espère encore que nous sommes, Cet amour qui tient au corps, Au minimum, au minimum”. There are people who, although they may separate, never actually leave each other, he states. The vividness and force of their memories and feelings continue to bind them together throughout life. Although he realizes that the relationship is over, the singer is not ready to let go of the possibility of a future together. At the very least, “au minimum”, he wants to hold on to hope. “On se reverra je le sais, Laisse-moi sourire en nous imaginant”.

5. On ne peut pas se quitter comme ça

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-IGwIw5v6s

On ne peut pas se quitter comme ça recreates, or rather stages, the moment of the breakup of a romantic relationship. Actually, if we think about it more deeply (and Campion certainly does), a breakup is not experienced only as a moment in the present. It includes several simultaneous temporalities, which is why it is such an emotionally charged and confusing experience. A break up engages our memories and regrets of the past, a present sense of heartache, and an awareness of the loved one’s absence we will feel in the future. The narrator wavers between a plea for not ending the relationship (“On ne peut pas se quitter comme ça”) and already seeing it from the perspective of future acceptance, as a thing of the past: “Ta façon de voir la vie, Comme un circuit qui jamais ne finit, Déjà me manque”. Yet this romantic song is ultimately an argument for the strength of love to give energy and meaning to human life: “Non, on n’peut pas s’quitter comme ça, Regarde-toi, regarde-moi, On ne sait pas marcher sans l’élan qu’on se donne”. On ne peut pas se quitter comme ça offers a reflection on temporality as much as on love, as its narrative shifts between the past, present and future of a dying relationship. It even envisions its tempo, depicting its end only as a period of silence, or a pause, before its possible future rebirth: “Et si demain mon amour, Tu respirais dans d’autres jours, C’est une pause”. This multiple sense of time, evoking the richness of memories, the shock of the present rupture and the longing for a future together, captures the essence of both loss and hope in love. As the novelist of temporality, Marcel Proust, wrote in his monumental work about love, loss and memory, In Search of Lost Time, “Love is space and time measured by the heart”. (La Prisonnière) This is precisely what Philippe Campion measures in this profound love song.

6. Je pars mais je reste

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU_54WtYlhI

Je pars mais je reste is a more upbeat song. There’s even an accompanying cute music video in which Philippe Campion showcases his contemporary dance moves, which are quite impressive! Here, the end of the relationship is no longer experienced primarily as a sense of loss, but as a growing experience. Yet, as usual, things aren’t as simple as they may seem. Campion captures the complexity and ambivalence of breaking up, as he both stays in and leaves the relationship.

He leaves the lover behind, but not everything he has learned from the experience. Once again, timing is everything. Leaving the relationship before it completely sours preserves the best memories: “Pour tout ce qu’on a fait, Pour tout ce qu’on s’est dit, Pout tout ce qu’il reste à faire, Pour ce qu’on a grandi”. In this song as well, Campion doesn’t completely close the door on the future, leaving open the possibility of reconciliation. In fact, as the contradictory title suggests, he is leaving precisely in order to preserve the possibility of staying: “Pour mieux te retourver, Pour ne pas que vieillisse, Tout ce qu’on s’est donné”. There is a lot of truth to this apparent paradox. Leaving a waning relationship while it is still beautiful, before it has been irretrievably disintegrated and there is a total loss of love and mutual respect, is the best way (and perhaps the only way) to safeguard the possibility of its rebirth.

7. Le prélude et la fugue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd-S6-k-a40

A prelude is a short improvisatory style musical piece that introduces a longer, more complex work, such as a fugue. A fugue is an intricate, contrapuntal musical composition, where multiple independent music strands are woven together. This is precisely what Campion’s next song, Le prélude et la fugue,achieves both musically and thematically. The prelude depicts the signs of a disintegrating relationship, most notably, the melancholy gaze of the lover and her solemn demeanor, so different from the woman in love he once knew: “Regarde comme t’as pas l’air heureux… Et tout ça c’est pas toi, Quandt tu chantes, Quand tu m’regardes dans les yeux, Tout ca c’est du sérieux, Et tout ça c’est bien toi”. It also represents the striking differences and complementarity between the lovers.

To the narrator’s chagrin, the romantic experience, intense as it may have been, was short-lived. This summer love dissipated even before the first chills of autumn, which he had looked forward to experiencing together. “J’attendrai l’automne, Que tu frissonnes un p’tit peu moins, J’attendrai qu’il pleuve des cordes, Pour t’sentir tout près de moi”. Yet he hopes that the value of their complementarity and union, or as he puts it once again in musical terms, the dyptich (or a composition made up for two distinct related musical sections), will eventually become apparent to her: “J’attendrai que ce diptyque, Enfin puisse se révéler à toi”. Perhaps one day she will look back and appreciate him and their past relationship. Just like the prelude and the fugue cannot be disassociated in a musical piece, the narrator believes, neither can the two of them. With a melodic lyricism reminiscent of the French Symbolist poets, the narrator depicts the moment when, at a different stage of their lives (or different season), they may meet again and reignite their passion: “Le prélude et la fugue, À nouveau se rencontrer, Des premières neiges, Aux dernières lunes”.

8. Ce que minuit me laisse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6mw-_ykgQg

For me, Ce que minuit me laisse is an ambiguous song that can be read in two opposite ways. On the one hand, it can be interpreted as being about the dreamy beginning of a relationship. Under this reading, the song depicts the exciting sense of anticipation and fantasies one may entertain in the middle of the night after an enchanting first date: “Quand minuit frappe j’entends que sonnent, Les sirènes agitées dans mes tempes”. On the other hand, the song can also be interpreted as depicting the very opposite: namely, the ruminations of the lover as he tries to understand why his beloved is leaving him if they truly love(d) each other: “Pourquoi tu me sèmes si on s'aimait”. Perhaps the hardest thing to come to terms with in a breakup is how someone who loved you can hurt you and leave you. There’s a popular saying, “If you love someone set them free”. That is a truism that isn’t true. Relationships usually end not because of the presence, but because of the absence of mutual love. They end when the love, passion, commitment and respect are no longer there, or are significantly diminished, on one side or the other or both.

When the love diminishes only for one member of the couple, it is a very difficult thing to accept for the one who is still in love. Under this second interpretation of the song, the narrator finds himself in a difficult position, trying come to terms with how a romantic love that felt true, deep and intense can suddenly dissolve. “Pourquoi tu me sèmes si on s'aimait, C’est si fort que ça m’assomme”. This sense of loss is all the more devastating because the memories of the passion, or what he metaphorically calls “Les sirènes agitées dans mes tempes, Les souvenirs ne quittent pas ma rue”, linger long after she left him.

9. Quand soudain la nuit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuBTXgUK5jM

Quand soudain la nuit is a lyrical gem that seems to spring from the garden of Symbolism. Stéphane Mallarmé defined the goals and methods of the Symbolist movement, setting it apart from both Romanticism and Realism, as follows: "To name an object is to suppress three-quarters of the delight of the poem, which consists in the pleasure of guessing little by little; to suggest it, that is the dream. It is the perfect use of this mystery that constitutes the symbol: to evoke an object, gradually in order to reveal a state of the soul or, inversely, to choose an object and from it identify a state of the soul, by a series of deciphering operations... There must always be enigma in poetry” (Edward Hirsch, The Essential Poets Glossary, Mariner Books, 2017, p. 314). Both Romanticism and Symbolism heavily employ symbols and figurative language. But as Mallarmé theorized, the Symbolist movement used them differently. Anticipating Freud’s exploration of the subconscious, the Symbolists relied upon opaque and obscure symbols, the kind we might encounter in the world of dreams, rather than the more transparent symbols, such as images found in nature (clouds or mountains), to represent concepts such as introspection or oneness with nature, more common in Romantic poetry. While Campion’s romantic themes, introspective bent, use of natural symbols and metaphors and the melancholic tone of his songs echo the Romantic movement, the suggestive and surreal lyrics of Quand soudain la nuit are more in tune with Symbolism.

The song, brief yet dense with meaning, gives poetic expression to the sense of feeling shattered and lost following a romantic breakup, relying on vivid symbols and apt metaphors to depict this experience. First, a breakup is not just a rupture between two people, it is an emotional pulverization within each person. What the couple perceived as the meaning and foundation of their lives, their love, is now over. Psychologically, a breakup feels like a scattering of one’s identity, much like the seeds or spores of a plant (a symbol that is only alluded to, however, not explicitly mentioned) blown by the breeze in countless directions: “Le vent vient de me souffler, Que nos deux corps éparpillés, Ne pourraient plus se rencontrer”.

After the end of their relationship, the lovers feel lost at sea like flotsam, which is why love poems often compare breakups to drowning. The song depicts the lover’s internal sense of being light, scattered, bereft of meaning like an object lost at sea. Having lost his beloved, the lover feels no different from the debris (another symbol only mysteriously alluded to rather than mentioned) penetrated, salted and consumed by the surging sea: “La mer vient de noyer, Nos deux corps encore salés, Salis par la houle”. A breakup is also the transformation of happiness and togetherness into pain and loneliness, or as the title of the song, Quand soudain la nuit, itself suggests, using yet another powerful symbol, the abrupt emotional passage of light into darkness.

10. Ma Solitude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVuK3kUX5gE

Ma solitude offers an introspective refraction of all the shades of emotion that make up the spectrum of loneliness after the dissolution of a romantic relationship. The song begins with a melancholy note by describing the narrator’s sense of alienation: “Pardonnez-moi, Si l’amour me tue, À chaque coin de rue, Je me sens étranger”. Yet, as so often happens after a breakup, sadness gives way to anger in this process of mourning the end of the relationship: “Pardonnez-moi, Si le fruit de ma rage, N’est pas au goût des sages, Comme vous l’auriez voulu”. Although the song’s central motif, repeated in each verse, articulates the narrator’s plea for forgiveness (“Pardonnez-moi”) from the lover and/or the listeners for his displays of vulnerability, this song is more about disappointment and blame. The main problem is not that he was too committed to the relationship, but that she was not enough: “Pardonnez-moi, Je ne joue pas à vos jeux, Même si j’ai l’âge du feu, Et pas celui de la tourmente”.

Emotions, by definition, aren’t fully rational. Alone, without even the hope of reuniting with his beloved, the lover’s psyche breaks into a plethora of contradictory feelings: one minute he reflects on his self-protective avoidance of his former lover, the next he wants to burst into nervous laughter: “Pardonnez-moi, Si je tends à vous fuir, Je veux mourir de rire, T’apprivoiser encore”. While a whole range of shifting emotions need to play out during lucid moments, as only the passage of time can truly heal heartbreak, at night the inconsolable longing for the lover, and the need for their romantic relationship, continues to haunt him: “Je vous connais si tant, Vous aperçois chaque nuit, Ma solitude, ma solitude”.

11. Je t’aimerais quand même

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vy8wDqQD8M

No matter what Romantic poetry, music, film and literature may say, in reality romantic love is not unconditional. True love is empathic, other-regarding, considerate, loving, equal, respectful and kind, but unconditional, no. We all have our preferences, boundaries, values and limits as human beings, all the more so for our most important relationships. They vary, of course, from person to person, shaped by our personality, predilections, ethical values, character, cultural and religious background, social environment and life experience. But they exist for all of us in one form or another, at least in healthy, nontoxic and voluntary relationships.

Yet there are moments in our lives, particularly after the dissolution of a romantic relationship, when we temporarily experience the imaginary sense of unconditional love. Because we want to hold on to the beloved at least in our memory, for a brief period before accepting reality and detaching, we continue to idealize them and can’t envision our lives without them. This is the main feeling evoked by the last song, Je t’aimerais quand même, which quite fittingly for the conclusion of an album of love songs, depicts the fleeting sensation of unconditional love.

What does it feel like to have a love with no conditions or boundaries? It is, above all, a solipsistic experience, akin to fantasy, that can’t be lived through in the context of a real relationship. When faced with personality traits and actions we don’t like in a real-life partner, in healthy, voluntary relationships, we exercise our opinions, needs, preferences, values and boundaries. But alone, we may react similarly to the narrator of Je t’aimerais quand même, who prefers to experience the pain of missing the idealized former partner rather than the emptiness of a life without her: “Tant que tu me manqueras, Au fond de moi ma vie aura toujours un sens”. Even a voyeuristic, parallel existence, in which continues to follow what happens in her life, is better than the sense of the absolute solitude of their permanent separation: “Je veux tout de ta vie, même si je n’y suis pas, Même si c’est pas joli, même si tu ne sais pas où tu vas”.

Thus, this most Proustian song of such an eminently contemplative and psychological album, exposes the Romantic ideal of unconditional love as the unreal fantasy that it is. Je t’aimerais quand même is not so much about loving unconditionally, since the beloved is no longer even with him to have any kind of meaningful real relationship together, as it is about continuing, for a limited period of time, to nurture hope in a possible reunion before coming to terms with the reality of their breakup: “Depuis le jour où tu me manques, Au fond de moi je mène une vie parallèle, Qui me tient droit jusqu’à ce que tu reviennes”.

Eternel été is a profound, emotive and exquisite album, unique both in its psychological depth and poetic lyrics. Philippe Campion is an artist to watch, as his career and success have only just begun.