Petite Meller interview: "My music is nouveau jazzy pop"

She had a summer hit with the insanely catchy Baby Love and would certainly stand out in your local supermarket, but how much do we really know about pop's latest princess Petite Meller?

Well, there's only one way to find out more – talk to her! We catch up with the weird and wonderful French star to talk over her look, her sound and that all-important debut album.

Hello Petite! You’ve just played your biggest UK show… how did it go? How are the crowd responding to the new songs?

"It was like a dream, it was feeling like coming home after a lot of travelling. I’ve lived here for over a year now and the London crowd especially understand what is dancing the pain away, I feel we are a l'il community celebrating together the absurdity of life. Last night was really special for me and my band Smiley, Richie Garrison and Emlyn."

For people who don’t know about you yet… how would you describe yourself and your sound?

“My music genre is a combination of jazz African bongos and French chansons, I call it my nouveau jazzy pop. What interesting for me in music is melancholic songs who transfer you into a joyful hysterical dancing. That's how I see the purpose of music in life.

"In philosophy the Freudian term is Jouissance, a pleasure out of pain. Baby Love, is based around the idea of taking pleasure from something painful. Barbaric is more about celebrating those things we try to repress."

You recently launched your new single Barbaric… it’s brilliant! What inspired this song and what is it about?

"I was reading Deleuze when writing this song, his philosophy about the becoming barbaric fascinated me. Barbaric is about the wish to be uncivilised, to un-suppress your wild desires in order to fit the reality's norms."

The music video for Barbaric is also amazing… what references did you draw on for it? Is it true all the extras in it are locals?

“Merci, me and the directors A.T.Mann and Napoleon Habeica who have worked on all my videos - filmed the video in Miami Beach. It's a lil’ voyage to my childhood, growing up around old pals, listening to their philosophical conversations.

"We were casting all of the amazing characters there and shooting in retirement homes, golf courses and along the pastel art-deco of South Beach. Barbaric is inspired by cinematic moments from Truffaut's L'Enfant Sauvage, Woody Allen's Zelig, and Village Of The Damned.”

You have a very unique style. When did you start this look and what was it inspired by?

My style is inspired by classic cinema like Godard, Bergman , Tarkovsky, Antonioni. I'm inspired by scenes which effects my wardrobe, for example Death in Venice inspired my beach wardrobe: 20s bathing suits and straw hats."

When you were younger, what songs did you listen to? What was an important album in your life?

“I grew up listening to records by Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Van McCoy, but the French chansons like Chantal Goya and Charles Aznavour were always playing in the background. My mum used to sing their songs like they were a life or death situation. Then my dad got me into Euro Club-Med pop music, like Ricchi e Poveri and Kool and the Gang.”

Who’s the best pop star in the world right now and why?

“I’m really excited about Shamir, he actually wrote a song on my debut album called Grace. Borns is also really magical artist who I had the pleasure of working with on the cover of Sunday Morning for H&M . Best pop star in world is for me Lionel Richie, I saw him at the O2, he knocked me down!"

Is your album finished yet? Tell us about a song on it you’re really excited about?

“The album is finished and it’s called Milk Bath, which is also the title of a song on the album. Milk Bath connects with the idea of Barbaric in a way; it’s about the first thing we desire when we are born into life; it's about the relationship with that milk float which constituted our personality. To be overloaded with desire is a feeling which is scary and fascinates me at the same time."