Ranking 5 Pop Divas on Their French Accent

Ask any English speaker and they will probably tell you that French is their favorite language. Beautiful, romantic... Call it whatever, the mother tongue of Brigitte Bardot and Celine Dion fascinates entertainers, and the likes of Patti LaBelle, Prince, and Stevie Wonder have all turned a few French words into pop gold. Here, we read five major pop divas on their attempt at singing in French.

Kylie Minogue - Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi (1988)

In this old-skool Kylie video, the Australian singer flexes her tongue muscles with a chorus in French. "I still love you/Je ne sais pas pourquoi/I still want you/Je ne sais pas pourquoi" she sings over a bouncy synth beat. Those are the only lyrics in French in the song, but her accent is flawless.

Grade: 3/5

Madonna - Paradise Not For Me (2000)

This standout track off 2000's Music includes a beautiful verse in French, which Madge recites in spoken word. It fits perfectly into the melancholic mood of the song, and Madonna's pronounciation is nearly perfect. She might have gotten tips from her daughter, Lola, who went to a French high school and speaks the language perfectly.

Grade: 4/5

Beyonce - Vois Sur Ton Chemin (2005)

In 2005, the Academy invited a freshly-solo Beyonce to perform all the nominated songs, including the main theme of French movie The Chorus. Knowles loves to claim her French Creole heritage, but let's face it: She does an ok job on the first sentence, and then it all goes downhill from there. It's simply impossible to understand what Bey's singing. A few more lessons would have done her good, but she did learn from her mistakes: For the French lyrics in "Partition," from her self-titled surprise album released eight years later, she sampled a piece of dialogue from The Big Lebowski's gallic translation, and hired a native Frenchwoman to record it. She gets an extra point for effort.

Grade: 2/5

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (2009)

"J'veux ton amour/Et je veux ta revanche/J'veux ton amour/I don't wanna be friends" Who can forget Gaga's spellbinding French vocals in "Bad Romance," arguably the hit (and video) that turned the rising pop star into a supernova. It turns out Gaga's accent is pretty impressive, and she's been interviewed in Moliere's tongue several times on French TV -- she may not be fluent, but she sounds amazing.

Grade: 5/5

Britney Spears - Coupure Electrique (2016)

Britney's deluxe version of Glory includes a tack fully written in French: "J'oublie le monde/Quand tu fais/Fais moi l'amour, mon amour/J'oublie le monde, quand tu fais/Fais moi l'amour, mon amour/Comme une coupure electrique..." which means, in a nutshell, "Like a power cut/I forget the world/When you make/Make love to me/Make love to me, my love/Make love to me..." Get the gist? Britney sounds hotter than ever when she sings in a foreign language (the track "Change Your Mind" also contains words in Spanish) and the steamy lyrics do justice to the language's sexy reputation. We can't get enough.

Grade: 4/5

Click here to listen to "Coupure Electrique" on Apple Music (click here for Spotify)