A Bite of Brigitte Bardot 🍪
The sultry cultural icon who influenced generations
Monday Bites are bite-sized musician spotlights & playlists by Grace Lilly.
Enjoying the series? Support here to keep the good stuff coming 😊
• 3 min read •
Bob Dylan dedicated the first song he ever wrote to her
John Lennon and Paul McCartney idolized her. She inspired Amy Winehouse’s signature teased hair. Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan sing about her. French President Charles de Gaulle called her “the French export as important as Renault cars.”
Brigitte Bardot’s cultural impact can’t be overstated.
“The sex kitten,” or B.B. as she’s often called, has inspired artists for the last seventy years since she first broke onto the scene in 1956.
Although she’s known mostly for acting, her music shouldn’t be overlooked. She sang endlessly catchy songs about freedom, nature, love, and being a liberated woman, each infused with her one-of-a-kind sexy charm. Even if you don’t speak French, it’s easy to have a good time when you’re listening to Brigitte.
Brigitte Bardot
The basics
🤝 French singer, actress, model, and animal rights activist
🤝 b. 1934 (Paris, France)
🤝 “The most liberated woman of France”
Why you should know her: One of the most iconic pop culture figures of all time, Brigitte Bardot was the first non-American to reach the same level of international success as America’s top stars
If you like
✨ Lana Del Rey
✨ Sabrina Carpenter
✨ Clairo
Known for
🏆 Acting in 47 films and recording more than 60 songs
🏆 One of the best known symbols of the sexual revolution
🏆 A style icon, she popularized the bikini, winged eyeliner, gingham print, and teased hair
🏆 Her international popularity played a major role in establishing a market for foreign films in English-speaking countries
🏆 Awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985 for her work as an animal rights activist
Bite-sized facts
🍪 As a child, trained to be a ballerina after her mother noticed how preoccupied she was with dancing to records in her room
🍪 Got her start singing in her twenties by performing in musicals and contributing songs to the soundtracks of some of her films
🍪 A natural brunette, dyed her hair blonde at for a role in the Italian film Mio figlio Nerone, and decided to keep it
🍪 Became an international superstar thanks to her role in the erotic melodrama, Et Dieu Crea la Femme (1956)
🍪 Her music career took off in the 60s after Serge Gainsbourg wrote a series of hits for her
🍪 Starred in Jean-Luc Godard's Le Mépris (1963) and made a cameo in Masculin Féminin (1966)
🍪 Retired from acting in 1973 and became an animal rights activist
Songs & dates
♫ 1962 Releases her first single “C'est rigolo”
♫ 1963 “La Madrague” becomes one of her best known songs, from her debut album, Brigitte Bardot Sings
♫ 1964 Releases her hit single “Moi je joue” off her second studio album, B.B.
♫ 1968 “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Bubble Gum,” and “Comic Strip” are released as singles off a compilation album with Serge Gainsbourg, Bonnie and Clyde
♫ 1968 Releases “Harley Davidson” and “Contact” off her album, Show
♫ 1986 Nineteen years after Serge Gainsbourg wrote it for her, she releases “Je t’aime… moi non plus” after he recorded a version with Jane Birkin in 1969
In film & TV
📺 Olivier Assayas’ Irma Vep (1996): features Bardot’s song “Bonnie and Clyde”
📺 Louis Malle's Vie Privée (1962): Brigitte sings “Sidonie” in the film
She said
⭐ “I have understood that the most important things are tenderness and kindness. I can't do without them.”
⭐ “It is sad to grow old but nice to ripen.”
⭐ “Only idiots refuse to change their minds.”
We love Brigitte
Andy Warhol
💗 “She came downstairs and entertained us like a good European hostess and I couldn’t get over how sweet that was—to be Brigitte Bardot and still bother to make your guests comfortable.”
Brigitte Bardot Playlist
I gathered my fav Bardot songs, from me to you with love. Like & save on Spotify and listen all week 💗
Where to start
Being silly
Bardot performing her first single, “C’est rigolo”
〰️
Her hit song
Singing one of her most popular songs, the Serge Gainsbourg-penned “Harley Davidson” in 1967
Down the rabbit hole
If you wanna dive even deeper:
Le Mépris (1963)
From Mubi: Shot in glorious Technicolor in Rome and Capri, Le Mépris is a self-reflexive commentary on ‘the end of cinema’ as well as on the phenomenon of stardom. But it is, primarily, the meeting of New Wave ‘super-auteur’ Jean-Luc Godard and Bardot, the mass-media celebrity. Although their collaboration on set was less than idyllic, the result on screen is arguably both his and her best film.
Show some love
If you enjoyed this post, “like” it & leave a comment! It makes me very happy 🥰
👀 Bonus: your engagement helps people find us in search engines, so taking a moment to say a few words makes a real difference!
An average concert ticket costs $122.84 🎟️
An annual subscription to This Song Changed My Life costs less than half of that ($50 to be exact).
Become a paid subscriber
Chipping in helps ensure the continued existence of TSCML — plus you’ll instantly unlock 30+ secret, paid-only posts (and counting).
People love it
What paid subscribers are saying
“I love this series! Want to pitch in so you can keep up the high quality content”
“Happy to support the good stuff”
“I believe watching your work develop will by itself change my life”
Learn more about me and my other projects: check out my personal newsletter, Weirdly Good <3
Explore
The touching music of one of the most singular artists and innovators of all time — A Bite of Arthur Russell 🍪
The genre-transcending singer songwriter crafting clever lyrics and acrobatic melodies — A Bite of SZA 🍪
Very possibly the most beautiful woman to ever live. NBD