The French Queen of Pop Still Dazzles at 74.

Françoise Hardy’s latest showcases one of the modern era’s most charismatic performers.

Album Review

Françoise Hardy
Personne d’autre
Parolphone France/Arts Music

Since vaulting to international stardom as a teenager in the pre-Beatles ’60s, Françoise Hardy has been France’s leading female pop singer. Amazingly, she continues to cast a spell today. On her 24th album, and her first longplayer in six years, Hardy sings with the effortless confidence of someone half her age, perhaps in part because she avoided the endless concert tours that can burn out the strongest voices. Performed primarily in French, Personne d’autre returns to the elegant orchestral pop that marked her ’70s work. Unabashedly romantic but never sappy, gently melancholic yet never mawkish, this entrancing work makes a fine introduction to one of the most charismatic artists of modern times. Not bad for someone who turned 74 this year.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

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