Paying tribute to her home province after winning a major award in France, the bilingual Canadian singer revealed a list of tracks from Céline Dion, Patrick Watson, Kaytranada, Cœur de pirate and more.
During her acceptance speech for the female artist of the year award, she shouted out her home province: “For a Quebecer who has just recently moved to Paris, I couldn’t have dreamed of a better welcome from the French.”
Learning that many of her fans didn't know she was from Québec, Cardin decided to give them a treat of "little gems of my culture."
The Montreal-born, Paris-based singer shared a Spotify playlist featuring songs from some of her favourite Québécois artists.
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“It's a mix of songs from all eras that move me, make me dance, make me nostalgic,” she shared in an Instagram carousel, with photos of Cardin with Céline Dion, Patrick Watson, Robert Charlebois and Daniel Bélanger — all featured on the playlist.
The 58-song playlist, titled “bijoux québécois,” spans multiple decades of Francophone artists, notably featuring two ‘90s hits from Céline: “On ne change pas,” and “Pour que tu m’aimes encore.” Cardin has cited the singer as a major inspiration, successfully exporting her music to listeners across the world and breaking out in English and French. (Coincidentally, this month, Dion shared her own playlist of favourite songs.)
Watson’s “Je te laisserai des mots” is on the list too, after becoming the first French-language song to hit a billion streams on Spotify back in 2024. Charlebois’s “Je reviendrai à Montreal” and Bélanger’s “Rêver mieux” are there as well.
Cardin’s playlist has multiple genres as Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs,” Men I Trust’s “Show Me How,” Les Cowboy Fringant’s “Les étoiles filantes” and Kaytranada’s “Target Joint” showcase the province’s wide array of artistry.
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She spotlights rising female artists, too, including Claudia Bouvette’s “Don’t Wanna Hear That Song Anymore”, Alicia Moffett’s “Colder,” Helena Deland’s “Baby” and duo Milk & Bone’s “Natalie.”
“Long live Quebec artists, I love you all! I felt so proud of all this beauty while making this playlist,” Cardin said, giving an extra special shoutout to Dion, calling their meeting “the 14 most beautiful seconds” of her life.
Some of the acts featured on the list have poured into the comments section, expressing their gratitude.
“OMG I'm here twice!! So honored, long live Charlotte and long live Quebec 🙂↕️❤️” writes Cœur de pirate’s Béatrice Martin. “❤️😍Honored to be there,” shares Bouvette.
Lisa LeBlanc says: “Excellent playlist and thank you for including me! 😍 Much love!” while Jean-Michel Blais praises Cardin for her inclusion of his track “amour,”: “'Love' is here 🥹 I'm so touched 🙏 Love to you 🫰.”
While Cardin is well-known in her home country, the bilingual singer has amassed a major following in Europe in recent years — scoring multiple charting hits on the Billboard France Songs chart, including “Feel Good,” peaking at No. 5, and “Poursuite,” with French rappers GP Explorer and SCH debuting at No. 24. On the Belgium Songs chart, “Feel Good” spent six weeks on the ranking, peaking at No. 21.
