The Album

I’m going to be upfront with you here – I do not and have never known how to speak French. But that’s not going to stop me from reviewing this entirely French album by Les Kids des Etoiles! Entitled Potter Jukebox, this 15 track album was released on Fred and George’s birthday (April 1), 2017. I’m going to use my good friend Google Translate to help me with the lyrics, so allons y!

The Tracks

La forêt Interdite is up first, translating to The Forbidden Forest. It is so cool listening to music in a language I don’t understand, and I absolutely loved it. With an excellent guitar, strong main vocals, and beautiful harmonies, I thoroughly enjoyed their trek into the Forbidden Forest to face all the dangers it contains.

Moaning Myrtle is featured in the next song, Et j’ai mouru. It’s actually a cover of a Moaning Myrtles song, And Then I Died. As a long time Moaning Myrtles fan (it was one of the very first wrock bands I ever listened to), I LOVED hearing this cover in another language! I think they did it so much justice.

I was happily surprised to hear another cover, this time of a StarKid song from A Very Potter Sequel, Une fille géniale. The vocals were softer than the original (The Coolest Girl), which gave it a really sweet sound. I always harmonize with this song when I hear it so it was interesting harmonizing in English to a French song. I really liked it!

The AVPS songs keep coming with the next song L’envie de vivre (Home). The piano backing the solo voice makes an excellent combination. The vocal performance is incredible, full of emotion and passion. I’m loving these covers.

La chanson de Luna is a fun upbeat song about the looniest Ravenclaw we know. The bouncy guitar made me want to get up and dance, and the background vocals gave the song some depth and hints of humor.

This time a cover from the original A Very Potter Musical, Harry is a song from Ginny’s point of view. She sings about how she feels about Harry and hopes that he may feel the same way.

They have all their Very Potter bases covered (pun intended) with a cover from the third show, A Very Potter Senior Year. Dernière année à Poudlard is an awesome cover, complete with guitar, harmonies, and an overall very strong vocal performance from all the characters. I especially enjoyed the harmonies (you know me).

La lettre à Lili unfortunately does not have lyrics, so I can’t tell you exactly what it’s about, but if I had to guess from the title, it’s about Harry finding Lily’s letter to Sirius which he discovered at Grimmauld Place. It’s a slow, melancholy, beautifully sad song.

Taking a wizard rock classic, Mon papa est riche is a cover of Draco and the Malfoys’ song My Dad Is Rich. With just a single instrument backing the vocals, this cover sounds much different than the original. Still, it’s a fun cover and I liked how I knew what song it was even though I don’t speak French.

We go back to AVPS with a cover of Stutter, Enfoiré. I really loved the instrumentals in this one. I got into the groove and was dancing along listening to this song. It’s just so fun and dramatic!

Guys Like Potter, or Des mecs comme Potter, is a song sung by Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape about how guys like James Potter are just so frustrating and annoying, especially when it comes to girls. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the second vocal come in at an octave lower than I’m used to hearing.

La complainte de Krum is an original song that comes in at seven and a half minutes. It is a gorgeous love song from Viktor Krum to Hermione. The lyrics take a look at his journey from his first year at Durmstrang to meeting Hermione and then being brushed off by her later to be with Ron. It really made me realize that Krum is such an underrated character, and I wish that there were more wizard rock songs about him. The chorus behind him sounds like the adoring fans that Viktor wishes would leave him alone.

An a capella version of Harry Potter en 99 secondes is up next. Fast and cute, this song hits all the points of what Harry Potter is all about in just 99 seconds!

The Battle of Hogwarts, or La bataille de Poudlard, is another original song. It starts quickly and comes to an abrupt rush; then a phoenix song follows. Then we jump back into the ferocity of the battle until the song ends. This song is epic, using quick instrumentals to give the illusion of people running here and there, shooting spells at the enemy.

The final track is L’armée de Dumbledore – Potterrap which is a rap. Four different characters rap in this song, including Harry, Cho, Charlie P (a Hufflepuff), and Draco. I loved the beat and getting to listen to my first ever French rap song. It was an excellent end to a superb album.

In Summary

I enjoyed this album so much. Everything from the original songs to the covers was awesome. It’s not often that I listen to music in other languages, and this album has taught me that I really need to change that. The band also has a YouTube channel where they have recreated some of StarKid’s musicals. I’m definitely going to check that out, and I’m very excited. If their shows are anything like this album, they’re bound to be incredible! I adored this album and therefore give it a gold medal rating!