Since the groundbreaking success of her song “New Soul”—which reached number one on the singles charts in France, the United States, and several other countries, and entered the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100—Yael Naim has been composing and producing not only for herself, with four albums to date, but also for a range of other artists and film soundtracks. She has been awarded three Victoires de la Musique (2008, 2011, and 2016) and was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters. Yael has collaborated with numerous artists including Brad Mehldau, the Metropole Orkest, Jules Buckley, Stromae, Rone, Orlan, and many others—cultivating both personal expression and creative dialogue.
In 2021, she chose independence to push even further in her pursuit of a unique sound and full artistic freedom. She directed and produced an ambitious album that fuses classical music, electronic textures, and orchestration, carried by provocative, personal, and committed lyrics dealing with themes of individual freedom and breaking free from limiting beliefs.
In parallel, Yael Naim is at the heart of a documentary co-written with director Jill Coulon: “Yael Naim. Une nouvelle âme” (“A New Soul”). The result of six years of filming, this intimate and sensitive film delves deeply into Yael’s artistic journey, unfolding through a constant dialogue between her inner life and creative process. It features never-before-seen archival footage from her childhood, rare moments captured over the years, and animated sequences created by Yael herself, bringing a poetic and introspective dimension to the narrative. Told in the first person, the film sincerely explores what it means to be a woman, an independent artist, and a mother—a delicate balance in constant reinvention. More than just a portrait, it is a universal quest: the journey of building oneself freely, against the grain of norms and expectations.
Over the past four years, her writing has also taken shape in a book where Yael Naim reveals herself as never before. At the heart of this autobiography, Une chambre à moi (A Room of My Own, published by Éditions Leduc), she revisits—with great honesty—her path and all the transformations she has undergone as a woman, artist, and activist.
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
