"Let her wait, death": Florent Pagny unveils "T'aimer encore", his first song since his cancer

It's a love song. Not very surprising from Florent Pagny , who has sung it a lot. But this one is definitely special. "T'aimer encore," which the 63-year-old singer released this Friday, hints at his illness, lung cancer, which he revealed in 2022 , a sincerity that touched the entire audience.

The song, written by Vianney, with whom he shares the red seats on "The Voice" , the final of which takes place this Saturday on TF1, sets the tone from the start. "I'm happy for tears and pain, I'm happy for doubts. I'm happy for living to cost me," he begins over a few piano chords and a soaring guitar. "I'm happy for ugliness and oblivion, I'm happy to tremble, I'm happy not to be able to sing anymore," he continues in a perfect voice, as usual.

"I have so much left to say, so many gestures to make you smile," he says in words addressed to his wife Azucena, with whom he has lived for almost thirty years. and with whom he has two grown children, Inca, 29, and Aël, 25. The chorus comes like a cry from the heart: "I want to love you again, I want to love you again, let it wait, death, I want to love you again. I want to give much more than I have received. Let the devil ignore me, I want to love you again."

A new track like a hymn to life and the future, when he sings about wanting to "see children's children in crazy races, and talk to them about the good times in Spanish," a reference to his life in Argentina. "From the good Lord, I ask for nothing, just a little time in your hands." Barely three poignant and elegant minutes that end in a deluge of strings and choirs and a final: "And I stay here for you."

"T'aimer encore" is Florent Pagny's first new song since revealing his cancer diagnosis three years ago, and he aims to be reassuring. It heralds an album to be released in the fall, followed by a major tour in 2026, the year he turns 65. He has planned 20 concerts in Paris at the Olympia, starting June 16, all of which have already sold out, more than a year in advance.