Voilà Lyrics in English by Barbara Pravi
Ma gueule is a very common, informal French slang term for "my face" or "my mug". Its literal translation is "my snout", as gueule refers to the mouth or jaw of an animal.
In this powerful song, Barbara Pravi sings "C'est ma gueule, c'est mon cri" (It's my face, it's my scream). She uses this raw, unfiltered word to defiantly present her true self to the audience, without apology. It’s a word packed with emotion and authenticity that you won't find in a textbook.
French singer Barbara Pravi steps right up to the microphone and refuses to hide behind polish. She calls herself "la chanteuse à demi" ("the half-singer") and admits straight away that she is terrified to expose who she is ("mise à nue j'ai peur, oui" / "laid bare I'm scared, yes"). Her entire goal sounds almost impossibly simple: she just wants to write stories that reach you ("écrire des histoires qui arrivent jusqu'à vous"). But her plea for an audience quickly turns desperate and direct. She begs the listener not to leave ("Ne partez pas, j'vous en supplie restez longtemps" / "Don't leave, I beg you stay a long time"), openly confessing that she needs outside affection because she does not know how to love her own shape ("moi je sais pas bien aimer mes contours").
What makes this track hit so hard is its total lack of polite manners. Instead of asking nicely for approval, she spits out "C'est ma gueule c'est mon cri, me voilà tant pis" ("It's my face, it's my cry, here I am, too bad"). The word gueule is everyday French slang; literally it means an animal's mouth, but when thrown at a human, it translates bluntly to "mug" or "trap." It is rough, in-your-face phrasing that sits alongside her fierce repetitions of "Voilà" ("Here it is" or "There you go"). By the time she shouts across the final lines to look at her dark eyes and her hands, she is offering everything she owns with nothing held back.
