Patrick Watson, singer-songwriter and pianist:
I was hired to compose the score for a French film called Mères et Filles (released as The Hidden Diary in 2009), starring Catherine Deneuve. I’ve done quite a few film scores, and usually, you collaborate with the director to support the story. At the end of the film, there’s a scene where the main character slips a letter under a door, which inspired the title Je te laisserai des mots—”I will leave you some words.”
Back in my Montreal studio, I wrote what I thought was a simple, pretty melody. I’m from Quebec, so even though I’m an English speaker, I’ve always been surrounded by French. I love singing in French when I can, though it’s tricky because of the vowel sounds. The song doesn’t have many lyrics—the first verse is entirely wordless. I felt it didn’t need more words, so I just used vocal sounds. I also imagined the song playing over dialogue at the film’s end, so I kept it unobtrusive.
We recorded the string arrangement after a few drinks—it was a fun night. At the time, I never thought anyone would listen to the song outside the film.
It first appeared as a bonus track on my debut album. Then, during the pandemic, it unexpectedly blew up. With touring canceled, I did a lot of live Instagram sessions, and someone sent me a fan-made video of Je te laisserai des mots that had a million views. Once the algorithm picked it up, there was no stopping it. Sometimes a song just resonates at the right moment, and suddenly, people worldwide were making their own lockdown videos with it.
Early in my career, music execs dismissed me because I didn’t write “radio songs,” but streaming and sync placements changed everything. The song now has over 200,000 TikTok videos, 60 billion plays on TikTok, and is the first French-language track to hit a billion Spotify streams. The numbers are surreal—the song is way more famous than I am. Sometimes, when I’m renting skis or something, people see my name and say, “Oh, like the singer!” I tell them, “That is me!” They never believe me.
Mélanie Vaugeois, violinist:
Our string quartet played with Patrick for 15 years, and we’re still close. When we started touring together, our kids were young, so Patrick nicknamed us “Mommies on the Run.” We were his first experiment with a string quartet, but after a while, we ended up wilder than him on tour—yelling, “No kids!”
It was an incredible adventure. We’d hang out at Patrick’s place, where everything was everywhere—you’d set your violin case on the ping-pong table. He’d play piano, and we’d improvise. One night, he said, “I have a French song—how’s my accent?” His French is great, but he’d never sung in it before, so there were pronunciation mistakes. But they added charm, so he kept them.
That session was a blast. At one point, we had some Jameson whiskey. We spent ages finding the right notes and got a little tipsy. Just as everything started slipping, it all clicked. The song has almost no rhythm, which is part of its magic. It’s beautiful—heart-melting. During the pandemic, when we were all… [text cuts off]The song resonated deeply with many people because of its lonely, heartfelt quality. I first realized it was becoming popular when my kids were on TikTok and I heard it playing. I exclaimed, “That’s my quartet!” They were shocked and told me, “That song is everywhere.”
Though Patrick isn’t required to give us songwriting royalties, every year he sends us a small, symbolic amount as a gesture of gratitude. It’s a kind acknowledgment that our collective effort in that moment created something truly special.
Patrick Watson’s new album, Uh Oh, will be released in the UK on 26 September. He’ll perform at the Troxy in London on 7 November.
