I have quite unexpectedly fallen in love with this album. On first impression, it didn't make the cut; I briefly sampled it at a retail music store and decided to pass on it. Recently, I ambled onto it through Rhapsody, and this time I gave it a bit more attention.

It was time well spent, and of late, I have played this album more than any other. Perhaps you'll enjoy it, too.

Carla Bruni is probably the most famous model in France, the former companion of famous people such as Eric Clapton and Donald Trump.

But what matters is, are the songs any good? And yes they are. The idiom is somewhere between singer-songwriter and a dinner-jazz version of Django Reinhardt: a guitar equivalent of Norah Jones, sung in French.

For some, the idea of listening to songs in another language is akin to watching a ball game in which the ball is invisible: meaningless and frustrating. For me, it works the other way round. Freed from following the words, I am ready to be lured by the sound of the singer's voice, alert to the interplay between voice and instruments.

This review is so on-point. I couldn't agree more.

But even when we don't understand the exact meaning of the words or even the general theme of a song, there's still a sense of being carried along by the singer's conviction. An Italian whose French sounds impeccable, Carla Bruni sings softly, thoughtfully, enjoying the game of finding words that have opposite or ambiguous meanings, and resolving unusual rhymes. The standout song is 'Le toi du moi', a tour de force in which she matches more than 50 pairs of words, one for you, one for me, rhyming the second and fourth word each time. Bob Dylan or Ian Dury would have smacked their lips in satisfaction had they written it.

I've been living with this album on and off for almost a year now, during which time it has sold nearly two million copies in France and spread into Italy and Spain. Far from wearing out its charm, it has stealthily slipped into my blood, and will do the same to anyone else prepared to yield and surrender to its delicate beauty.

Carla Bruni: Quelqu'un m'a dit