Benjamin Biolay returns with ‘Le Disque bleu’, a 24-track double album

His 11th album, 'Le Disque bleu', released on October 17, 2025, is a diptych 'Résidents/Visiteurs'. Between Paris, Sète, Brussels, Buenos Aires, and Rio, Biolay maps out an intimate cartography. Twenty-four tracks where French chanson meets bossa and samba, without pastiche. A discreet manifesto: the duration of a double album in the era of playlists, featuring the single 'Adieu Paris' (Biolay).

Benjamin Biolay releases his 11th album, Le Disque bleu, on October 17, 2025: a double album of 24 tracks created between Paris, Sète, Brussels, Buenos Aires, and Rio. Conceived as a diptych, "Résidents" and "Visiteurs" blend French chanson, bossa, and samba, in a poetic exploration of departure and return. A France 4 evening on October 20 extends the release with a workshop documentary.

Key Facts

Benjamin Biolay, singer-songwriter, delivers his 11th studio album: Le Disque bleu. Released on October 17, 2025 in a double format with two parts titled "Résidents" (volume 1) and "Visiteurs" (volume 2) for a total of 24 tracks (approximately 1 h 26). The album is released under the Virgin Records France / Polydor label and available in physical and digital formats (Apple Music, YouTube Music, Fnac, official store). The album was composed, written, and recorded between Paris, Sète, Brussels, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro, offering a palette where Benjamin Biolay’s songs intersect with bossa and samba.

A Diptych Architecture

The project unfolds over two complementary parts. "Résidents" focuses on intimate writing, with strings at the forefront, a daytime melancholy. "Visiteurs" opens outward: Brazilian guitars, brass, Latin American rhythms. The title of the second part has been subject to approximate translations ("Voyageurs"), but the official sources confirm the name "Visiteurs" and align it with the artwork.

'Le Disque bleu' articulates inside and outside: 'Residents' intimate, 'Visitors' turned towards elsewhere. The second part asserts itself: 'Visitors', confirmed by the official media. Virgin/Polydor at the helm, an hour and twenty-six minutes of meticulously crafted music. The baritone voice, sometimes veiled, tells of departures, farewells, crossings. — ‘Le Disque bleu’ articulates inside and outside: ‘Residents’ intimate, ‘Visitors’ turned towards elsewhere. The second part asserts itself: ‘Visitors’, confirmed by the official media. Virgin/Polydor at the helm, an hour and twenty-six minutes of meticulously crafted music. The baritone voice, sometimes veiled, tells of departures, farewells, crossings.

Throughout the tracks, Biolay constructs a play of mirrors: day and night, summer and winter, Paris and Buenos Aires. The song "Résidents, visiteurs" serves as the keystone of the arrangement, indicating the central thematic axis. This axis is about inhabiting the world or moving through it, without denying one for the other.

Genesis and Influences: From Studios to Ports

The blue in the title is not just a chromatic motif: it evokes sky and sea, urban paintings of South America, solar nostalgia. Biolay conceived this album outside of touring, a claimed "blank page," and nourished it with comings and goings between the Mediterranean (the docks of Sète), the Atlantic (the breath of Rio), and the Plate (Buenos Aires). The bossa-nova imprint surfaces but remains at the service of a French writing style: short stories, ellipses, first-person portraits, a lexicon of departure and return.

From beginnings at the Lyon conservatory to the Parisian stage, the architect of strings has refined his signature. In 'The Blue Disc', the orchestration serves the clear melancholy and the narration. Cities leave textures: Paris for the strings, Rio for the rhythmic light. The long form embraces its generosity: stories, ellipses, returns. — From beginnings at the Lyon conservatory to the Parisian stage, the architect of strings has refined his signature. In ‘The Blue Disc’, the orchestration serves the clear melancholy and the narration. Cities leave textures: Paris for the strings, Rio for the rhythmic light. The long form embraces its generosity: stories, ellipses, returns.

In this cartography, each city leaves a particular texture. Paris is associated with orchestration and sound recording. Additionally, Brussels represents the pop factory. Furthermore, Buenos Aires evokes saudade, while Rio embodies rhythmic light. The mixing maintains a sobriety that allows strings and woodwinds to breathe, without sacrificing percussive impulses.

Key Songs and Collaborations

Without detailing the entire tracklist, several key points guide the listening: "Le penseur" as the opener, "Juste avant de tomber", "Mon pays", "Soleil profond" on the Résidents side, the single "Adieu Paris", "Mauvais garçon", "Les passantes", "Où as-tu mis l’été?" (with Jeanne Cherhal) on the Visiteurs side. The care given to the arrangements includes strings, soft keyboards, and Brazilian guitars. This supports a poised, sometimes whispered diction. Additionally, brass punctuates it.

On stage, continuity: smooth grooves, punctuating brass, Brazilian guitars in chiaroscuro. The album envisions listening in motion, from one shore to the other. The features are present without overshadowing Biolay's signature style, with minor lines and modulations. Each track extends a poetic sense of travel rather than exoticism. — On stage, continuity: smooth grooves, punctuating brass, Brazilian guitars in chiaroscuro. The album envisions listening in motion, from one shore to the other. The features are present without overshadowing Biolay’s signature style, with minor lines and modulations. Each track extends a poetic sense of travel rather than exoticism.

These collaborations do not overshadow Biolay’s signature: minor melodies, modulations at the end of phrases, images of roads, stations, hotels. The production favors smooth grooves, where analog brushes against electronic without making it a manifesto.

Distribution Channels and Editions

The album is released in double CD (48-page book edition with lyrics and photos), on vinyl, and on streaming platforms. The official store offers a bundle combining the double CD and a signed "Visiteurs" poster, limited edition. Fnac lists a limited edition with editorial emphasis. Apple Music details the total duration (24 tracks, 1 h 26) and the copyright (℗ 2025 Virgin Records France).

Where to listen/buy and see Benjamin Biolay in concert?

– Artist’s store (packs, limited editions).

– Apple Music (release October 17, 2025, double volume).

– Fnac (limited edition, critical editorial).

– YouTube Music (official album playlist).

A France–South America Bridge

Biolay extends a long-standing thread: affection for Argentina and Brazil, which nourishes an elegiac writing. This sentimental geography is not decorative: it offers a musical translation with slow tempos, discreet bossa, restrained samba that illuminates French chanson without distorting it. The result is neither pastiche nor exoticism: it is a dialogue.

The voice remains central: clear baritone, sometimes veiled, with a narrative reach. The lyrics explore absences, repeated goodbyes, unfulfilled returns. From Gainsbourg to Piazzolla, the album invokes references without dwelling on them, preferring nods to citations.

Critical Reception and Stakes

From the week of release, the album benefits from media coverage. This includes cultural analyses, retail sales notes, and reviews. These focus on the generosity of the format. Additionally, they highlight the balance between chanson and Latin influences. The 24-track length is noted, but balanced by internal movements that organize the listening: residence first, visit next.

An intermittent actor, Biolay maintains a sense of framing and dramaturgy. Here, he is a producer and arranger, master of restrained tempos. The musical narrative unfolds through train stations, hotels, roads: a sentimental geography. The dual form creates echoes, from whispers to wide angles.

Beyond the promotional froth, the album questions a long form in 2025: is it still necessary to tell stories over two discs in the era of singles and playlists? Biolay responds with controlled excess: a map to wander, where motifs return and shift. The streaming economy is not denied. However, it is bypassed by the joy of the book format. This format includes a 48-page booklet and the object.

Screen and Airwaves: A Public Evening

To accompany the release, television schedules a France 4 evening on Monday, October 20, 2025, at 9:05 PM around the documentary "Benjamin Biolay, à l’origine" (directed by Dominique Fargues, 2023, 52 min), followed by a Benjamin Biolay 2025 concert in symphonic version. The film traces from the streets of Villefranche-sur-Saône to the Lyon conservatory, then follows the artist in studio and in concert. This exposure reinforces the chronology of the album, offering a portrait and a perspective.

The release is accompanied by a France 4 evening on October 20, 2025, at 9:05 PM: workshop documentary. From the streets of Villefranche-sur-Saône to the studios, a thread is being rewoven. In stores and on platforms, limited editions and 'Visitors' bundles. A well-orchestrated launch that highlights the album and its travel inspiration. — The release is accompanied by a France 4 evening on October 20, 2025, at 9:05 PM: workshop documentary. From the streets of Villefranche-sur-Saône to the studios, a thread is being rewoven. In stores and on platforms, limited editions and ‘Visitors’ bundles. A well-orchestrated launch that highlights the album and its travel inspiration.

Useful Biographical Landmarks

Born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, trained at the Lyon conservatory, Biolay first established himself as an arranger and author before multiplying albums and collaborations (works with Keren Ann, songs for Henri Salvador, scores for the screen), from ‘La Superbe’ to ‘Le Disque bleu’. This trajectory explains the place that strings and dramaturgy occupy in his albums.

Portrait of an Author of Bridges: France — South America in a Musical Horizon. The blue evokes the sea, sky, ports of Sète, nights of Rio. The album rejects the postcard effect and engages in a dialogue with the tradition of song. In the forty-eight-page booklet, texts and images give substance to the journey.

The Long-Term Bet in 2025

With Le Disque bleu, Benjamin Biolay signs a diptych where chanson and South American rhythms coexist without borrowing effects. The long format embraces its generosity, the production favors cast shadows and warm lights. Résidents and Visiteurs articulate a poetic of departure that, in 2025, takes on the value of a discreet manifesto: taking the time for an album, inhabiting its nuances, then crossing.

This article was written by Émilie Schwartz.