Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Album: Do Her ‘Little French Songs’ Target Current French President?

Nicolas Sarkozy may be under investigation over whether he took illegal donations during his campaign, but at least his wife is sticking up for him. Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the singer and former supermodel, released a new album yesterday with lyrics which have been interpreted as a swipe at current French president Francois Hollande.

In a song called "Le Pingouin" or "The Penguin" (a French term for a "buffoon" or someone who lacks social grace), Bruni sings, "He takes on the airs of a king/but I know, the penguin/doesn't have the manners of a lord", according to a translation from the Huffington Post.

In another lyric, she sings: "Hey penguin/ you look all alone in your garden." During the official exchange of French presidential power, Hollande refused to join the departing president in the customary walk down the steps of the Élysée Palace, instead remaining in the garden to pose for photos. The move was widely reported as a snub.

Bruni-Sarkozy has not specified who the lyrics are about, telling the French-language Le Nouvel Observateur that the song itself is about "ill-mannered, disagreeable people, who remain a mystery to me".

In a review of her new album, Bloomberg.com did some snubbing of its own.

"Any schoolgirl could do her gentle cooing ... " it reads. "It's inoffensive, likeable, polite and curiously devoid of passion."

The review gave the new album two stars. Elsewhere on the album, Bruni-Sarkozy sings of her days hanging out with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards (she once dated fellow band mate Mick Jagger) in "At Keith and Anita's Place." She also pays tribute to her husband in "Mon Raymond," in which she sings, "Whatever fools say, Raymond is dynamite." Bruni sang this latter song at the Echo Music Awards in Germany on March 21, after it was announced that same night that a formal investigation had been opened against her husband.

Sarkozy is accused of "abuse of someone in an impaired state" -- that "someone" being Liliane Bettencourt, the 90-year-old L'Oreal cosmetics heiress and richest woman in France who reportedly suffers from Alzheimer's disease -- during the 2007 presidential campaign. Sarkozy was defeated by Hollande in his run for a second term but remains the favorite center-right candidate for the 2017 presidential race, though he has said that his political career is over and has kept a low profile since losing. His high-profile marriage to Bruni was reacted to with irritation by much of the French public.

"Little French Songs" is Bruni's fourth album since 2008, the same year she wed Sarkozy.