My favourite, Antastesia, makes videos mostly in English. She also does some specifically about learning French phrases but she helpfully subtitles these. I love that she has blue hair, for Paris this is brave, and she speaks frankly about issues such as harassment and lying about having a boyfriend in order to avoid these situations. She also makes videos where she recommends books in French for beginners and talks about poetry. I like to think we’d be friends.
One of the most famous youtubers in France, you’ve probably seen the posters for his live tour around the metro. His videos are funny, with skits and they’re often based around a theme. My favourite is the one about being friends with your ex-girlfriend. His Apple Addict video has been watched over 18 million times. The videos tend to all be in French sans subtitles but he speaks pretty clearly and with the acting you get the idea. Good for picking up slang/’everyday’ French.
These videos are oozing with bravado and whilst most of it isn’t to my taste the video where Remi steals policemen’s hats and gets chased whilst wearing fancy dress did make me giggle. He’s THE most famous with over 5 million subscribers and you have to admire his guts considering that the cops here carry guns.
France’s answer to Zoella, Marie Lopez’s videos are the usual room tours, hauls and boyfriend tags. The aesthetic is familiar and the hauls don’t do anything for me (we know that these people tend to get sent free stuff to talk about) but it’s interesting to get an insight into life for a French teenage girl and 2 million subscribers obviously think so too. She also speaks a little bit too fast for me but if you’re at an intermediate level these videos will be good to see how you keep up. Sananas does a similar thing but she’s more glamorous than cutesy and just generally less irritating.
On her channel ‘Les Lectures de NiNe <3’, Nine talks about books and films in French. This is good for learning new vocab and getting recommendations. Definitely for those who are practically fluent, although she speaks slowly and clearly, lots of her videos are about her Top Ten favourite…dystopian novels/books from 2015/horror stories and they tend to all be French titles.
