Fresh Listen: NRJ At 40 And Around The World

When I first heard French CHR NRJ in summer 1988, it sounded different, more intense than its American counterparts. I also recall thinking that the music was hipper, which at that time meant more new-wave crossovers. NRJ was also my introduction to Europe’s national brands, at that time a truly foreign concept when even affiliates of America’s satellite radio networks were still locally branded.

These days, NRJ is an international brand heard from Russia to Egypt, Belgium to Tahiti. The French flagship celebrated its 40^th anniversary on July 15. Besides being one (or several) of the world’s great CHR brands, NRJ has long offered a robust and frequently updated lineup of online side channels — 140 different ones this month, ranging from Disney Hits to BTS to New Hits Friday. In honor of its anniversary, I took a Fresh Listen in five different territories.

Listening to NRJ across Europe (and around the world) gave me a few insights on hit music outside the U.S.:

• DJ/producer-driven dance pop is still the major category that it was internationally in the mid-2010s. Even on the more AC-leaning NRJ Zurich, you will hear Robin Schulz into Joel Corry;
• Latin pop was a force long before “Despacito,” and remains so;
• Largely because of dance music, NRJ lives up to its name for tempo and energy in a way that our Top 40 radio is still grappling with;
• Imagine Dragons’ “Follow You” is a worldwide hit that Mainstream CHR in America missed; Pink’s “Cover Me in Sunshine” is a worldwide smash, even though it would have been as hard to imagine on Top 40 here as “Shallow” once was.

I came away from the exercise with a dozen or so European hits that felt like they could work in America, or at least bolster the format. Some of those songs have already been added to my (coincidentally named) “Summer Energy 2021” playlist.

In the Q1 Mediametrie, NRJ is up 3.3-3.6 in Paris for its best share since spring 2018. It is eighth overall, but is the top music station in a market dominated by spoken word. Nationally, NRJ went 6.1-6.5 and is the top music station as well.

Here’s NRJ France at 2 p.m., July 13:

• Bella Porch, “Build a Bitch”
• Ofenbach f/Lagique, “Wasted Love”
• Hatik, “Ma P’tite Etoile”
• Katy Perry, “Firework”
• Gims f/Dhurta Dora, “Only You” (similar feeling to Trevor Daniel, “Falling”)
• Iman Es, “Essaie Encore”
• Walter Talib & Diva Surprise f/YMCA, “On the Top of the World” (retro disco that indeed samples the Village People, as implied by the billing)
• Martin Garrix f/Bono & the Edge, “We Are the People”
• Were-Vanna, “Bombardé” (French-language reggaeton)
• Pink & Willow Sage Hart “Cover Me in Sunshine”
• Reik f/Rocco Hunt & Ana Mena, “A un Paso de la Luna”
• Amel Beat, “Le Chant des Colombes”
• Maroon 5 f/Megan Thee Stallion, “Beautiful Mistakes”
• DJ Snake & Selena Gomez, “Selfish Love”
• Jeremy Ferot, “Fais-le”
• Shouse, “Love Tonight” (more ‘70s retro dance)
• Sexion D’Assault, “Wati House” (turbo-pop from 2012)
• Imagine Dragons, “Follow You” 

NRJ Norway is often the station I listen to when I want to hear a lot of new music that I’m not familiar with from U.S. or UK radio, and it did not disappoint in this 5 p.m. hour on July 13:

• Mimi Webb, “Good Without”
• Weeknd, “Save Your Tears”
• Majestic f/Boney M, “Rasputin”
• Astrid S f/Brett Young, “I Do”
• Calvin Harris f/Tom Grennan, “By Your Side”
• Dua Lipa, “We’re Good”
• Vinai f/Vamero, “Rise Up”
• Sigrid, “Strangers”
• Chris Holsten, “Smilet I Ditt Eget Speil”
• Keiino, “Monument”
• Alan Walker & Imanbek, “Sweet Dreams”
• Skinny Davis & CLMD, “Voices in My Head”
• Ed Sheeran, “Bad Habits”
• Leony, “Faded” (samples “Dragosta Din Tea”)
• Ruben, “Running”
• Topic & A7S, “Breaking Me”
• Kygo f/James Gillespie, “Gone Are the Days”

NRJ Zurich has slightly more of a Hot AC/AC feel. The afternoon show is billed as “NRJ Downtown.” There was also news at both :00 and :30 in the 4 p.m. hour I listened to on July 14:

• Rihanna, “Umbrella”
• Tom Grennan, “Little Bit of Love”
• John Legend, “Love Me Now”
• Toto Cutgno, “L’Italiano”
• Imagine Dragons, “Follow You”
• Ofenbach f/Quarterhead & Norma Jean Martine, “Head Shoulders Knees & Toes”
• Nea, “Some Say” (interpolates Eiffel 65, “Blue,” a song I first heard on NRJ Hamburg)
• No Doubt, “Don’t Speak”
• Martin Garrix f/Bono & the Edge, “We Are the People”
• Trinidad Cardona, “Dinero”
• James Blunt, “The Truth”
• Robin Schulz & Kiddo, “All We Got”
• Joel Corry, Raye & David Guetta, “Bed”
• Karol G & Nicki Minaj, “Tusa”
• Alessia Cara, “Scars to Your Beautiful”

Bauer Media-operated NRJ Sweden is also more Mainstream AC than Top 40 by U.S. standards in terms of era. Here’s the station just before 3 p.m. on July 13:

• Katy Perry, “Firework”
• Miss Li, “Komplicerad”
• Paul Simon, “You Can Call Me Al”
• Pink f/Willow Sage Hart, “Cover Me With Sunshine”
• Peps Persson, “Oh Boy” (‘90s Swedish Ska!)
• Imagine Dragons, “Follow You”
• Per Gessle, “Här Kommer Alla Känslorna (På en Och Samma Gang)” (the Roxette mastermind with a ‘60s sunshine-pop-feeling hit from the early 2000s)
• Newkid, “Aldrig Haft Något Annat Val”
• Ricky Martin, “Livin’ la Vida Loca”
• Molly Sandén, “Nån Annan Nu” (mid-to-up pop with a similar feel to “Love You Like a Love Song”)
• Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”
• Coldplay, “Higher Power”
• Dotter, “Little Tot”
• Undressd, “Forever Young” (Swedish remake of the Alphaville standard)
• Kid Laroi, “Without You”
• Alexandra Stan, “Mr. Saxobeat”

And for something very different, there’s NRJ Antilles/Guadaloupe, featuring a mix that is primarily Caribbean and Afrobeat, with only one song that’s familiar to most U.S. pop audiences. The NRJ jingle is one of the few common threads with the other stations, along with the “Radio No. 1” slogan, modified here for vacationers to “Radio No. 1 en vacance.” Here’s the station on July 14 around 11 a.m.

• DJ Gil & LMK, “Blessed Love”
• Pop Smoke, “What You Know Bout Love”
• Ata Nakamura, “Bobo”
• Dasha, “Doudou”
• Zum f/Shenseaa, “Rebel”
• Kenzy f/Misie Sadik, “Love You Twop”
• Motto, “Shots (One for di Radio)”
• Kalipsxau, “Corps à Corps”
• Omah Lay, “Godly”
• Teenyah, “En Secret”
• X-Man, “Love”
• Davido, “Jowb”
• Bamby, “Haffi Buss”
• Dadju f/Tiakda, “Dieu Merci”
• Gmbnutron & DJ Spider “Down Dey”
• Olamide f/Omah Lay, “Infinity”
• Matieu White f/Maurane Voyer, “Sa Fini”