Aya Nakamura, the most listened to French-speaking artist in the world and up to now silent on the country’s snap legislative elections, called for a vote “against the only extreme to be condemned because there is only one,” without explicitly mentioning the far-right Rassemblement National party. The 29 year old singer wrote on X that she was “well placed to understand and know the place of racism in our country. It’s the same people who get pissed when we shine, because we haven’t finished shining yet.”

In a deleted message on the social media platform yesterday, Nakamura wrote: “Fuck the RN (…) but stop asking me to go into subjects that I don’t even understand!” Today, she explained her discretion: “Sometimes, you don’t feel relevant or legitimate enough to speak out and say the right things in areas you [don’t] master. That doesn’t mean we don’t have an opinion.”