Vanessa described the recording of first studio album, M&J, like this: "Franck [Langolff] picks up his guitar and I sing with him. In another part of the studio, Etienne [Roda-Gil] writes the lyrics." The lyrics were important. "When you're 14 years old, people tend to make you sing about boyfriends, Dad, Mom, school... I'm not criticizing that! Everyone is free to do what they want and it's all good... But me, I want to do something else."

"This album doesn't talk about me directly but about things I like," she continued. "Marilyn & John" is about the rumoured romance between Marilyn Monroe & John F. Kennedy. "Maxou" is about another idol of Vanessa's, James Dean, taken from his nickname Little Max. The other song lyrics are more representative of Etienne's outlook than Vanessa's. "Coupe coupe," for instance, is about cutting sugarcane.

Vanessa did not enjoy the kiddie songs like "Chat Ananas," a childish piece that has her seranading a kitten. Already at that age, "I wanted to say harder and rougher things. But at [15 years old], you don't have the right. There were many people around me who talked me out of it." She did, however, enjoy singing in English on three tracks included on the Canadian release of M&J.

Audio: (MP3's coming back soon!)