As the ’60s came to a close and yé-yé faded away, Hardy began exploring new styles like bossa nova, most remarkably on her beloved 1971 album La question. Since then, she continued to release a steady string of albums, and in the mid ’90s, Hardy made two high-profile guest appearances on songs by Blur and Malcolm McLaren. And though her own acting career ended in the early ’80s, Hardy’s music has been championed in subsequent films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers and Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. Now 74, the singer has placed her own life under a microscope in the form of a new memoir, The Despair of Monkeys and Other Trifles, and her 24th studio album, Personne d’autre, an intimate reflection on mortality, memory, and romance.

On the phone from France, Hardy discusses her personal soundtrack through the years, the songs that have moved her beyond words. It’s a sentiment familiar to Hardy’s fans, especially non-French-speaking ones, who may not understand every lyric but know what she’s singing about anyway.