Carla Bruni announced plans today to begin a North American Tour in February of 2018. She begins the tour in Washington D.C., a city she probably visited more than once as First Lady of France while married to Nicolas Sarkozy. The tour, as most do, promotes her new EP. French Touch is on sale now.

Bruni’s new music aspires to capture “a coup de foundre,” translated to ‘love at first sight.’ She chose favorite pop songs that for her hold sentimental value. The songs she’s always liked and stuck with—the kinds of melodies that attract you and make you fall in love with without knowing why. The album, because it’s composed of her personal favorite songs, inspires that feeling of love at first sight without effort. The traditional sentimentality of the songs she chooses are brought to a boil by her acoustic take. Bruni reimagines each song with the help of composer David Foster. Foster, a musician and producer in his own right, produced the album.

Bruni first started performing in 1997. Her first album, Quelqu’un m’a dit (Someone Told Me), came out in 2002 and sat in France’s top ten album list for thirty-four weeks. She released three more records that have all acquired critical acclaim, and sold them more than three million times. Her 2007 album, No Promises, scored a selection of English poems. Bruni released Comme si de rien n’était (As If Nothing Happened) in 2008, the same year she became France’s First Lady, and then Little French Songs in 2013.

Bruni pursued a successful career in modeling from 1987 to 1997, the year she began making music professionally. As First Lady, Bruni had an office in the east wing of the Elysee Palace, and a personal secretary. Though she was not involved in policy-making, she accompanied Sarkozy on state trips. A lot happened for Bruni in 2008; marrying a president enabled her to meet the Dalai Lama. Unfortunately, she stirred controversy that same year by making a comment in opposition to the extradition of an Italian left-wing terrorist, Marina Petrella, who had been living in France since 1993. Sarkozy decided to keep Petrella in France. Bruni has represented The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria many times and was ranked Forbes’ thirty-fifth most powerful woman of the year in 2010. She’s had a prolific career that has sprawled through many different aspects of culture and society. Here tour dates are listed below.

Tour Dates:

2/13 Washington, DC – Birchmere

2/15 Boston, MA – Berklee Theater

2/18 Montreal, QC – L’Olympia

2/19 Toronto, ONT – Queen Elizabeth Theater

2/21 Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum

2/23 San Francisco, CA – Bay Area Cabaret at the Venetian Room

2/25 Seattle, WA – Benaroya