Térébenthine is the French word for "turpentine", a strong-smelling solvent derived from pine resin, often used to thin paint. It's a very unusual and powerful word to find in a pop song.
Louane uses it as a striking metaphor for a hidden, intense feeling in her chest. Like turpentine, this emotion is potent, volatile, and perhaps even a bit dangerous, suggesting a love that is all-consuming and unforgettable.
This song is a countdown of a love affair, starting with the most important day: "Jour un" [Day one]. Louane describes this first day as "l'amour suprême" [the supreme love], a moment so perfect she immediately wants a "jour numéro deux" [day number two]. The relationship progresses quickly, from a "suite à l'hôtel" [hotel suite] on day two to life feeling like "velours" [velvet] by day nine. She admits her feelings are a "dépendance à l'amour" [dependence on love], and there's no point pretending otherwise.
The whole song circles back to that first day. The chorus explains that "Jour un" is "celui qu'on retient" [the one we remember]. It's a powerful memory that can be erased if her lover replaces her, but it's also the feeling that "revient" [comes back] when they are close. It's the beginning you always return to, the foundation of the entire relationship, for better or for worse.
Louane was born Anne Peichert in 1996 in the Pas-de-Calais, in the north of France, and at sixteen she reached the semi-finals of The Voice: la plus belle voix. A year later she played Paula, the hearing daughter of a deaf farming family, in the film La Famille BĂ©lier, and won the CĂ©sar for Most Promising Actress for the role.
Her debut album Chambre 12 (2015) went to number one in France and sold over three quarters of a million copies that year, carried by "Avenir", "Jour 1" and "Maman", a song written for her mother, who had died the year before. Louane (2017), Joie de vivre (2020), Sentiments (2022) and Solo (2024) followed, and in 2025 she represented France at Eurovision with a new song called "Maman", again about her mother, finishing seventh.