Solitude translates directly to "solitude" in English. While it might seem like a common word, its appearance in this song is particularly poignant and central to the theme.
The lyrics describe solitude not as an absence, but as a visitor that the singer has grown accustomed to inviting in. This personification of solitude makes the word interesting and gives it a unique depth within the song's narrative, exploring a complex relationship with loneliness.
Picture yourself on a long train ride, scenery racing by the window while emotions race inside your chest. Old Friend captures that exact feeling. Zaho De Sagazan sings about letting a trusted companion — her own memories and music — sit beside her whenever loneliness takes a seat. She cries in his voice, finding a strange comfort in tears that wash her clean. The "machine" pulling her through landscapes is both a literal journey and a metaphor for life’s unstoppable motion, and she has learned to invite her sorrow in like an old acquaintance.
Then Tom Odell answers from across the Channel, greeting Zaho as if opening a heartfelt letter. He admires her strength where he feels weak, highlighting the beautiful exchange of support that true friends share. Together they remind us that real friendship can fly over language barriers, tour buses, and heartbreak, offering a safe place to feel everything — even the storms beneath our wings. In short, the song is a bilingual hug: it teaches that tears are not defeat, but proof that someone’s voice can keep us company until the very end.
Zaho de Sagazan grew up in Saint-Nazaire, on France's Atlantic coast, born in 1999 into a family of artists: her father, Olivier de Sagazan, is a painter and performance artist, and she trained for years as a dancer as a child. She went on to study business in Nantes and spent a year working as a care assistant in a nursing home before turning to music in her early twenties.
Her debut album, La Symphonie des Ă©clairs, came out in March 2023 and picked up four wins at the following year's Victoires de la Musique, including album of the year. She built her name mixing the storytelling of French chanson with electronic production, running a low, husky voice over beats that pull from Berlin techno.