By Patricia Reaney
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, France's former first lady, says she doesn't miss political life, isn't afraid of getting old and is looking forward to touring in France and the United States to promote her latest album, "Little French Songs."
It's the fourth album by the Italian-born former model who began her musical career in 1997. Her first, "Quelqu'un m'a dit" (Someone Told Me), was released in 2002 and sold 2 million copies.
Since then Bruni married Nicolas Sarkozy while he was president of France, had a second child and returned to private life after Sarkozy lost a re-election bid to Francois Hollande last year.
"It was full of interesting things, interesting people, very different from normal life," Bruni said about the political limelight. "I don't miss it at all."
Bruni worked on some of the songs while Sarkozy, who is embroiled in an investigation about party funding that could derail a political comeback, was still in office, so he wasn't surprised by the track "Mon Raymond" (My Raymond), a pet name for her husband.
Bruni describes it as a love song to Sarkozy, the father of her 19-month-old daughter. She also has a son who was born in 2001.
In the lyrics she describes Raymond as "a stunner, atomic bomb material" and "complex, romantic but tactical."
"He was OK with it. I think he liked it," she said during an interview with Reuters in New York this week. "Of course, being the muse for a song is not a position a man usually has, but it is a tender song."
GETTING EASIER
The 45-year-old singer wrote most of the 11 tracks on "Little French Songs," which she describes as "folk music with a little pop."
After four albums, the creating process and performing are easier, and although still shy, Bruni said she is getting over it and thinks her voice has improved over time.
"Something has to get better with age," she joked. "There is something good about getting older, and that is experience."
In "Chez Keith et Anita," the first single from the album, Bruni imagines what the home of guitarist Keith Richards and former actress and model Anita Pallenberg was like.
After seeing photographs of the house in southern France, where the Rolling Stones recorded "Exile on Main Street," she couldn't believe how incredible it was.
"I've never been there, I was only just born in the 70s," she said, "but I always get the impression those were fantastic years. It is more like a song about those years than the people."
Her favorite track is "J'arrive a Toi" (I'm Coming to You) about someone who has found love but who is also sad.
"What I mean is that, of course, there is something beautiful about youth. Maybe you don't have much in your hand but you have everything ahead and after time passes by you build your life but the road is behind."
The road ahead for Bruni includes a tour in France later this year and in the United States next year. Exact dates have not been announced.
Although she doesn't miss the political spotlight, Bruni seems ready to handle whatever life holds in store for her.
When asked if it could include a return to politics for her husband, she replied, "I will support my husband, whatever he does. He supports me."
(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Jim Loney)
