cough cough, despite beeing french, even I do not understand the lyrics sometimes lol
I know Zaz, but it's not my cup of tea, I'm a metahead mostly. But french artist I love, Noir Desir (Tostaky is an impressive album, or the song "Le Vent l'emportera" (that can be translate into "the wind will carry it away", an amazing ballad), C2C (le banquet), Gojira (they sings in english but are from Lyon), Shaka Ponk... And of course, olds songs from Renaud. You should check out "morgane de toi", "Mistral gagnant", they are very carefully crafted, poetic songs with strong lyrics.
Morgane de toi, for example, is a french slang to say "i'm mad about you", and in this song, it's about a father to daughter relationship. They are both that kind of songs that you never forget
Anyway I could go on forever, despite a metalhead, I love music first and foremost ^^