Yé-yé is a French musical genre that emerged in Western-Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" was derived from the English "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as the Beatles. Yé-yé was a particular form of counterculture that derived most of its inspiration from British and American rock and roll. The style expanded worldwide as the result of the success of figures such as French singer-songwriters Sylvie Vartan, Serge Gainsbourg, and Françoise Hardy.

Yé-yé music was a mostly continental European phenomenon and usually featured young female singers. France Gall, for example, was only sixteen years of age when she released her first album and seventeen when she won the Eurovision Song Contest (for Luxembourg) singing the prototype bubblegum song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son". Most of the yé-yé songs are original French compositions and are sung in French.

Yé-yé music didn’t just ‘translate’ rock and roll for the European market – it also expanded the genre sonically, exploring genres ranging from baroque to jazz to chanson (the French style of lyric-driven music). And unlike the male-dominated British invasion, Yé-Yé allowed many female stars to shine, bringing their sound to global audiences. The yé-yé girls’ youthful energy helped create a new, freer female archetype.

Some of the most famous yé-yé singers include France Gall, Sylvie Vartan, Françoise Hardy, and Chantal Goya. Despite their success and influence on both music and culture more broadly, yé-yé girls have sadly been dismissed because of the supposed shallow and youthful focus of their music. However, the movement is occasionally seen as a feminist statement, even though the songwriters behind the singers were men, and the songs often infantilized their singers.