Chick Habit, performed by April March, accompanies the end credits of Death Proof. Its pop tone turns the ending of the action into a mocking farewell to the aggressor.
From Laisse tomber les filles to April March
Chick Habit is an English-language adaptation of Laisse tomber les filles, a song written by Serge Gainsbourg and known through France Gall’s performance. April March recorded her version in the 1990s and also performed the song in French. The relationship between these titles helps explain why the credits in different editions can stir slightly different musical memories.
April March’s song was not composed specifically for Death Proof. Tarantino uses an earlier recording and places it after an action that changes how it is read. Those who know it may recognise an independent piece; those hearing it for the first time encounter it linked to Mike’s defeat. Both points of entry are compatible because the film does not erase the song’s musical history.
It is worth distinguishing between the English version, the French performance and France Gall’s recording. They share a common composition, but they are not the same recording nor the same voice. The commercial album of Death Proof includes Chick Habit. The international version of the film also includes Laisse tomber les filles performed by April March during the credits.
A warning that comes after the action
The song’s overall content revolves around the consequences of treating women badly and the loss of a position of self-assurance. That idea fits a character whose power has been based on choosing those he sees as vulnerable. There is no need to reproduce the lyrics to recognise the relationship: the song turns the ending into a musical reply to his behaviour.
Placement is decisive. If the track appeared at the beginning, it could work as a sign or a foreshadowing. By arriving after the confrontation, it accompanies a result we have already seen. The comment becomes retrospective and celebratory, with an energy that extends the protagonists’ gesture of victory. The film moves from the tension of the road to an exit marked by mockery.
The brightness of the arrangement and the apparent lightness of the performance do not remove the violence of the ending. They create a friction between the pop form and the harshness of what has happened. That friction allows the viewer to feel relief and, at the same time, to notice the extent to which the film organises its pleasure around revenge. The music guides the emotion, but does not force everyone to judge the action in the same way.
The end of Death Proof reverses the relationship Mike had established with his victims. Chick Habit extends that reversal in another register. The character loses the ability to impose his own story of toughness; the final relevant comment comes from a female voice that is outside him. The musical choice even removes his control over the tone in which we send him off.
The shift between the English and French performances makes another difference perceptible: a melody can retain its identity while the verbal relationship with the listener changes. For one audience, English offers an immediately understandable warning; for another, French may first activate the memory of the pop tradition from which it comes. The film allows those associations to coexist without needing everyone to approach the song in the same language.
The tone of the credits and the viewer’s memory
Here, the credits do not function as a neutral emotional zone. The song carries the momentum of the ending and translates it into a piece that can be heard outside the film. That autonomy explains part of its power to fix the memory of the finale: on hearing it again, the viewer can recover the sense of triumph and sarcasm without having to reconstruct the whole chase.
The effect also does not depend on understanding every word in English or French. The rhythm, instrumentation and voice convey a perceptible attitude. Knowing the lyrics adds a specific layer, but the shift from action to pop already establishes a change of register. The violence is left behind in the narrative, while its emotional payoff continues in the sound.
Placing Chick Habit within the Death Proof soundtrack makes it possible to distinguish its function from that of other songs. Down in Mexico structures an encounter in the bar and Hold Tight! accompanies a situation interrupted by threat. April March’s track arrives when that threat has received a response. Its role is to close the audience’s relationship with Mike, not to describe a space the characters are still inhabiting.
Its French origin adds a musical link, but does not by itself prove an explanation of the director’s personal intentions. The relationship that can be analysed with confidence lies in the combination of lyrics, tone and position within the edit. That combination turns a pre-existing song into a particularly fitting farewell for the character.
More context in the Death Proof guide.