French Social Media Influencer Takes on Duolingo With Music-First Language App

Image Source: Ben Guez

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Written by Wyles Daniel

Nice-born entrepreneur and influencer Ben Guez is betting on music as the key to making language learning stick.

After building a social media following of more than 750,000 across TikTok and Instagram, Ben Guez discovered something unexpected: his most powerful teaching tool wasn’t a lesson plan, but a song.

“Six months ago, I posted a simple video of me singing in French with English translations,” he recalls. “It wasn’t planned. But the engagement was insane - people told me they actually learned French from that one clip.”

Encouraged, he launched a separate page dedicated to the experiment. Within just five months, it had grown to more than 100,000 followers. The viral response convinced Guez to turn the idea into a full-fledged product: Canary, a new app that helps users learn languages through the songs they already love.

Unlike traditional apps that focus on drills or flashcards, Canary leans into music’s natural connection to memory. Users can:

• Pick a song and see real-time translations
• Save words to a personal vocabulary list
• Practice pronunciation with karaoke mode
• Take quizzes on songs
• (Coming soon) Connect with others, learning the same way

Image Source: Ben Guez

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“And it made a lot of sense to me,” Guez adds. “When I tell people I’m French in the U.S., I get so many replies like, ‘Oh, I took French in high school, but the only thing I remember is voulez-vous coucher avec moi.’ And I don’t believe they all want to sleep with me,” he says, amused. “People remember lyrics, not schoolbook lessons.”

That insight is what powers Canary.

“Everyone remembers lyrics to songs from 10 years ago, even if they’ve forgotten everything else,” says Guez. “That’s the power of music. We’re using it to make languages unforgettable.”

Launched in beta on both iOS and Android, Canary positions itself as a fun, culturally relevant alternative in a space long dominated by Duolingo. Where the green owl gamifies streaks and points, Canary taps into TikTok-era behaviors, singing, sharing, and connecting through music.

Guez sees this as just the beginning. With Gen Z already using TikTok and YouTube to absorb culture through music, Canary is betting that the next wave of language learners won’t memorize flashcards; they’ll sing along. Canary is now live in beta on the App Store and Google Play.