In terms of sales, "Les Mots" is Farmer's fourth biggest success in France, behind "Désenchantée", "Pourvu qu'elles soient douces" and "Sans contrefaçon".

Seal was eventually chosen to sing with Farmer and, on 10 October, the promotional CD single of "Les Mots" was sent to radio stations.

[4] However, Seal said in another interview that he did not want to record other duets of the same kind because, according to him, his fans did not appreciate "Les Mots" and have called this collaboration a "trick".

[7] About the song, the French magazine Instant-mag made the following analysis: "On an air melody and worthy flights of Boutonnat, the two voices, paradoxical but complementary, tell us the difficulty communicating and the immense power of words.

[8] One of the verses of "Les Mots" ("And to lives that stoop to notice mine", sung by Seal) repeated the first verse of Farmer's song "Nous souviendrons-nous" ("Aux vies qui s'abaissent à voir la mienne") which is on her third studio album L'Autre....[9] The works of Emily Dickinson was also a source of inspiration for the song.

Farmer, dressed in a short black skirt, and Seal, stripped to the waist, are on a wooden raft with a small sail and start to row.

While Farmer stretches out on the raft, a storm begins to arrive, the wind picks up, the rain falls and lightning illuminates the sky.

The anatomy of the two singers is filmed with realism and precision (details on the bodies' parts, focus on the grains of skin) and may refer to those of the shipwreckeds in the painting.

[17] According to Instant-Mag, "the video "Les Mots" – without real screenplay, but rather playing on the aesthetics of colors and the sensual bodies filmed – can be appreciated on two levels: the first, metaphorical (...), refers to the flow of life, its turmoil, its despair, its choices.

The end of the video may also symbolize the grief, the loss and its ambivalence: Farmer lights a flame, then blows it out, master of her own destiny and emotions.

"[18] The journalist Caroline Bee considers the video deals with "the world of dream, with the ocean as a metaphor for life: the turmoil and the fullness, the danger and the calm.

[15] According to the author Erwan Chuberre, the song "does not shine by its originality" and recalls "Rêver" or "Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs", but "fortunately, the union of the crooner voice of Seal to the star's one works wonderfully".

The song entered the French SNEP Singles Chart at number three on 17 November and remained for a total of 17 weeks in the top ten.

On 26 January, after the performance on the show NRJ Music Award on TF1, the single reached a peak of number two but was unable to dethrone Star Academy's "La Musique (Angelica)" at the top of the chart.

[29] "Les Mots" was also performed each evening during Farmer's concerts in 2006, but the drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. replaced Seal to sing the English verses.