Charlote Gainsbourg on top of charts
Adrienne Todd
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Opinion
By Adrienne Todd
If anyone were to be the poster child for chic, it's Charlotte Gainsbourg. Her parents are the French pop singer Serge Gainsbourg and her mother, the British model, Jane Birkin (of the Hermés Birkin Bag fame).
At age 13, she was featured on one of her father's albums, Charlotte Forever and won the Most Promising Actor Award for her role in L'Effrontée. Her second album 5:55 topped the French charts. A very talented actress and singer, Charlotte was inspired after a cerebral hemorrhage in 2007 that proved to be nearly fatal. Having MRI after MRI after MRI, Charlotte was more specifically inspired by the 'whir' sound of the machine. She reportedly gave a recording of said machines to Beck, who began conceptualizing the album. However, Charlotte played an important role in the melodies and the lyrics.
"I didn't want [Beck] to write songs on his side and just give me the lyrics and melodies to sing. I wanted to be involved in the creative process too."
Beck, though collaborating on the entire album, did not wish to be audibly recognizable.
"I wrote the songs and played almost [all] the instruments, but my real goal was to achieve some kind of transparency where I became virtually invisible and all you're focusing on is her."
Indeed, it's nearly impossible to notice Beck's contribution, save the album's single "Heaven Can Wait," where the two duet. The single's music video is filled with peculiar and unexpected images such as a baby in a hot dog costume, a shirtless and rather portly boy playing the acoustic guitar, and a skateboard propped up on hamburgers. Though the images portrayed in the music video make little sense, they reflect the nature of the song. "Heaven can wait, and hell's too far to go. Somewhere between what you need and you know and they are trying to drive the escalator into the ground." Not necessarily apocalyptic, but certainly pointing to an idea of being lost and filled with angst. Ironic, since Charlotte seems to have found her place in the music world at last: the top.
If anyone were to be the poster child for chic, it's Charlotte Gainsbourg. Her parents are the French pop singer Serge Gainsbourg and her mother, the British model, Jane Birkin (of the Hermés Birkin Bag fame).
At age 13, she was featured on one of her father's albums, Charlotte Forever and won the Most Promising Actor Award for her role in L'Effrontée. Her second album 5:55 topped the French charts. A very talented actress and singer, Charlotte was inspired after a cerebral hemorrhage in 2007 that proved to be nearly fatal. Having MRI after MRI after MRI, Charlotte was more specifically inspired by the 'whir' sound of the machine. She reportedly gave a recording of said machines to Beck, who began conceptualizing the album. However, Charlotte played an important role in the melodies and the lyrics.
"I didn't want [Beck] to write songs on his side and just give me the lyrics and melodies to sing. I wanted to be involved in the creative process too."
Beck, though collaborating on the entire album, did not wish to be audibly recognizable.
"I wrote the songs and played almost [all] the instruments, but my real goal was to achieve some kind of transparency where I became virtually invisible and all you're focusing on is her."
Indeed, it's nearly impossible to notice Beck's contribution, save the album's single "Heaven Can Wait," where the two duet. The single's music video is filled with peculiar and unexpected images such as a baby in a hot dog costume, a shirtless and rather portly boy playing the acoustic guitar, and a skateboard propped up on hamburgers. Though the images portrayed in the music video make little sense, they reflect the nature of the song. "Heaven can wait, and hell's too far to go. Somewhere between what you need and you know and they are trying to drive the escalator into the ground." Not necessarily apocalyptic, but certainly pointing to an idea of being lost and filled with angst. Ironic, since Charlotte seems to have found her place in the music world at last: the top.
Be the first to comment on this story