“I didn’t have any fear about being too personal,” says Charlotte Gainsbourg about the songs she wrote on her new, and revealing, fifth album, Rest, out this fall. “I said what I wanted to say; I was talking to myself.” The actress/singer/songwriter and fashion muse—daughter of the late, legendary singer/actor Serge Gainsbourg and singer/actress Jane Birkin—is accustomed to controversy. At age 13, she recorded a provocative song (“Lemon Incest”) with her father, and some of her movie roles with director Lars von Trier (Nymphomaniac, Antichrist) have been considered shocking. Here, she talks with Lisa Robinson about music, stage fright, and her self-imposed “exile” in New York City.
Lisa Robinson: You said it was a sort of exile, living in New York City for the past three years. Why did you leave Paris?
Charlotte Gainsbourg: I lost my sister Kate (the daughter of Jane Birkin and composer John Barry) three and a half years ago, and I couldn’t stand being in Paris anymore. Kate always had really rough times, and while we’re not exactly sure what happened, it was a suicide. We were really close; growing up, it was the two of us and my parents—until my father went. And without Kate, it was just impossible.
L.R.: You moved here with your partner (actor/director Yvan Attal) and your three children (Ben, Alice, and Jo). How has New York been different?
C.G.: I could breathe again. I was liberated here. Not a lot of people recognize me, and if they do, it’s for films I’ve been in or my albums. In France, people are sweet and discreet; it’s just I can never be really relaxed. Here, I can do whatever I want to do. I just had to pick up my children from school, do the cooking. . . . It was a new life. And I needed the concentration here to make the record; it was where I could feel isolated and focus.
L.R.: Your last studio album (IRM, in 2009) was a collaboration with Beck. For this one, you worked with the French electronic musician and producer Sebastian, you wrote all the lyrics, and you sing in both French and English. Why did it take four years to record?
C.G.: I was very busy with films (including The Snowman, out next month); that was a priority. I couldn’t ask a director to wait for me until I finished an album. I wanted electronic music, I knew I wanted to work with Sebastian, and it took us a long time to get together. And when I lost Kate, it all started to make sense, because I didn’t question my lyrics anymore. A lot of it is from my journals, and a lot of it is stuff mixed together. But it was never over. I would go back into the studio and change one word. Everything was an excuse to try again. It’s a very uncomfortable space, but I’m used to it. I like not being comfortable, I like challenges, I like questioning, and I love doubts.
L.R.: You recorded most of it in Electric Lady Studios, in New York, including a song (“Songbird in a Cage”) written by Paul McCartney, who played bass and piano on it. How did that come about?
C.G.: I love him. I asked to have lunch with him in London around six years ago, and he was so sweet. I said if one day you have a song you don’t want for yourself, I’d love to work with you. A week later he sent me the song, I showed it to Sebastian, and we sort of pulled it to pieces—we made it more chaotic.
L.R.: You’re on the International Best-Dressed List and you’re the new face of Saint Laurent. What are the clothes like?
C.G.: They’re great, very simple, very stylish—things I would wear all the time.
L.R.: You’ve said you have terrible stage fright. Will you do any live concerts?
C.G.: I’m terrified. I don’t know who I’m supposed to be on the stage. I don’t feel I’m a singer, which doesn’t mean I can’t do an album—I can. But I have to push myself onstage. I have to find some force that will be stronger than my fears. This time I’m trying to care less. . . . The only way for me to do it is to do it in a relaxed way.
L.R.: Maybe some alcoholic beverages . . .
C.G.: Yes, but sometimes I drank too much and completely forgot the words.
L.R.: If you’re singing in French in the U.S., no one will know the difference.
