Charlotte Gainsbourg

Though she was born in the spotlight, singer/songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg is most at home on the fringes, whether she’s starring in a surrealistic art film or crafting dark, intimate indie pop. Born in London in 1971, the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French-pop figurehead Serge Gainsbourg took to the mic early, joining her father on the controversial “Lemon Incest” as a teen in 1984. The song—lined in her fragile, breathy vocals—showed Charlotte to be a budding provocateur. As an adult, she’s paved her own idiosyncratic path, teaming up with French electro duo Air, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich for 2006’s dream-pop reverie 5:55, then Beck for 2009’s IRM, a haunting yet playful collection detailing her emotional journey after suffering a severe head injury. Another traumatic event—the death of her sister—inspired 2017’s Rest, in which she channels her grief through fizzy electro-pop grooves boosted by guests like Paul McCartney and Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. For Gainsbourg, such collaborations continue to push her in new, often unexpected directions, as on 2022’s futuristic Lovotic with Soundwalk Collective.