Actress, singer, songwriter, and fashion icon Jane Birkin will release “Oh! Pardon tu dormais…,” her latest album on February 5. The lead single and video, “Les jeux interdits,” is also available for streaming.
Birkin is known as an international cultural icon, whose career as an actress in British and French cinema and decade-long romantic and musical partnership with seminal French musician Serge Gainsbourg launched her to global fame. Over 50 years she has released 20 albums.
Her influence also extends to the fashion world. She is known as the inspiration for Hermés’ iconic Birkin bag.
The album marks her most intimate and personal album to date, addressing for the first time in music the tragic death of her first daughter, Kate Barry, a well-known fashion photographer. It was also partly inspired by Birkin’s theatrical play of the same name, “Oh! Pardon tu dormais…” — which translates to “Oh! Sorry you were sleeping…”
“At the start, we took inspiration from the script of ‘Oh! Pardon…,’” said Birkin of the process. “But then, gradually, we moved away from this and more pressing, urgent themes emerged. My daughter Kate, loss, heartbreak . . . Little by little, we drifted towards other horizons.”
The album touches on universal themes of absence, love, anxiety, ghosts from the past — and, ultimately, healing and release.
The album’s 13 songs feature lyrics written by Birkin — including, for the first time, two tracks in English — and music by Etienne Daho and Jean-Louis Piérot, who also produced. Daho co-wrote lyrics on multiple tracks as well.
“Etienne helped me release a past pain, which saved me from melancholy and inertia,” Birkin recalled. “The three of us — Etienne, Jean-Louis and I — gave each other everything, we took everything from each other and I’m still stunned by how we worked together. We are this album’s parents . . . and this moves me.”
Birkin is also known for her philanthropic efforts, such as her work with Amnesty International, the fight against AIDS, and the humanitarian crises in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War and Fukushima following 2011’s earthquake and tsunami.
The album is released via Verve Records.