• Record Label: Atlantic
  • Release Date: Nov 17, 2017
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 22 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 22
  2. Negative: 0 out of 22
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. 90
    Unsurprisingly, there’s an overarching sense of melancholy, but the more you listen, the more you realise that she’s deftly poetic with her words in a way that’s clearly inspired by some of the great writers of the 20th Century.
  2. Nov 17, 2017
    87
    On Rest, Gainsbourg doesn’t just reveal her pain, but monumentalizes it, lays out a red carpet, and invites people to watch. Her refusal to be sequestered by grief is, quite literally, a death-defying feat.
  3. Nov 27, 2017
    86
    Like Charlotte Gainsbourg’s entire musical career, Rest is imperfect, but it’s intriguing enough that you can’t help but pay attention. And now that she’s pouring more of herself into her songs, her work feels weightier, more complex, and more compelling.
  4. Dec 1, 2017
    85
    Rest is her gateway out from the darkness, a way of coping with her fragilities, a processor of emotions, her loss, and also her most personal work to date, simply, where Charlotte is finally able to be Charlotte.
  5. Nov 17, 2017
    83
    The influence of Gainsbourg’s famous musical parents, both Serge and mother Jane Birkin, has been a constant in her music, but on Rest, she seems less daunted by her lineage, and she begins to bend it to her own ambitions.
  6. Feb 6, 2018
    80
    Outstanding work with the sound, abundance of catchy tunes and thoughtful, memorable lines make Rest an engaging experience for any listener, guaranteed to evoke or further develop the interest for the story of the illustrious Gainsbourg family.
  7. Dec 6, 2017
    80
    With Rest, she grows more fearless as an artist while facing her losses, and the future, with courage and love.
  8. Q Magazine
    Nov 22, 2017
    80
    The balancing of Gainsbourg's natural good taste with this deeper emotional resonance remains key throughout. [Jan 2018, p.109]
  9. Nov 17, 2017
    80
    Rest is still the most French record you’re likely to hear all century.
  10. Nov 16, 2017
    80
    A few of the melodies that she and producer SebastiAn alight on resolve too neatly, running their course as predictably as a romcom. Equally, it is this firm resolution that makes Les Oxalis and the title track so satisfying--and the latter is the best thing she’s ever done.
  11. Nov 15, 2017
    80
    Rest took seven years to come out, its long gestation fuelled by grief, and the finished product is nothing short of cathartic.
  12. Uncut
    Nov 13, 2017
    80
    The voice is all Gainsbourg. [Dec 2017, p.27]
  13. Mojo
    Nov 13, 2017
    80
    If you like Serge's music, or Jane Birkin's, their daughter's latest is a laudable addition to the canon. [Dec 2017, p.89]
  14. Nov 22, 2017
    70
    Rest’s intimacy contrasts Gainsbourg’s personal reticence, and softens a storytelling void that might doom a lesser stylist.
  15. Nov 20, 2017
    70
    Fans of spacey Nineties lounge-pop like Air or Broadcast will drift along happily to pillowy confections such as "Ring-a-Ring O'Roses" and "Rest," a collaboration with Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel.
  16. Nov 17, 2017
    70
    So yes, these are intimate lyrics and stories told first person for the first time--and not just intimate, but vulnerable, self knowing, open and loving. And definitely not embarrassing.
  17. Nov 14, 2017
    70
    The pacing of Rest and the length of its songs make it a grower of an album that, over time, ensconces listeners in the sonic layers and personal lyricism of Gainsbourg.
  18. Nov 14, 2017
    67
    With tighter editing, Rest could have soared, but perhaps the personal nature of the songs made those ruthless cuts impossible. Even so, there are many individual moments to treasure. Charlotte Gainsbourg has evolved as an artist, and Rest is a flawed but worthy statement.
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 60 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 60
  2. Negative: 3 out of 60
  1. Nov 17, 2017
    6
    Is there something I'm missing here? I mean it's not a bad album, not in a long shot. The production and insturmentation is solid, withIs there something I'm missing here? I mean it's not a bad album, not in a long shot. The production and insturmentation is solid, with production credit from Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk, it's a solid mix of disco and dance-pop. But it's nothing all that refreshing and just sounds generic a lot of the times. And Charlotte herself, she's not bad in her French singing (her English singing is weaksause), but that doesn't save the album from sounding like generic dance songs. Maybe it's because I can't understand a lick of French, but that doesn't mean that I can't like the music if I can't understand it. I understand that this album is meant to be a record about grief and a personal album to her, and if you can get behind it, hey good for you. But for me...eh I don't know honestly... Full Review »
  2. Nov 18, 2017
    10
    The album is beautiful, full of grief, but she made something really beautiful with all of her sadness. With production from SebastiAn andThe album is beautiful, full of grief, but she made something really beautiful with all of her sadness. With production from SebastiAn and Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homen-Christo, it’s an amazing record, also, all of the songs were written by Charlotte herself, except the track ‘Songbird in a Cage’ which was written by Paul McCartney, and I think that that’s the worst song on the record. Full Review »
  3. Dec 12, 2017
    10
    this **** GOOD AF ****

    no but seriously, this album is really good. takes something out of my heart that i didn't even know existed in
    this **** GOOD AF ****

    no but seriously, this album is really good. takes something out of my heart that i didn't even know existed in there. **** fantastic instrumentals and her singing is ELITE af.
    Full Review »