Nick Cave Delivers Stirring Cover of Édith Piaf Classic on Jack Antonoff-Produced Project

The soundtrack of the Apple+ miniseries The New Look, starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Maisie Williams, Juliette Binoche, Emily Mortimer, and more tells the story of how fashion icons Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain, and Cristóbal Balenciaga, navigated World War II.

The series is backed by a star-studded soundtrack produced by Jack Antonoff, featuring a collection of WWII-era songs performed by Antonoff’s band Bleachers, Florence + The Machine, Lana Del Rey, The 1975, Beabadoobee, Perfume Genius, and more. For the soundtrack, Nick Cave also delivers a soulful rendition of Édith Piaf’s 1947 classic “La Vie En Rose.”

Sung in English, Cave drips through each verse backed only by Antonoff on piano: Hold me close and hold me fast / The magic spell you cast / This is La vie en rose / When you kiss me, heaven sighs / And though I close my eyes ‘ I see La vie en rose.

The series looks at the WWII-era fashion houses with Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior and Binoche starring as Chanel founder Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel and follows the designers’ interconnected stories during wartime.

[RELATED: 5 Wartime-Era Songs from WWII]

“La Vie En Rose” was co-written by Piaf composer Louiguy, originally released in 1947, and became a top 10 hit by 1950 bringing Piaf international success. In the decades following its release, “La Vie En Rose” was covered nearly 800 times by everyone from Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Marlene Dietrich, Julio Iglesias, and Belinda Carlisle, among others. In 1977, Grace Jones also had a hit with her disco cover of “La Vie En Rose.”

The soundtrack also features Florence + The Machine’s version of the wartime hit “The White Cliffs Of Dover,” which also became a favorite song of the late Queen Elizabeth II,  along with the 1975’s “Now Is The Hour,” Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Skies,” Perfume Genius’ “What A Difference A Day Makes.” 

Rounding out the soundtrack of the series are “It’s Only A Paper Moon” by Beabadoobee, Joy Oladokun‘s “I Wished Upon The Moon,” Bartees Strange’s “You Always Hurt The One You Love,” Sam Dew’s “I Cover The Waterfront, and “Almost Like Being In Love” by Bleachers.

Photo: Steve Parke / Courtesy of Nasty Little Man