The same year, Gardot participated in an advertisement campaign for Piaget for which she recorded the song "La Vie en rose".

"[11] Cormak Larkin of The Irish Times stated, "The persistent absence of clothing in her publicity photographs may suggest a flagging career but, in fact, New Jersey-born singer Melody Gardot doesn’t need to abandon her dignity to get our attention.

The songs, which she writes herself, are refreshingly authentic – bittersweet laments for discarded lovers and misplaced innocence – and she sings them in a honeyed, breathy voice that has real musicality and an emotional directness that recalls Edith Piaf.

"[7] Matt Collar writing for AllMusic added, "If Melody Gardot's 2009 sophomore effort, My One and Only Thrill, sustained the sultry, atmospheric vibe of her critically acclaimed 2006 debut, her 2012 follow-up, The Absence, is a bit of a creative departure for the vocalist.

Apparently inspired by her world travels, and specifically by a trip that brought her to the desert around the city of Marrakech, the album moves her away from smoky, small-group jazz and into a bright, if still bedroom-eyed, rhythmically exotic sound.