Artist Of The Month: Julia Jacklin

On top of a lot of goals I have for Chicago Haze in 2019, one that I am really excited about is introducing a new monthly spotlight post to share info on new artists that I’ve been digging. It took me awhile to get to this post for January for a couple reasons, but one is because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to format it – and I’m sure the format is going to be changing from month to month, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. For example, I have an interview lined up for next month’s Artist Of The Month (super exciting!) and that one will be more of a Q&A format. But for now…

This post is going to be short, sweet and to the point! If I was reading about a musician someone wanted me to listen to, I would want the straight facts and nothing overdone or overwritten. Again, this format may change in the future, but the way I envision this is something like reading a flashcard to learn about something like you would in school: get the facts, why it’s important to know, etc. Let me know if you like or dislike this format!

An artist I’ve been obsessing over this month is named Julia Jacklin. Julia is an Australian singer/songwriter whose music lives primarily in the indie folk, alternative category.

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Name: Julia Jacklin
Age: 28
Hometown: Sydney, Australia
Genre: “Meld of dreamy indie pop and confessional alt-country” – here
For Fans Of: Phoebe Bridgers, First Aid Kit, Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker
Label: Transgressive Records (Also home to Alvvays, Foals, Hippo Campus and Let’s Eat Grandma – to name a few)
Get to know her: Jacklin was inspired by Britney Spears growing up and started taking classical singing lessons at age 10. She joined a band in high school that performed Avril Lavigne and Evanescence covers. She graduated from college with a degree in social policy and worked a 9-5 job. Starting a band in 2012, she started gaining a following and critical acclaim with her first two singles “Pool Party” and “Coming Of Age.” She began touring extensively in March 2016 and has played festivals like End of The Road Festival, South By Southwest, etc. Jacklin’s second album, Crushing, is set to release on February 22.
Why You Should Care: Julia talks about the confusion and heartbreak that inevitably comes with growing up with a unique simplicity and poignant point of view that’s impossible to ignore. Similar to the way that Lorde was able to confront teenage headache on her debut Pure Heroine, Julia continues the narrative by sharing the pains of being a young 20-something and the acceptance of not really knowing what you’re doing in life, but embracing it anyway.

“You grow up thinking that the world is an easy place to succeed in then all of the sudden you realise that it’s not and that can be a shock. Being what you actually want to be as a person takes time, more time than you might of thought when you were younger.” – A quote from Julia in an interview with Hhhappy.