‘My job was touring. I didn’t even know how to cook. There were a lot of adult skills I was missing’ – The Irish Times
A few years ago, indie singer-songwriter Julia Jacklin stopped using the term “imposter syndrome,” which expresses a feeling that your success isn’t deserved or legitimate. In music, Jacklin noted, it’s only ever been applied to female artists.
“I have a problem with imposter syndrome. I always said so. But then I thought, ‘No, historically these have always been male spaces,'” she says over a video link from her home in Melbourne. “There are endless reports of women walking into these spaces feeling unsafe and unsupported. And heavily criticized. We criticize female musicians for things that we don’t even notice about male musicians.”
Jacklin, who is releasing her smart, serious third album Pre Pleasure on Friday, says it’s completely understandable that many women in the industry would feel out of place. They are not “cheaters”. The problem lies in a music scene that she finds much tougher and more dismissive of women than men. And that’s before you factor in the endless barrage of judgment and misogyny that lingers on social media.
“It’s scary because it’s also connected to the internet. You are criticized by someone after a performance. But it’s not just that. It’s also all over the web. Now I never use the expression. No, it’s not imposter syndrome. I react to the environment. I’m not the problem.”
Understandably, there’s a sharpness to her voice when she says that. But Jacklin is otherwise optimistic — and with good reason. She’s about to return with what might be her best record yet. It’s certainly her most thought-provoking one. “Pre Pleasure” refers to what Jacklin describes as “having to get all work done before I can enjoy my life—whether that’s working on songs or sex, friendships or my relationship with my family.”
She came to these conclusions about herself during lockdown, decompressing after years on the go. “My usual job was touring all the time. I haven’t stopped touring since I was 25,” says Jacklin (who is now 31). “I couldn’t even cook. There were many adult skills that I was missing. I had time to think. Lots of space, lots of time.”
Not that Jacklin needed a pandemic to dredge her soul. Over the past six years, she has attracted both cult audiences and critical acclaim with songs that combine the jangling intensity of garage rock with the narrative pain of country music. Don’t Let The Kids Win, their 2016 debut, was hailed by one critic as “one of those albums that’s going to slowly worm its way into the affections of a huge number of people; it is so beautiful”. In 2019, her second LP, Crushing, was acclaimed by Rolling Stone for its “sweet indie pop with folk introspection and tender piano ballad.”
Also in 2019, she discovered she had a fan in Lana Del Rey who reached out to Jacklin and invited him to join her in Denver (more of that below). Three years later, with Pre Pleasure, Jacklin has continued to develop as a writer, creating perhaps her most complete work to date. And with her biggest tour ever kicking off on November 3rd on Dublin’s Vicar Street, there’s a feeling she’s destined for the big time.
Jacklin’s first reaction was that it was a liquidation. She replied anyway, in the unlikely way that the message was real
Of course, the big times can also mean strange times. She discovered this when Del Rey contacted Jacklin via Instagram when the Australian was in the middle of a grueling North American tour. Jacklin, who had celebrated a successful performance, was in the back of a cab heading back to her hotel when her phone pinged. It was the Video Games star who wondered if Jacklin might want to travel to Colorado and be a guest on her show.
Jacklin’s first reaction was that it was a liquidation. She replied anyway, in the unlikely way that the message was real. It turned out yes; it was Del Rey. Two nights later they took the stage together and sang Jacklin’s ballad Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You.
“I was honestly quite scared of their fan base. It’s the kind of fan base where there’s literally nothing the artist can do on stage — and they’d just love it. It’s a form of worship. However, they were very, very respectful. I played two songs. And I said, ‘I don’t know if these people want to hear two songs by some Australian singer-songwriter they’ve never heard of.’ They were super calm and respectful.”
She admires Lana Del Rey and her music. Still, Jacklin doesn’t want to swap places with an artist who’s at the forefront of so-called “Stan” culture, where your audience invests not just in your art but in your personality — to a degree that’s becoming obsessive, if not downright creepy can feel .
“Sometimes these fan bases can be amazing. They can also be damn poisonous. At least when I played, everyone was super quiet. It wasn’t like they talked to each other throughout my set, which I expected.”
Pre Pleasure contains some of Jacklin’s smartest and most moving lyrics. When she puts her foot on the pedal, the record has a bittersweet folk flavor reminiscent of Christine McVie vintage Fleetwood Mac, with a Jeff Buckley touch. It’s a knockout – albeit one that can send you reeling and emotionally hurt.
Irish listeners will especially want to take a moment on the first song, Lydia Wears A Cross. Here Jacklin unfolds her fascination with the iconography of Catholicism.
She grew up an atheist in a lower-middle-class suburb of Sydney, the daughter of teacher parents (her mother teaches Japanese). But she attended the local Catholic school and had to go to mass once a week. In her early teens, she also became a big fan of Jesus Christ Superstar – an odyssey of happy clapping, distant yet connected to the theater of Christian worship.
The ceremonial aspect of Catholicism was enormously appealing to Jacklin as a child and, as the song attests, still appeals to her today. “I would be a believer, if it was all just and dance,” she sings over a sad soft rock arrangement. “I would be convinced if I thought we had a chance.”
“I wasn’t raised Catholic. I just went to Catholic school. When I think about it as an adult – Catholicism is not part of my life. But I spent my formative years absorbing this whole religion. All the pomp.”
The crowd has shaped their view of the world and, in some ways, continues to do so.
“Going to Mass every week while your brain is still developing and you’re picking up all these ideas… And while you’re making up your mind about the world: right from wrong and all that stuff. I enjoyed writing a song for my eight year old self. This is not a time when I unpacked.”
Jacklin moved to Melbourne a few years ago and finds his DIY music scene to be a better fit than the Sydney scene
Jacklin moved to Melbourne a few years ago and is finding his DIY music circus a better fit than the scene in Sydney, a more corporate city where rising rents leave little room for grassroots artists (remember anywhere?). We happen to speak as Melbourne mourns the loss of one of its most famous daughters, Olivia Newton-John, who died at the age of 73 after a long battle with cancer.
“The beauty of it was that I didn’t know how famous she was around the world,” says Jacklin. “They think she’s our scrappy Aussie. I forgot. I was so amazed at how many people I follow on the internet from all walks of life are grieving their deaths. That was so cute to look at. She was a beautiful person.”
Lockdown gave Jacklin a chance to pause and reflect on where she was going professionally and personally. But now the wheels are turning at full speed again. The demands of life in the limelight were something she struggled with around her first record. Now, a little older and wiser and much more phlegmatic, she’s prepared for what lies ahead as, starting November on Vicar Street, she’s bringing Pre Pleasure out into the world.
“I know I’m good at it. I’m lucky too. In recent years I have been so grateful in a way that I was not able to when I was younger because I was overwhelmed. I was always afraid that I wouldn’t live up to the hype around me. Today I understand that this is my task. I feel much more at home in it.”
Pre Pleasure will be released on Friday, August 26th