The Gem: Julia Jacklin Makes Her Worries Sound Soothing
Design by Sophie Parrish
By Addison Brewer-Hay
Julia Jacklin’s music has always been intimate. Her voice glides throughout her anxious lyrics, gently placing her listeners into tensions surrounding identity and relationships. Jacklin addresses the very essence of what it means to be human and all the uncomfortable feelings that follow, questioning herself and those around her through thoughtful metaphors and descriptive poetry.
Her fourth studio album, The Gem was released on Sept. 25th. Throughout its tracks, Jacklin returns to several of the themes examined in previous releases of understanding who you are and the relationships around you while introducing a new perspective on power and divinity. She opens her album with the song “Brand New”, emphasizing a fresh start in not only her music but as an artist overall.
Originally recorded as a country song, Jacklin scrapped her initial recording feeling disconnected from the style and lost on her identity as a musician. In an interview on World Cafe, Jacklin explained her struggle to break free from listener expectations and commit to what she wanted. After stepping away, she returned to the recording studio above a Melbourne pub that inspired the album’s name. Eventually, she had a final product: soothing guitar strings and smooth vocals that dance around a tight drum pattern.
In the track’s chorus, Jacklin’s voice echoes in and out of itself effortlessly, repeating the title “Brand New” over and over. The song examines the choice to view things in a new perspective, resembling her challenging process of discovering the song’s style.
Jacklin then throws her listener into a complex interpretation of power. What does it mean to possess it? And if we had more of it would we be able to change the things we never could before?
Jacklin’s song “God Sometimes”, questions the length of power and what it takes to push your own story forward. Sometimes, we may struggle to take initiative in reaching our goals or uncovering our thoughts and feelings, and it can require stepping out of ourselves and into a “god” to have the strength to do so. Her lyric “Oh, you have to be a god sometimes. Force the moment to change,” gets at the song’s very purpose: rising above yourself in order to make a real difference. The lively guitar chords and an underlying electric keyboard melody are built around Jacklin’s angelic lyrical thread, increasing in volume to mimic the song’s emotional peaks.
In “If I Had the Hand of God” Jacklin calls back to this divine power. She questions that if she were to have more power, she’d be able to accomplish the challenges she feels trapped within. The guitar and drums remain almost reassuringly steady until the chorus. The instrumentals begin to build and become less condensed, as if mimicking the flood of anxious thoughts Jacklin pours out to her audience.
“Angel Vision”, offering an acoustic and solemn story of unresponsive love, takes us past the physical world once again. As if resembling a church-like hymn, Jacklin calls back to a higher power in hopes of understanding the world and the cruelty and struggles she feels within it.
“Real Life” and “I Wish” depict Jacklin’s constant tug-of-war between independence and love, reinforcing her central theme across albums. She manages to intertwine common struggles of childhood, loneliness, and regret in her lines, analyzing her past, present and future in a way people can relate to and connect with. Her controlled and raw vocal style almost possesses a listener, maintaining a soft manner but strong artistic voice.
Jacklin addresses the everyday struggles of growing up and learning who you are. The Gem’s enchanting chord progressions and seamless drum grooves emphasize what it means to feel everything all at once, while sometimes feeling nothing at all.