Interview: 2017 Must-Know - Julia Jacklin

We fell in love with her single ‘Pool Party’ and the quirky visual aesthetic to accompany the video - and only further in love when her debut album ‘Don’t Let The Kids Win’ was released. And next week, we're sure that Australian Julia Jacklin will win the hearts of many more with her appearance at Laneway Festival 2017.

With praise from NME calling her, "Angel Olsen meeting Fleetwood Mac on a dusty highway somewhere serene,” there’s no denying the charm of Miss Jacklin.

We spoke to her ahead of her performance at Laneway Festival about songwriting, growing up, and more…

MUST-LISTEN: 'Leadlight', 'Pool Party', 'Motherland', 'Hayplain', 'Don’t Let The Kids Win'.
YOU WILL LIKE, IF YOU LIKE: Ryan Adams, The Civil Wars, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten, Laura Marling, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, The Last Shadow Puppets, Fleetwood Mac.

COUP DE MAIN: I really love all the imagery that accompanies ‘Don’t Let The Kids Win’ - they have a total feeling of nostalgia about them. Do you think our generation, moreso than others, has an overall sense of longing and nostalgia to the past?
JULIA JACKLIN: Yeah for sure. We straddle both worlds. I was lucky enough to go through high school without social media. We benefit from it now, but I also remember not having it. There definitely seems like a general longing for the Nokia days. But who knows really. Nostalgia seems to be a pretty regular theme though, right? I was listening to ‘Summer Of ’69’ by Bryan Adams the other day and it made me really sad. I always thought that was a happy song.
 
CDM: What do you think signifies coming-of-age in modern society? Do you think it’s something that people can ever see coming?
JULIA: I think it’s different for everyone. I can only speak for myself when I say that for me and some people around me, it's the moment you break from education, whether that be High School or University, and suddenly the world is right there and you getting drunk and rambling about how you’re going to be a documentary film-maker or a human rights activist suddenly takes on a more pathetic tone unless you’re making actual steps towards it. I don't think most people see it coming! I think everyone just expects maybe that they'll turn 25 and everything will make sense. You'll be doing your tax on time and knowing when to register your car and have some incredible job. Maybe coming-of-age is just realising how hard you have to work to get what you want.  

HOW I FEEL ABOUT PLAYING LANEWAY FESTIVAL…

WHO I’M EXCITED TO SEE AT LANEWAY FESTIVAL…

CDM: You direct your own music videos too, which is super rad. Is it important for you to have creative control over that expression of your music, as well as the music itself?
JULIA: It’s more that I’ve just really enjoyed the process and I have always been interested in that medium, so for me it’s just been this great way to get involved in it. It becomes a lot harder to have complete control once you start to get busier, I’ve realised!
 
CDM: In an interview with DIY mag, you said - “I need to feel worried to make music.” Do you find songwriting a good way of dealing with your worries and fears?
JULIA: Yes I do, I think it makes me feel like I’m doing something productive with them instead of wallowing in them.
 
CDM: Lyrically, what's your favourite song that you've written?
JULIA: Right now it would be a new song I wrote after watching a particularly terrible episode of ‘Dancing With The Stars’ which made me question the state of the world.

IF I HAD A DAY OFF IN NEW ZEALAND…

 
CDM: Do you write your lyrics specifically for the songs, or do you write poems or prose and then evolve them into song-form?
JULIA: I usually write the lyrics first. I’ve never really written poetry, so I wouldn’t call it that.

CDM: How does your songwriting process work?
JULIA: Who knows! If I knew, I’d write more songs. Hopefully one day I’ll be like Nick Cave and sit at a piano everyday at 9am, but until then I’m just another person fretting that I might never write another song. Until I do. Then the cycle repeats.

CDM: What do you think is the difference between a good song and a great song?
JULIA: Hard question. Sometimes a song that I wouldn't usually like blows me away. Right now I’d say when writers make an effort not to fall into clichés. Also when all parts of the song are a focus, not just the chorus.
 
CDM: At what age did you write your very first song ever, and what was it about?
JULIA: Technically it would have been when I was around 7. It was a collaboration with my sister called 'The Penny'. I remember it completely. “There was a penny on the shelf and my sister said to me, can I have it for one day or more, not even three, not even four. So she went to the market and bought some junk and when she got home it broke in half. Now everyday I have to decide, who will have the penny but, who will have the penny but, who will have the penny but me!” Deep stuff.

CDM: If you were a country, which song would be your national anthem?
JULIA: 'Drift Away' - Dobie Gray.
 
CDM: If J.U.L.I.A. J.A.C.K.L.I.N. were an acronym, what would each letter stand for?
JULIA:
Jelly
Up
Learning
Impatient
Adult
Jokes
Adelaide
Character
Kellogs
Living
Interested
Now
 
CDM: What's one thing you’d like to achieve on your bucket-list?
JULIA: Write a screenplay.

Click here to check out more of Coup De Main’s 2017 Must-Know Artists.

Watch Julia Jacklin perform 'Don't Let The Kids Win' live below...