After years of being asked about the vulnerability of her music, Julia Jackson has finally worked out why she is so willing to put difficult feelings into songs.
Speaking at BIGSOUND in Brisbane, the Australian singer-songwriter reflected on her reputation for deeply personal songwriting, and how her relationship with vulnerability has changed over time.
“I get asked this question all the time,” Jacklin laughed. “And I never have a good answer for it… because sometimes it makes me feel weird. It makes me feel like, ‘Am I being more vulnerable than I even realise when people ask me that?’. Because I kind of start scanning through all my songs. I’m like, ‘What did I say? What have I exposed about myself?’.”
Jacklin acknowledged that some of her work, particularly her 2019 album Crushing, is undeniably personal. But she said her perspective on vulnerability has been shaped in part by growing up in a family where emotions were rarely discussed.
“I grew up in a family that did not talk about anything in terms of how they felt,” she explained. “And the consequences of that can be absolutely devastating for everyone in ways that, I just… I think it’s one of the hardest things about being alive, is how much people do not talk about how they feel.”
Putting those feelings into music has ultimately become easier than keeping them to herself, she added. “For me, it is way more unbearable to not say things than it is to say things. I find that, that is such a better way to live, and it makes me feel like I can live, you know?”
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Jacklin said she doesn’t consider her openness particularly revolutionary, instead viewing herself as part of a long tradition of singer-songwriters using music to communicate personal experiences. “I truly believe like I’m a singer-songwriter first and foremost, closer to in the folk tradition, and I think it’s all about storytelling and sharing how we feel,” she said.
But it comes with responsibility, she acknowledged. Especially when she writes recognisably about someone in her personal life, adding that she will generally send them the song before its release.
“You have to be careful, they don’t have the right of reply usually,” she said. “So it’s like, I don’t ever want to be cruel or unfair, like I try to be honest if I’m going to sing about someone that’s actually in my life.”
Her relationship with those songs can also change once they enter the world. Jacklin said she doesn’t necessarily reconnect with their original emotions every night on tour, but older material can unexpectedly take on new meaning. She recalled recently performing the title track from 2016’s Don’t Let the Kids Win, after previously going through a period where she felt “kind of dead inside” while singing it.
“I sang it recently and I just totally got caught by the line about my sister,” she said. “I teared up on stage.
“Life is quite cyclical in that way. Feelings that you have, they don’t just happen… I’m always feeling similar things and I’m learning from them each time.”
