Album Review: Julia Jacklin Is “Crushing” It
Julia Jacklin is 2019’s Fionna Apple. She mystifies the heart, body, and soul of a woman in her new record, Crushing. Both her rhythms and her voice downpour with the raining sentiments of a young woman figuring out how or if her femininity locks in to her humanity.
I LOVE THIS ALBUM! It redefines sexy by making thoughtfulness and self-exploration the sultriest thing you can do. Sexy can be a double-edged sword/ word when associated with women because, on one hand, it can be an objectifying term, but in another, everyone deserves to feel sexually/ physically confident in their heart and body. Lyrically, Julia tightropes through this sword, and delivers songs, such as “Body,” “Pressure To Party,” and “Comfort,” that will have ladies saying, “Yes, I can relate.” Her ability to turn her thoughts and voice into a quieter, but still rioting version of pop-rock is artful. For her, the revolution begins not in sound but in personal style.
The magic of Julia Jacklin’s Crushing is that this record is all about her. From “Head Alone” to “Convention,” every song in Jacklin’s album is about figuring out who you are as a young person getting older. Youthfulness is simultaneously fleeting and full. So much happens in your twenties, but yet they are gone as quickly as a gulp of water. Her awareness of this allows her verse to leap like ballerinas around your staged mind. Moreover, her voice intimately bright; annotating lyrics like they are bright stars lookin g for privacy in the night sky. In an odd way, the analogy reflects how Julia is an open heart trying to sift through how everyone can know how she feels while she is still learning.
Personally, as an open heart, this album feels unmissable. Its melodies frolic around like they are picking up daisies, which the record a subtle, undercurrent of joy. Of course, tracks like, “Don’t Know How To Keep Loving You” or “Turn Me Down” are not “happy tracks,” but there is something very optimistic about somebody realizing how to be happy. Whether it is with herself, alone, or with herself amongst others, Julia Jacklin’s Crushing, inadvertently, shows that the journey to self-love is tied to the path to self-happiness. Click Here To Buy Julia Jacklin’s Crushing On February 22.
