Julien Baker is gearing up for the release of her third studio album, Little Oblivions, which arrives next week. With her first two albums, Baker has earned a reputation of being heartfelt and open throughout her lyrics. While the singer is still bringing the same vulnerability to her upcoming release, she found it difficult to let go of cynicism.
The singer recently sat down to talk about Little Oblivions in an interview with The Line Of Best Fit. Along with talking about her faith and political views, Baker described how the album differs from her previous two:
“I’ve been thinking a lot about how this record isn’t as positive, or that I didn’t try so hard to have a thesis statement at the end of it that was about something good and meaningful and redemptive. And I’m afraid that the attitude that’s become more prevalent, especially over 2020, is that people are relating and bonding over cynicism. Like what we just did, I feel like that’s the conversation that makes people immediately accessible to each other.
When I go into a coffee shop and they’re like, ‘How are you,’ and I’m like, ‘Good, except for…’ You know, and that’s how people bond about things being sh*t. I don’t know if that’s good or bad; I think it’s good, to be honest about it in my own life, but I don’t want to be cynical. I don’t want the record to seem like that, but… what else can you be? Denial doesn’t serve anybody right, so you have to allow yourself to be hurt and be sad in order to find the mitigating factors of hope — wherever they are.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Baker explained all the positive lessons she learned from recording her album. “I learned to be a little bit more merciful with myself and to be realistic about not just my shortcomings, but just my capabilities as a human being,” she said.
Check out the full interview here.
Little Oblivions is out 2/26 via Matador. Pre-order it here.