On the heels of her new album, Big Time, Angel Olsen stopped by the Jimmy Kimmel Live! stage to perform the album’s title track. Joined by a full backing band, Olsen dives into her country-influenced repertoire to deliver a performance rooted in love and perseverance.
Olsen wrote “Big Time” last year after the passing of her parents. Her parents died shortly after Olsen came out as queer to them. In an interview with Pitchfork, Olsen described the process of writing the song with her partner, Beau Thibodeaux.
“I had just buried my mother, and Beau and I went to New York for their birthday, and I kept feeling like they wanted to move back there,” said Olsen. “I got so freaked out by the idea of being left behind during this time when I needed them. I couldn’t write. I was really upset. And they suggested that maybe we write something about how we met. I kind of was like, no, I don’t want to do that with you. But they write screenplays, stories. So I said, ‘OK, let’s give it a try, we’ll do it as an exercise, just for fun.’ It was really special to share that with them, and scary to bring them into my life in that way. But my love for them was so big that I couldn’t help wanting to share that with them.”
Check out the performance above.