PHOTOS / KATHRYNA HANCOCK @ 7 ARTIST MGMT
STYLING / ALEXIS BERGENS @ WILHELMINA
HAIR / LAUREN NICOLE @ WILHELMINA
MAKEUP / HELEN ROBERTSON @ CELESTINE AGENCYÂ USING MAC
STORY / BROOKE SEGARRA
Everyone wants to ask Angel Olsen what itâs like to be a woman. Whatâs it like to be a female artist in the second decade of this millennium? As a woman, what was it like directing the music video for âShut Up Kiss Meâ? Do you find it intimidating speaking your truth as a woman? And so on.
I get it. Casting aside the occasional case of lazy journalism, one can see the eagerness to tap into the psyche of a writer who, also as a woman, has written for us female characters who seize their autonomy, flex themselves emotionally, and are allowed to be big beautiful messy humans within our larger absurd, self-inflated human footprint. In other words, Olsen is an artist who has epitomized for this generation what it looks like to create your own reality and then have a field day maneuvering through the explicit and implicit oppressions they place on you.
But donât ask Olsen to comment specifically on writing from a female perspective. In interviews following the release of 2016âs My Woman, Olsen perforated the notion that her work would solely exist within the conversation of her sex or gender. Olsen never really intended for My Woman to be the politically charged album that it was largely received as. And while Olsen told me, âI think it is important to be aware of how you affect people. You can make it a driving factor in what you do,â Olsen has stood her ground that the perspective she writes from is solely a human one.
Since Olsenâs last body of work, Phases, was released in November of last year there was thankfully no need in this interview to go through the vexatious struggle of journalist asking artist to elaborate on a work that already speaks for itself. Given Olsenâs stance as a writer first and foremost, I felt the precious space on this page would be better spent focusing on her craft. So I decided take the opportunity to speak with a writer that I very much admire about the act of writing.
COAT, HEIDI MERRICK. DRESS, GUESS. EARRINGS, YUN YUN SUN. SUNGLASSES, CHRISTIAN ROTH.
Olsen is four acclaimed albums into her career, but that doesnât mean she isnât still questioning and attempting to push the limits of her own work. When I spoke with Olsen, she was on tour in Australia and told me, âI feel like by the end of every tour and every record Iâm at a new point where Iâm critiquing what I just did. Iâm at the point where Iâm asking what is the fault in this thing that I was so proud of and excited about two years ago? Not necessarily the fault as in âI think itâs shit,â but the fault as in, âWhat can I do that is an extension of this, more aware, or a different style of awareness?ââ
Acquiring the insight is a part of the writing process that goes unseen, but this laborious work manifests the art we find worth listening to. However, contrary to what some might believe Olsen isnât going up on stage every night doing breaststrokes in a pool of aching nostalgia. âFor me, when Iâm performing a song Iâm not reliving the experience. Instead of remembering what the songâs about, Iâm remembering what I was doing in my life at that time. For me, itâs not like Iâm reliving some terrible experience when I perform for people. Vulnerability stands for something greater than that. Itâs me being stronger because of what Iâve been through, and the way that I saw something that I went through. A lot of the time I feel like, as a writer, itâs mostly about what happened, the way that you see it happen, and how you manage to allow your imagination to run wild with that idea or event.â
DRESS, SELMA CILEK. CARDIGAN, FRANKIE. JEWELRY, YUN YUN SUN. SHOES, GASOLINE GLAMOUR. SOCKS, TOPSHOP.
Careful not to paint the wrong scene, Olsen continues, âBut if you sit at home all day thinking youâll go insane. However when you read a good book, for example, youâre like âWow, I know I can think like this on my own. Iâve thought these things too, but I just forgot that this is a rhythm of thinking.â When I find a good book Iâm like, âOh yea, this is just a style of thinking.â Itâs not just an opinion or story. Itâs a way of thinking about the world. Itâs the same way when you watch a film that really inspires you. For instance, I was in a movie theater watching Call Me By Your Name and I was like âI really want to spend the rest of the day as if Iâm in Italy in the 80s.â You just get inspired in that way and itâs a way of thinking about the rest of the day. I feel like if I stay in the practice of that style of thinking then Iâm reminded that Iâm still a writer. In the past, every time I finished a record, I would think âI donât know if Iâm a writer anymore.â You just have those dry spells. You need time away from everything that just happened to you in order to have the energy to even think about a new message, a new idea, or a culmination of tiny ideas. Iâve never been the type of person who sits down at a desk and says âIâm going to write a record about this.â You know itâs always been a culmination of different things, so I never have any idea what the next direction or piece is because I donât think of it as a piece. I donât think of it as a beginning and an end of a record. Iâve never thought of it like that. Iâve always thought about my work as vignettes. Every song is a vignette of a thing. Some of those themes carry onto other songs on the record, but itâs not a timeline for people. Itâs not some kind of struggle, climax, and then resolution. I donât think things should be made that way all the time.â
At the end of our conversation, I asked Olsen to give her best advice for writing. She told me how she had thought about journaling for years, but only this year had her ambition truly materialized. âI started this year writing three pages a day. Three pages about anything. It could be what I did that day, what I did the day before, or just a story that I have. However, it could only last for three pages, and I think thatâs a good outline to give yourself if youâre trying to just get in the habit of writing. Even if itâs terrible. Write it down even if itâs really dumb, because eventually youâll have a notebook full of stuff some of which is really interesting. Especially years later.â
So the next time you think your writing is god awful, remember that it doesnât have to be so complicated. Nix the agenda. The message lies in the big messy human experience you allow yourself to have — and hyper-analyze.
TOP + JEANS, WORSHIP LA VINTAGE. EARRINGS, LADY GREY. BRACELET, MIANSAI. SHOES, GASOLINE GLAMOUR. ROLLER-SKATES, SQUARESVILLE (VINTAGE).
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