In the basement studios of Queens, where dreams are born between subway rumbles and corner store runs, Julia Wolf learnt early that pressure isn’t just about weight – it’s about transformation. Like carbon turning into diamonds deep beneath the Earth’s surface, Wolf’s latest album ‘Pressure’ emerges as something precious forged in the crucible of industry expectations.
The path to this point has been anything but linear. Between cross-country flights from Forks, Washington to Nashville – a schedule that keeps Wolf perpetually living out of a suitcase – she’s created an album that captures both the exhaustion and exhilaration of an artist on the rise. “I actually flew in last night from Forks, WA and am flying again to Nashville tomorrow for the Halsey show,” she shares, painting a picture of the relentless momentum that’s become her new normal.
While some might buckle under the strain of second-album expectations, Wolf has turned that tension into a fearlessly honest document of an artist refusing to be anything but herself, even when that self feels caught in the undertow of uncertainty.
The album’s gestation period spanned nearly a year of intensive work, culminating in a transformative week with producers Tanner and Scro. “Pretty much after I came home from my tour last year, I was ready to start putting together a body of work,” Wolf reflects. “But this past February is where me and Tanner went over to Scro’s house, blocked off a week, and just tweaked and fine tuned each track till it got to the place it is now.”
What’s striking about ‘Pressure’ is how its central idea emerged organically rather than by design. “I didn’t go into this album with the intention of it being the theme, but because it is so intertwined with my life right now, I couldn’t help but write about how it’s been making me feel,” Wolf reveals. “The industry can be so quick to reject you, ignore you, and push you down again and again. But I believe in what I’m doing, so giving up has never been an option.”
This resilience threads through every track, but perhaps nowhere more powerfully than in the album’s lead single ‘Jennifer’s Body’. Sharing its title with the cult horror-comedy film, the track is a perfect entry point into Wolf’s world. “It’s a very honest look into how I feel when in a relationship with someone,” she shares. “I always feel less than. And it always makes more sense in my head to see the person I’m with be with someone else, like a Megan Fox.”
The creative freedom Wolf embraced during production allowed for some bold sonic choices. “I just can’t be one thing all the time because I’m inspired by so much constantly,” she explains. “I don’t want to be boxed in; I just want to do what I think sounds cool and make whatever I’m feeling at the moment.” This approach manifested in unexpected ways – “If we wanted a song that started dancey and turned heavy by the end, we could do that.”
This raw vulnerability extends throughout the album, touching on themes of self-doubt, childhood trauma and complex relationships. “I’m such a self-conscious person, in this loop of self-doubt, where I’m always thinking, ‘Oh maybe if I was prettier’, ‘Oh maybe if I was thinner’, ‘I just wish I was younger’ kind of thing,” Wolf admits. The album doesn’t shy away from heavier material either, exploring “the weight of carrying dark experiences when you’re young into your adult life and how that anger and resentment never really goes away.”
But amidst the shadows, tracks like ‘Sunshine State’ bring unexpected light. Wolf describes it as holding “so much love, admiration and understanding for this person having to choose between leaving their family and seeing what the world has to offer. It’s about feeling destined for each other long before we met because we both know what it feels like to make that choice.”
The creative process brought its own set of challenges, particularly in maintaining fresh perspectives while revisiting recurring themes. “Sometimes I felt like I couldn’t stop writing about the same things just because of how constant those thoughts were all the time,” Wolf shares. The attention to detail became almost obsessive – “I think we all were a bit nutty by the end from having listened to each track so many times.”
The live performance aspect has added another dimension to Wolf’s artistic evolution. “Being grateful for the fans who are choosing to show up and spend their night with you, being able to watch a crowd go through all the emotions when an artist is up on stage, really puts into perspective how important that time together is. You’re making a lot of core memories for people and being a moment of relief in a world that is so chaotic.”
These performances have led to unexpected moments of joy on the road. “My favourite part was probably spending time in Oklahoma City!” she shares. “We went to this bar on our day off, a rare thing for us to do, but this place in particular had line dancing, so I went alone on the dancefloor and joined the crowd. It was truly so much fun and such a warm, welcoming environment. Seeing Tanner on a mechanical bull with his Uggs was also incredible.”
For Wolf, success isn’t measured in streams or sales but in connection. When asked about the best possible compliment listeners could give the album, she responds, “That it helped them feel seen and understood. That it made them feel less crazy about thoughts they might have in their own head when dealing with whatever it is going on in their own lives. If someone feels less alone because they can connect with something on the album, then I’ll feel like I’ve done something right.”
Looking ahead, Wolf’s ambitions continue to expand. “I’d like the album to solidify me more as an artist that isn’t just one sound,” she explains. “I want it to show the different sides of myself, which could potentially lead to some sick, even unexpected collaborations that bridge different genres together.” With a deluxe version of the album in the works and her first headline EU/UK tour on the horizon, alongside “announcing some of my biggest shows yet,” Wolf’s trajectory continues upward. As she puts it: “Just know we have a lot on the way and aren’t stopping anytime soon!”
Julia Wolf has created something beautifully, defiantly personal with ‘Pressure’; sometimes, the most powerful art comes from refusing to be anything other than yourself.
Julia Wolf’s new album ‘Pressure’ is out 23rd May.
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