Interview: Hannah Wicklund
Hannah Wicklund by Aliegh Shields
Five years after Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones, Wicklund is more comfortable and assured in her skin than ever before. An artist in many ways, she creates all her albums’ artwork, is a vocal talent, and is an intricate lyricist. Hannah Wicklund has earned her place in the music industry, fighting hard for the release of her latest album The Prize and situating herself as a self-assured woman in rock and roll.
Wicklund sings the praises of The Beatles, Tom Petty, and Fleetwood Mac: ‘They’re using that style of music as the vehicle for expressing some really wonderful sentiments about life’. A concept Wicklund wishes to adopt, to create what she dubs ‘rock and roll for the soul’; music that ‘speaks to a deeper place than the surface.’
Wicklund proves she, too, can access that depth in her music video for “Witness”. The video explores the performative nature of womanhood; the beauty standards and expectations male spectators can inflict upon women. Paint, smeared across her skin by male hands, represents the staining, burdensome weight women are expected to bear. These prescriptive, harmful expectations begin to blur Wicklund’s self-understanding as she drags paint over her reflection in the mirror. And yet,
“in the bridge, when I’m fully embracing the paint I am saying ‘No, I am beautiful, if anyone is going to [paint me] then I am going to’.”
Wicklund rightfully reclaims herself, stepping into her femininity and showcasing her enduring strength.
It took more than the four-minute video, however, to reach this place of self-assurance and understanding. Growing up performing alongside her brother and father, Wicklund never felt any pressure to be “girly” and instead found her masculine energy to be a point of pride. As a child, gender wasn’t as crucial to Wicklund’s narrative: ‘I didn’t want the perspective that being a woman made anything better or worse’. However, Wicklund eventually found herself an eighteen-year-old in the music business no longer able to detach herself from her gender. ‘Women get side-lined and it’s unbelievable how many women go through this.’ Now twenty-six, Hannah has embraced the challenges thrown her way as a woman in the music business and has returned reinvigorated. ‘The Prize is the passing of the baton from girlhood to womanhood’, it marks self-resolution and growth. Her femininity is no longer shied away from and instead welcomed with both arms as a symbol of her resilience.
The Prize emanates feminine power in so many ways – from the artwork and videography to the lyrics and strong vocals – even the album’s release itself is a testament to Wicklund’s persistence.
“It’s all been men who have careened this, who have not respected me and played around with me in my career. But it also I think was a big part of my journey.”
The album’s very release reflects the struggles and hardships it explores within its songs, maturing, self-discovery, and understanding a gendered world. Her decision to self-release under her label, Strawberry Moon Records, is an act of independence in breaking away from those who’ve let her down before. The songs had all been written by 2019, according to Wicklund, although after being ‘messed around’ for years it won’t be until January 2024 that we get to hear The Prize. Wicklund is indignant at the injustices of the music industry and proudly sets an example to chase your vision in the face of any obstacle.
Wicklund makes it clear that The Prize, though rooted in her newfound feminine power, is not reserved for women only.
“Anybody who takes the time to listen to The Prize I hope they take some time to sit with themselves afterwards and remember that if there’s anything they need to work on like self-care, self-love all that kind of stuff, that’s really important and to love yourself.”
It is a point of reflection, of looking back on hardships and challenges that is universally relatable. It truly is, ‘rock and roll for the soul’, a call to arms to come out the other side even stronger than before.
The Prize, the Hannah Wicklund, is set for release on 12 January. Catch Hannah Wicklund on tour in European closing 2023, and on her Hell in the Hallway World Tour kicking off 8 February 2024.
