Julia Jacklin – The Hardest Thing
Today, Australian songwriter Julia Jacklin releases “The Hardest Thing,” the third single from her upcoming album, The Gem (out September 25th).
Premiered today by Jack Saunders on his BBC Radio 1 show, the song follows recent releases “I Wish” and “Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon)”, and is accompanied by an epic one-shot official video directed by Danny Cohen and filmed entirely from a helicopter winding through the Melbourne city skyline.
The Gem was produced by Jacklin and Robert Muinos and recorded entirely in Melbourne. The 10-track album will be released digitally and on CD, cassette and vinyl on September 25th worldwide. Exclusive colour vinyl editions with retailers will include Turquoise, Green Opal, Ruby, and Rose Quartz.
“I want to love and be loved, but I also want to be free. The tension between those two things has been the central question of my life,” says Jacklin. It’s also the theme that underpins The Gem.
When Jacklin first moved to Melbourne from Sydney in 2017, she discovered a little bar on a back street in Collingwood, where bands pushed dining tables to the side and set up in a corner on the floor. She didn’t know anyone in town but knew she wanted to make the city her home, so she started hanging out there, forcing herself out of her comfort zone. The pub was named The Gem.
Fast forward eight years and Jacklin, with three celebrated solo records under her belt – Don’t Let The Kids Win (2016), Crushing (2019), and PRE PLEASURE (2022) – was looking to make a fourth. With time on her hands – she was out of contract with her record label, was searching for a manager – she decided to make the record at home in Melbourne, something she’d never done before.
She called up an old drinking buddy Robert Muinos, owner of Rat Shack studios, which is located above The Gem, and brought in friends Jacob Diamond (guitar), Mimi Gilbert (bass), and Jess Elwood (drums). Recording happened in close quarters, in converted hotel room accommodation upstairs at the pub. As it was a residential bar, they couldn’t record late into the night for fear of bothering the neighbour and sound bleed was a glorious constraint: foot traffic to the hairdresser and the tattoo parlour next door, loud music from the bands and the kitchen crew downstairs. If anyone needed a break from the sessions, they would venture downstairs and watch a band playing. Jacklin and the band even played two unannounced shows there to try out the songs before recording them.
They thought they’d smash out the record in two weeks, like she’d always done, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, it took nearly a year of tinkering to arrive at something Jacklin could get behind. “The Gem felt like a metaphor for the whole process, because a lot of it did feel like digging. I felt like I was doing it almost in the dark, just trusting I was going to find something.” It conjures images of excavation, of reinvention, of trusting your instincts and surrounding yourself with the people and things that make life worthwhile. It’s a soaring document of the songwriter’s journey back to herself.
The band got matching tattoos on the last day of The Gem sessions: a neat little circle to represent an opal – Jacklin’s favourite gemstone. Fittingly, one of the bartenders at The Gem did it. “It did really feel like we’d done something special together. And I think as a group, it felt important to commemorate it. I’m glad we all have these little gems on us.”
To celebrate the release of The Gem, Julia Jacklin will tour North America, UK and Europe beginning October 2026 and throughout 2027.
JULIA JACKLIN TOUR DATES
2026
October 20 – SAN DIEGO, CA, USA – The Observatory North Park
October 22 – LOS ANGELES, CA, USA – The Wiltern
October 23 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA – The Castro Theatre **SOLD OUT**
October 24 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA – The Castro Theatre
October 26 – PORTLAND, OR, USA – Crystal Ballroom
October 27 – VANCOUVER, CANADA – Commodore Ballroom **SOLD OUT**
October 28 – SEATTLE, WA, USA – The Moore Theatre
October 30 – SALT LAKE CITY, UT, USA – Metro Music Hall
October 31 – DENVER, CO, USA – Gothic Theatre
November 2 – DALLAS, TX, USA – Studio at Bomb Factory
November 3 – AUSTIN, TX, USA – Radio/East
November 4 – HOUSTON, TX, USA – White Oak Music Hall (Downstairs)
November 6 – ATLANTA, GA, USA – Variety Playhouse
November 7 – NASHVILLE, TN, USA – Brooklyn Bowl
November 9 – CARRBORO, NC, USA – Cat’s Cradle
November 10 – WASHINGTON, D.C., USA – Lincoln Theatre
November 11 – PITTSBURGH, PA, USA – Mr. Small’s Theatre
November 13 – MINNEAPOLIS, MN, USA – First Avenue
November 14 – CHICAGO, IL, USA – The Riviera Theatre
November 15 – TORONTO, CANADA – Danforth Music Hall
November 17 – MONTREAL, CANADA – Théâtre Beanfield
November 19 – BROOKLYN, NY, USA – Brooklyn Paramount
November 20 – BOSTON, MA, USA – Royale
November 21 – PHILADELPHA, PA, USA – Union Transfer
November 30 – LIVERPOOL, UK – Jacaranda [rescheduled solo in-store show + signing]
December 1 – NOTTINGHAM, UK – Rough Trade [rescheduled solo in-store show + signing]
2027
February 13 – BIRMINGHAM, UK – Town Hall
February 14 – MANCHESTER, UK – Albert Hall
February 15 – DUBLIN, IRELAND – National Stadium
February 17 – GLASGOW, UK – Barrowland Ballroom
February 18 – BRISTOL, UK – Beacon
February 19 – LONDON, UK – Eventim Apollo
February 21 – BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Le Botanique
February 22 – BERLIN, GERMANY – Festsaal Kreuzberg
February 23 – HAMBURG, GERMANY – Kent Club
February 24 – COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – DR Koncerthuset
February 26 – AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – Paradiso
February 27 – PARIS, FRANCE – Cabaret Sauvage
March 1 – BARCELONA, SPAIN – La [2] de Apolo
March 2 – MADRID, SPAIN – Sala Mon Live
March 3 – LISBON, PORTUGAL – LAV
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