Julien Baker

Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, singer-songwriter Julien Baker specializes in exploring the precarious space between raw anguish and emotional release, producing austere yet deeply resonant work that recalls Bon Iver, Daughter, and Natalie Prass. Her 2015 debut album Sprained Ankle drew widespread notice for its confessional songwriting and exposed vocal approach. Critical recognition continued when she joined Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers to form Boygenius in 2018. Meanwhile her own recordings moved beyond minimal piano-and-guitar settings, incorporating keyboards, a rhythm section, and additional textures; the resulting third album, Little Oblivions, entered the Billboard 200’s Top 40 in 2021. Baker’s rising profile produced her first Billboard 200 Top Five placement in 2023, when Boygenius released its first full-length, The Record.

She sharpened her abilities in the high-school band Forrister, which she kept playing with after starting college. When a new set of songs felt mismatched with the group’s rock direction, Baker traveled to Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia to track material that became her solo debut, Sprained Ankle. Released by 6131 Records, the album reached number 23 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart and earned her a place on the Matador Records roster. The follow-up, 2017’s self-produced Turn Out the Lights, expanded the sonic palette while preserving intimate lyricism and was captured at Ardent Studios in Memphis; it debuted at number 78 on the Billboard 200.

Baker next united with indie singer-songwriters Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus in Boygenius, whose self-titled EP appeared on Matador in late 2018. Bridgers and Dacus contributed to the track “Favor” on Baker’s third solo release, Little Oblivions, which she produced herself in Memphis and performed almost entirely alone, broadening the instrumentation further. The album reached the Billboard 200’s Top 40 and number six on the Top Independent Albums chart. A companion EP, B-Sides, surfaced in July 2022. Baker then reunited with Boygenius for the full-length The Record, whose songs were written both individually and collectively; the result blended the three voices into a substantial, melodic, and gently bittersweet collection. Issued by Interscope in March 2023, the album climbed to number four on the Billboard 200 and topped charts in the U.K., Ireland, and the Netherlands. The trio followed with the four-song folk-leaning EP the rest that October, while surging demand prompted a tour that featured a sold-out performance at Madison Square Garden.