Julia Jacklin has always written like someone trying to make sense of the emotional weather inside her own chest — but her new single ‘The Hardest Thing’ feels like she’s finally stepped outside to watch the storm from above. Premiered by Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1, the track arrives as the third reveal from her upcoming album The Gem (out 25 September), and it’s accompanied by one of the most striking videos of her career: a single, sweeping helicopter shot drifting through the Melbourne skyline.
It’s Jacklin at her most cinematic — but also her most grounded.
Check out 'The Hardest Thing HERE
Jacklin has described the album’s core tension as the lifelong push‑and‑pull between wanting to be loved and wanting to be free. ‘The Hardest Thing’ sits right in that fault line. It’s tender without being fragile, resolute without being cold. There’s a clarity to her voice here — a kind of emotional altitude — that feels earned.
The track follows recent singles ‘I Wish’ and ‘Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon)’, each one sketching out a different facet of the album’s emotional architecture. But ‘The Hardest Thing’ is the one that feels like a thesis statement: the moment where Jacklin stops circling the question and looks it straight in the eye.
Directed by Danny Cohen, the video is a feat of restraint and ambition. No cuts, no tricks — just Jacklin, Melbourne, and a helicopter carving a path through the skyline. It’s the kind of visual that doesn’t need explanation: the city below, the sky above, and Jacklin suspended between them, singing about the impossible choices that shape a life.
It’s also a love letter to the place where The Gem was born.
The album’s origin story is pure Julia Jacklin: quiet, unassuming, and quietly monumental. When she first moved to Melbourne in 2017, she found herself gravitating toward a little Collingwood bar called The Gem — a place where bands shoved tables aside and played in the corner, where strangers became friends, and where Jacklin slowly built a life.
Eight years later, she returned to that same building to make her fourth album.
Recording took place in converted hotel rooms above the pub, with foot traffic from the hairdresser and tattoo parlour bleeding into takes, kitchen noise drifting up from downstairs, and bands playing below whenever someone needed a break. It was messy, communal, imperfect — and exactly what Jacklin needed.
She brought in old friend Robert Muinos (Rat Shack Studios) along with Jacob Diamond, Mimi Gilbert, and Jess Elwood, forming a tight‑knit band who lived the record as much as they played it. They even tested songs live with two unannounced shows downstairs at The Gem.
What was meant to be a two‑week sprint became a year‑long excavation. Jacklin kept digging until she found something that felt true.
Jacklin describes The Gem as a metaphor — a slow, careful dig toward something precious. The album’s 10 tracks, recorded entirely in Melbourne, feel like the sound of someone trusting their instincts again. It’s a document of reinvention, but also of belonging: to a city, to a community, to a version of herself she’d almost forgotten.
On the final day of recording, the band got matching opal tattoos from one of the pub’s bartenders. A neat little circle. A tiny gemstone. A reminder of what they built together.
The album arrives 25 September on digital, CD, cassette, and vinyl, with exclusive colour variants including Turquoise, Green Opal, Ruby, and Rose Quartz. For pre-order information head HERE
Tracklisting:
1. Brand New
2. God Sometimes
3. If I Had The Hand Of God
5. Angel Vision
6. Real Life
7. Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon)
8. You Turned On The Tap
9. Walk On Me
Jacklin will take The Gem on the road beginning October 2026, with dates running through 2027 across North America, the UK, and Europe. Her previously postponed Liverpool and Nottingham in‑store shows have been rescheduled for 30 November and 1 December, with all original tickets honoured.
JULIA JACKLIN TOUR DATES
2026
20 October – SAN DIEGO, CA, USA, The Observatory North Park
22 October – LOS ANGELES, CA, USA, The Wiltern
23 October – SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA, The Castro Theatre **SOLD OUT**
24 October – SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA, The Castro Theatre
26 October – PORTLAND, OR, USA, Crystal Ballroom **SOLD OUT**
27 October – VANCOUVER, CANADA, Commodore Ballroom
28 October – SEATTLE, WA, USA, The Moore Theatre
30 October – SALT LAKE CITY, UT, USA, Metro Music Hall
31 October – DENVER, CO, USA, Gothic Theatre
2 November – DALLAS, TX, USA, Studio at Bomb Factory
3 November – AUSTIN, TX, USA, Radio/East
4 November – HOUSTON, TX, USA, White Oak Music Hall (Downstairs)
6 November – ATLANTA, GA, USA, Variety Playhouse
7 November – NASHVILLE, TN, USA, Brooklyn Bowl
9 November – RALEIGH, NC, USA, Cat’s Cradle
10 November – WASHINGTON, D.C., USA, Lincoln Theatre
11 November – PITTSBURGH, PA, USA, Mr. Small’s Theatre
13 November – MINNEAPOLIS, MN, USA, First Avenue
14 November – CHICAGO, IL, USA, The Riviera Theatre
15 November – TORONTO, CANADA, Danforth Music Hall
17 November – MONTREAL, CANADA, Théâtre Beanfield
19 November – BROOKLYN, NY, USA, Brooklyn Paramount
20 November – BOSTON, MA, USA, Royale
21 November – PHILADELPHA, PA, USA, Union Transfer
30 November – LIVERPOOL, UK, Jacaranda [rescheduled solo in-store show + signing]
1 December – NOTTINGHAM, UK, Rough Trade [rescheduled solo in-store show + signing]
2027
13 February – BIRMINGHAM, UK, Town Hall
14 February – MANCHESTER, UK, Albert Hall
15 February – DUBLIN, IRELAND, National Stadium
17 February – GLASGOW, UK, Barrowland Ballroom
18 February – BRISTOL, UK, Beacon
19 February – LONDON, UK, Eventim Apollo
21 February – BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, Botanique
22 February – BERLIN, GERMANY, Festsaal Kreuzberg
23 February – HAMBURG, GERMANY, Kent Club
24 February – COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, DR Koncerthuset
26 February – AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, Paradiso
27 February – PARIS, FRANCE, Cabaret Sauvage
1 March – BARCELONA, SPAIN, La [2] de Apolo
2 March – MADRID, SPAIN, Sala Mon Live
3 March – LISBON, PORTUGAL, LAV
Jacklin has always been a songwriter who documents the quiet revolutions — the internal shifts, the emotional recalibrations, the moments where life changes without anyone noticing. The Gem feels like the culmination of that instinct. It’s the sound of someone rebuilding from the inside out, with a community around her and a city beneath her feet.
‘The Hardest Thing’ is the clearest window into that world so far. And from the sky above Melbourne, Julia Jacklin looks ready for whatever comes next.
JULIA JACKLIN ONLINE