Julien Baker

Julien Baker is a relentless philosopher of the self, pouring rage, regrets, addiction, and faith into rootsy indie rock that’s brutally candid. “For all of the incredibly painful experiences that I have had,” she told Apple Music, “I feel like they’ve led to some revelations about how I see myself and the world.” That constant self-critique permeates Baker’s music, which lays bare her endless quest—since childhood—for identity. Born in 1995, the Tennessee native grew up playing music in church before diving into Memphis’ straight-edge punk scene and forming the post-emo band The Star Killers (later called Forrister). But it was her first solo project, 2015’s Sprained Ankle, that resonated with a wider audience; its sparse, often one-take recordings gave her hymnlike confessionals an especially haunting power. While Baker continues to grow as an artist—filling her intimate, existentialist tales with lusher instrumentation on albums like 2021’s Little Oblivions and teaming up with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus for boygenius—she remains one of indie’s rawest voices.