Have you ever experienced something — a film, book, concert, album — and immediately thought “This hit me at just the right moment?” Like kismet, Angel Olsen’s new album arrived on the scene at that perfect moment for me. It isn’t to say that “My Woman” doesn’t have a timeless quality to it — even though it does seem heavily influenced by sounds of the ‘70s —but I know I will always remember this album as marking a change in my life.
Olsen’s previous records had their breathtaking, inspired moments, with “White Fire” off her last record, “Burn Your Fire for No Witness.” Dark, but never too serious, Olsen's voice and lyrics immediately grabbed your attention, often making you understand and accept a feeling of loneliness. On “My Woman,” previous fans get some lighter moments and playfulness with songs like “Shut Up Kiss Me,” but there are also moments of self-reflection. On “Sister,” Olsen sings “All my life I thought it’d change,” giving the listener the sense that nothing ever did. Through the pain evoked by the almost overwhelmingly aching guitar solo, there is still a sense of hope if we circle back to one of the first lines of the song:
“Saw it in her eyes / oh it wasn’t what she said / she came together like a dream / but I didn’t know I had / from the sleeping life I lead / all the colors I have seen / I can’t help but recognize / the brighter one in front of me.”
It seems, despite the pain, there’s always this feeling that with each road you travel, there is that feeling of optimism, not knowing where a relationship or choice might take you. It's almost akin to Plath's fig tree, minus the indecision, or the regret that you don't always get to see all of your options play out.
Taking it at surface value, it might seem like an album about someone’s enduring love for a person that no longer loves – and sometimes never did love – the narrator, but when you listen to a song like “Heart Shaped Face,” “Sister,” and you notice the contrast between the back-to-back songs “Woman” and “Pops,” the listener starts to understand that this album isn’t just about that side of love, but rather the conflicting emotions women feel about themselves before, after, and during a romantic relationship.
More than anything, “My Woman” leaves you with a feeling of “Yes, these choices and events impacted and affected me, but I’m still here, I’m still me.” As a 20-something/millennial, we’re often criticized for this idea of finding oneself, but isn’t that what we’re doing every day? I’m constantly learning new things about myself. Nothing is static. Studies suggest we are not static creatures, so why should we attempt to limit ourselves because of societal pressure?
Particularly when it comes to relationships, we’re expected to spend our entire life with one person, but that just doesn’t seem realistic. If nothing else, Olsen echoes the idea of “Yes, you may always feel drawn to your past, to your exes, but that’s okay.” We move on. Some things change, some stay the same, we just have to play along and see where it takes us.
But when we feel as if we’re being shoe-horned into a certain role a la the narrator in Olsen’s song “Heart Shaped Face,” we need to walk away: “Have whatever kinda love you wanna have / but I can’t be her anymore.”
As women, we're allowed to change our minds, we're allowed to be confused about the way our significant others make us feel, and we're allowed to feel conflicted about our end goals both in life and relationships. A woman changed — a woman ever-changing — that is what makes Angel Olsen’s record, “My Woman,” a masterpiece to me, and that’s a standard I hope to live by.
"My Woman" is currently available for preorder at Elevation and will be released on September 2nd.
