Five Questions With Sarah Jickling

Photo Credit: Nelson Mouellic

Vancouver based artist, Sarah Jickling is about to release her first solo album, When I Get Better on July 14, 2017. When I Get Better documents Sarah’s mental health issues and is a candid portrayal of her ongoing struggle with debilitating anxiety and bipolar disorder. The first single “This Time” explores the difficulties of maintaining friendships and romantic relationships while living with a mental illness. Read our Five Questions With Sarah below, and be sure to check out the live video for “This Time”:

Care to introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Sarah Jickling (rhymes with pickling or tickling) and my music project is called Sarah Jickling and Her Good Bad Luck. I make indie pop music and live with bipolar and anxiety disorder. I travel to high schools around BC with Reach Out Psychosis, playing my music and speaking about my experience with mental illness. I live in Vancouver with my boyfriend and my cat Blue Ivy, and I’ve recently started pole dancing.

Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.

I write music as a type of therapy. When I was younger, I would write music in hypomanic states and never remember the process. I would black out and wake up with a song. Now that I have worked hard to become stable and healthy, I write songs as a way of working through things. I process difficult experiences and emotions by writing about them and sharing them with others. Songwriting makes me feel less alone.

Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?

My first solo album has two release parties, one in Vancouver at The Emerald on July 13th and one in Victoria at The Copper Owl on July 15th. My shows are often conversations between me and the audience.

I feel very comfortable on stage because everything that happens is part of my show. Mistakes are funny, tears are… also kind of funny. I don’t pretend to be someone that I am not, and talk to my audience the same way I would speak to a close friend. I sing my freaking heart out, play my songs with the help of my computer, and my partner Greg McLeod (of Good for Grapes) plays violin and trombone by my side.

If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?

I would start with This Time the first song I wrote about dealing with my mental illness. It has a little bit of everything I do: oversharing about my personal life, mixing pop beats with piano melodies, and a bit of dark humour for those who listen closely.

Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?

I am so proud of the strong female front women coming out of Vancouver. I am currently obsessed with feminist rapper/singer/producer COZY, multi-instrumentalist and fellow mental health advocate Chersea, and powerhouse MC Missy D.

Connect with Sarah Jickling:
Website
Facebook
Twitter