Hannah Wicklund's Enchanting New Music Video for "Witness"
HANNNAH WICKLUND
— SINGER, SONGWRITER, ARTIST & MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST —
RELEASES ENCHANTING MUSIC VIDEO FOR
“WITNESS”
HER MOST PERSONAL SONG TO DATE
FULL-LENGTH ALBUM
DUE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13
PRODUCED BY GRETA VAN FLEET’S SAM KISZKA
ON THE ROAD WITH RIVAL SONS, DEVON GILFILLIAN & GRETA VAN FLEET’S EUPROPEAN LEG THIS FALL
Above: Hannah Wicklund in the “Witness” Music Video; Credit: Casey Pierce
NASHVILLE, TN (August 2, 2023) — Acclaimed singer, songwriter, artist, visionary and fierce guitarist Hannah Wicklund released her most personal song yet, “Witness,” on Wednesday, July 26 — marking the sophomore single from her forthcoming album, The Prize (due October 13). The song is about claiming heartbreak, embracing it and using that to heal through some of the toughest times in life and today Wicklund releases the enchanting, forest-fairy inspired music video to accompany the powerful song which exhibits her signature, unique use of the talkbox but puts her piano playing on display for the first time. Although Wicklund’s guitar skills have led the focus of her career thus far, piano was her first instrument and with this song she honors and explores that side of her youth.
Stream / Download “Witness” here. Pre-Order / Pre-Save The Prize here.
The music video, directed by Casey Pierce, showcases Hannah in her signature whimsical style playing the piano — one of the many instruments she’s gifted at — on the grounds of a castle similar to the one she has in her painting for The Prize album artwork. While baring her soul in her performance of “Witness,” Hannah navigates between playing the piano and entrancing the viewer, channeling her inner forest fairy. At one point paint is smeared on her face by allusive hands, serving as a metaphor for the mark one can leave on your mind, body and soul. The paint also being the perfect medium to depict the intersection between her music and her art, both being an integral part of her. The video carries out the fairytale-esque imagery Hannah has meticulously crafted between her artwork and music surrounding this album amalgamate beautifully in the video. Her forest fairy inspired awakening is enhanced by the perfect backdrop, filmed at Castle Recording Studios in Nashville, a true mythical castle tucked into the rolling hills of Tennessee built by Al Capone’s attorney that once served as home to many illegal mobster poker games.
Above: Hannah Wicklund in the “Witness” Music Video; Credit: Casey Pierce
Perhaps one of the most satisfying songs she’s ever written, “Witness” is a song she says truly helped heal her. “Getting into your first relationship as a strong, driven young woman, it’s very difficult to experience someone dim your light, but even harder to recognize it,” Hannah confesses. “Insecurities within young people play out in terrifying ways, and it’s very hard to not absorb other people’s darkness. Witness was the awareness I found in myself that it is not my responsibility to save anyone.” The single arrives accompanied by another of Hannah’s whimsical oil paintings as the single cover art,expanding the world and story she began to tell through the art behind the first single, “Hide and Seek.” “With the artwork behind ‘Witness’, I wanted to capture the release of someone from your life; that last look before they are gone,” Wicklund shares “So clearly the castle is my sacred space, and watching ‘him’ go from the front steps as he saunters back into the world he came from, feels to me like a reclamation of my heart, mind and peace.”
Above: “Witness” Single Artwork; Credit: Hannah Wicklund
Due for release on Friday, October 13, The Prize — produced by Sam Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet— finds Wicklund coming into her own following the debut LP she released in 2018. This project showcases personal development translated through intentional musicianship all pointing to the thesis of the record: passing the baton from girlhood to womanhood. “I hope this record lyrically, musically, and artistically paints a picture of what raw feminine power and determination look, feel and sound like,” Hannah says. The empowering album features Kiszka on bass, keys and organ, while fellow Greta Van Fleet member, Daniel Wagner, holds it down on drums. The 10 songs on The Prize serve as a rock ‘n roll roadmap to a crossroads that Wicklund has been unknowingly gravitating towards for over a decade.
“Working with Hannah was an incredible experience that glowed with inspiration all the way through the process,” Kiszka shares about working on The Prize. “With the help of Daniel on drums, we were able to craft a fully realized album that tells Hannah’s story in the exciting vernacular tradition of rock n’ roll. I’m proud of this album, The Prize, for Hannah, as an incredibly gifted musical artist, and I’m delighted I was able to help capture that lightning in a bottle.”
X marks the spot where the weary girl, speeding towards the woman she will become, meets in a fiery head-on collision. On this album, we hear from the woman rising from that wreckage. The woman who’s scarred but smarter, holds compassion for the girl who carried her here, and with wide-open eyes, unflinchingly stares down the future.
Above: Hannah Wicklund; Credit: Jamie Goodsell
The Prize sonically parallels the experiences behind each lyric, working together to create an entire world within the record and highlighting the musical diversity Hannah brings to her music. Ethereal texturing, smokey falsetto vocals, string section surprises and guitar solos that carry equal parts pain and joy are woven tastefully into what Hannah says is, “A record that just sounds like ME.” “Musically, I’ve always had a very strong sense of self, especially with a guitar in my hands, and I have never had to reach very far to express what I’m feeling,” she admits. “Lyrically, however, this record encapsulates something new, or at least more evolved within myself. The life I have lived has not been easy, or stagnant, but it has offered me ample opportunity to learn and grow, even if it’s been the hard way.” Staying true to her own vision throughout this process, she’s remained grounded in the belief that how you do one thing, is how you do everything; “I’m messy, creative, emotional, and very, very passionate… If I can inspire one soul to follow their personal legend, I consider that a victory.”
Much like the paintings Hannah Wicklund has become known for — she’s also an accomplished artist with a brush and palette — each song on her sophomore offering is intricately entrancing and honored with two things seemingly lost in today’s world… patience and time. This record is rooted in embracing the femininity once shied away from, and exploring what becoming a woman has entailed. “Romantic relationships, business relationships, but most importantly the relationship I have with myself, all played their role in building this new world of mine,” Hannah declares. “A world in which I get to celebrate this beautiful peace I’ve finally found within myself; indeed, The Prize.”
Tracklisting for The Prize:
“Hell In The Hallway”
“Witness”
“Hide and Seek”
“Lost Love”
“Song Bird Sing”
“The Prize”
“Can’t Get Enough”
“Intervention”
“Dark Passenger”
“Sun To Sun”
Above: ‘The Prize’ Album Artwork; Credit: Hannah Wicklund
Hannah Wicklund has been traveling fast and far, performing in big cities and small towns her whole life. She recently did a run of shows with fellow guitar slinger Markus King and she’ll continue this Summer and Fall with a mix of headlining shows and opening slots including direct support for Rival Sons in August, as well as with Greta Van Fleet across Europe. Wicklund will also be opening solo for Devon Gilfillian across America. “I’m looking forward to letting the songs take the spotlight for this run and connecting with the crowd in a more personal way,” she shares. See here for more information and to purchase tickets.
Above: Rival Sons Tour Admat
CATCH HANNAH WICKLUND LIVE:
Growing up on the beaches of Hilton Head, South Carolina, Hannah has always had music in her bones. At just three years old, she started taking piano lessons at her teacher Miss Ruth’s house. Surrounded by bright purple walls and bunnies they would feed in the backyard, music has been a fully immersive experience from the start. Playing rock n roll by the beach throughout her childhood, Hannah had abundant opportunities to cut her teeth playing every show that came her way, playing on her signature Anderson and Orange guitar/amp combo that she’s continued to use for 17 years straight. Through endless hard work and resounding determination, she continued to build her career on her own. She’s gone on to achieve multiple levels of greatness leading to this moment. She’s played Firefly Music Festival, Shaky Knees Music Festival, Bourbon & Beyond as well as Summerfest Kaboo Del Mar. In 2022, she toured as direct support for Marcus King on 45 dates of his North American tour and opened for Greta Van Fleet on the Canadian leg of their Dreams In Gold tour.
Though the road hasn’t been easy. “The struggle of being a woman in rock ‘n’ roll is truly real,” Wicklund states. “Men in power have quite literally said ‘she’s great, but it’s too hard to break a female in rock,’ and that’s just bs.” She decided to release her first record — Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones (2018) — on her own label, Strawberry Moon Records, but the decision to release The Prize the same way was not a quick or easy decision to come to. “Having my hands tied behind my back by men in the music business one too many times lit a fire in my soul to do it myself,” she reveals. “Five years has felt like an entire lifetime between records, but I truly believe I had to come full circle and believe in myself in a way I never had before and claim responsibility for my own success.”
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