‘Big Time’ is an album about the expansive power of new love, written during the time when Angel Olsen was declaring himself queer and experiencing his first experience of queer love. But this brightness and optimism are tempered by a deep and layered sense of loss. During the artist’s process of coming to terms with her weirdness and dealing with the traumas that had prevented her from fully accepting herself, she felt it was time to come out to her parents, an obstacle she had long been avoiding. “Some experiences make you feel like you’re five, no matter how wise or adult you think you are,” she writes of that time. After that tearful but comforting conversation, she celebrated by drinking wine and eating oysters with her partner and friends. “Finally, at 34, I was free to be myself.” A few days later she would lose her father and soon her mother, intensifying the feelings of pain and love that she felt growing in her. ‘Big Time’ was born like this, between the awareness of a new love and the pain of the loss of parents, recorded shortly after grief and joys as an incredibly wise and tender album. Enjoy the tune!
This Is Pop? 