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, and 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.”
Continuing about her artwork for the cover she says, “With the artwork behind ‘Witness’, I wanted to capture the release of someone from your life; that last look before they are gone. So clearly the castle is my 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.”
The Prize finds Hannah coming into her own following the release of the Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin Stones debut album in 2018. The album 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 Prize has been produced by Sam Kiszka, marking the Greta Van Fleet bassist’s first producer credit outside of his band. The album also features Sam 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 Hannah 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,” Sam 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.
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, smoky 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, and all the artwork surrounding The Prize for the album and singles are her own original paintings — each song on her second album is intricately entrancing and honoured 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.”
THE PRIZE TRACK LISTING
- ‘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’
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 autumn with a mix of headlining shows and opening slots for Devon Gilfillian in the US, as well as arenas with Greta Van Fleet across Europe. She will also be performing two UK headline shows including Camden Assembly in London on November 21st and Manchester’s Deaf Institute the following day. Tickets for all shows are available here.
HANNAH WICKLUND UK & EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
| November 8 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Ziggo Dome ^ |
| November 9 | Paris, France | Accor Arena ^ |
| November 12 | Forest, Brussels | Forest National ^ |
| November 14 | London, UK | OVO Wembley Arena ^ |
| November 16 | Dublin, Ireland | 3Arena ^ |
| November 19 | Manchester, UK | Manchester Arena ^ |
| November 20 | Glasgow, UK | OVO Hydro ^ |
| November 21 | London, UK | Camden Assembly * |
| November 22 | Manchester, UK | Deaf Institute * |
| November 26 | Frederiksberg, Copenhagen | Forum Black Box ^ |
| November 28 | Munich, Germany | Zenith ^ |
| November 30 | Bologna, Italy | Unipol Arena ^ |
| December 3 | Barcelona, Catalonia | Palau Sant Jordi (Sant Jordi Club) ^ |
| December 4 | Madrid, Spain | Wizink Center ^ |
| December 6 | Lisbon, Portugal | Campo Pequeno ^ |
(*) = Headline show
(^) = Supporting Greta Van Fleet
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. 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."