Angel Olsen announces the very queer album we’ve been waiting for

It was about time for Angel Olsen to release a new record. The last time she released a proper album was back in 2019 with All Mirrors. She’s kept busy since then with Whole New Mess, a reimagined version of All Mirrors that came out in 2020, and her 2021 Aisles EP, where she covered ’80s pop hits and turned them into drastically different songs. But the wait for new original music from Olsen is over: Her next album, Big Time, is arriving on June 3 via Jagjaguwar.

According to the press kit, Big Time is “an album about the expansive power of new love, written during the time Olsen was coming out as queer, and having her first experience of queer love and heartbreak. But this brightness and optimism is tempered by a profound and layered sense of loss.”

In a statement, Olsen writes about coming out as queer, noting, “Some experiences just make you feel as though you’re five years old, no matter how wise or adult you think you are.” Looking back at how she felt being able to share this part of herself with loved ones, she says, “Finally, at the ripe age of 34, I was free to be me.” But while the album celebrates her joy at no longer having to hide that aspect of her sexuality, it also confronts the grief she felt after the death of her mother.

The first single Olsen’s sharing for this record is “All The Good Times,” a stunning country-tinged ballad. The video, directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch, features Olsen’s partner, Beau Thibodeaux, and chronicles a story of love and loss. There are nods to Olsen’s previous eras too, with the inclusion of the silver tinsel wig from her My Woman music videos and the all-black outfit from All Mirrors.

Her last record was produced by Mark Ronson and leaned heavily into synths, so it’s refreshing to hear Olsen get back to her folk roots. Though we still don’t know what the rest of the album will sound like, getting a twangy—and very queer—album from Olsen sounds worth the three-year wait.