It’s been a few months since Julien Baker released her radically honest third album Little Oblivions. Like most musicians this past year, Baker marked the release by sharing her music on various late-night performances. But since the vaccine rollout continues to ramp up across the US, the singer officially unveiled an extensive 2021 and 2022 tour. Celebrating her tour announcement, Baker brought her track “Favor” to a moving performance on The Late Late Show With James Corden.
Ahead of her set, Baker told Corden that she’s beyond excited to get back on the road for the first time in over a year. “It is indescribable to say how much I am looking forward to playing some shows in front of a real live audience,” she said. “What I am looking forward to most is the electricity that happens in a live setting. So I’m just happy to get to perform in front of people and have that back-and-forth again.”
Previously speaking about the album, Baker said it was difficult not to have her music reflect a certain cynical outlook she has recently adopted about the world:
“I’ve been thinking a lot about how this record isn’t as positive, or that I didn’t try so hard to have a thesis statement at the end of it that was about something good and meaningful and redemptive. And I’m afraid that the attitude that’s become more prevalent, especially over 2020, is that people are relating and bonding over cynicism. Like what we just did, I feel like that’s the conversation that makes people immediately accessible to each other.
When I go into a coffee shop and they’re like, ‘How are you,’ and I’m like, ‘Good, except for…’ You know, and that’s how people bond about things being sh*t. I don’t know if that’s good or bad; I think it’s good, to be honest about it in my own life, but I don’t want to be cynical.”
Watch Baker perform “Favor” on The Late Late Show With James Corden above.
Little Oblivions is out now via Matador. Get it here.