Are We There turns ten this year and reasserts itself as a one of Sharon&#39;s most powerful and timeless collections. Always direct, and never shying away even from the most personally painful narratives, many of the songs deal with seemingly impossible decisions, anticipation, and then resolution. She sings of the nature of desire, memory, of being lost, emptiness, of promises and loyalty, fear and change, of healing and the true self, violence and sanctuary, waiting, of silence. Amidst all that truly brutal honestly, Van Etten finds moments of levity, as she always does. “Every Time the Sun Comes Up” started out as a lark but lifts the album at its close, completes the world she’s let us into, and resets us gently for whatever might follow. It has, since then, become an indelible staple of Van Etten’s live shows.

A singer of distinct, controlled passion, Sharon Van Etten carved out a loyal audience with her hushed, intense albums for the lauded indie <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jagjaguwar%22">Jagjaguwar</a> in the 2010s. She signed with the label after releasing a series of albums on her own in the 2000s, but it was Tramp -- her 2012 debut for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jagjaguwar%22">Jagjaguwar</a> -- that brought her wider acclaim. Van Etten began to broaden her aural palette with 2014's Are We There, an evolution that reached full flower on Remind Me Tomorrow, the 2019 album that brought her to her widest audience yet. Following a well-received 2021 duet with <a href="spotify:artist:6mKqFxGMS5TGDZI3XkT5Rt">Angel Olsen</a>, she returned to solo work with We've Been Going About This All Wrong, a 2022 album that maintained the retro new wave sheen of Remind Me Tomorrow while exploring nervy emotional territory. 

A dedicated choir student during her childhood, Van Etten studied clarinet, violin, and piano before moving on to guitar. She began writing songs in high school and sang in a choir group, the Madrigals. She credits her choral experiences as indispensable in learning to musically notate, as well as to sing harmonies. Upon graduation, Van Etten moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to attend Middle Tennessee State University. There she studied recording until she dropped out a year later. She remained in the city for over four years, working at Red Rose, a combination coffee house, record shop, and music venue. Though she wrote songs during the entire period, she never performed. 

Due to a personal crisis, Van Etten briefly moved back home to New Jersey, where she worked as a sommelier in a wine and dining establishment. After finally making a move to Brooklyn, she began to play in small public spaces, and to record her songs on individually hand-painted CD-Rs. She sold them at shows and via her website. At one show, she handed one to Kyp Malone of <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a>. (She had known his brother in high school.) After hearing it, he enthusiastically encouraged her to pursue a musical career.

Van Etten continued to perform, but she was also determined to learn about the business of music. To that end, she secured an internship with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Ba+Da+Bing+Records%22">Ba Da Bing Records</a> through a college friend. (She would later have a role as a full-time publicist.) While working there, she continued to write, play publicly, and record privately. Van Etten's first nationally released album was 2009's sparsely orchestrated Because I Was in Love, recorded for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Language+of+Stone%22">Language of Stone</a>, a label manufactured and distributed by Chicago-based <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Drag+City%22">Drag City</a>. Reviews were almost universally positive and helped her to secure opening slots on other artists' tours, as well as headline her first shows outside of the East Coast. This effort was followed by the lush, more band-oriented Epic in 2010, which was greeted by more praise.

Signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Jagjaguwar%22">Jagjaguwar</a> late in 2010, Van Etten began opening for <a href="spotify:artist:2cCUtGK9sDU2EoElnk0GNB">the National</a> on tour and working with the band's <a href="spotify:artist:2hSyEBc9TBb9j38FOCdkIf">Aaron Dessner</a> as a producer in the studio. Their collaboration resulted in her third album, Tramp, issued in early 2012. In support of the record, she toured the United States as a headliner and also played clubs and festivals in Europe. In 2013, she sang on <a href="spotify:artist:2cCUtGK9sDU2EoElnk0GNB">the National</a>'s Trouble Will Find Me.

Van Etten returned to the studio to record her fourth album and co-produced it with Stewart Lerman. Are We There was released in May 2014 to some of the highest critical acclaim of any album that year. She followed it in 2015 with the five-track EP I Don't Want to Let You Down. In 2016, Van Etten took on the role of Rachel in Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij's surreal Netflix sci-fi/drama series The OA, and the following year she contributed a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:5b2OzvLaL6nyxw5pbVbSdy">Skeeter Davis</a>' "The End of the World" to the soundtrack for Amazon's popular dystopian series The Man in the High Castle. 

Van Etten returned in January 2019 with Remind Me Tomorrow, an album that found her exploring adventurous new sonic territory. She released a few cover songs in 2020, including a version of <a href="spotify:artist:3BqaUtuQmqIHg7B5Bc7fP7">Nick Lowe</a>'s "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" recorded with <a href="spotify:artist:03xb2BUdIFzuRQ6o88yfCB">Josh Homme</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:4pejUc4iciQfgdX6OKulQn">Queens of the Stone Age</a>. Early in 2021, she celebrated the tenth anniversary of Epic by releasing Epic Ten, a reissue expanded with cover versions of the album's seven songs performed by other artists, a roster that included <a href="spotify:artist:4OOlG5eBXSkSAAEeKjJb5Y">Courtney Barnett</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3g2kUQ6tHLLbmkV7T4GPtL">Fiona Apple</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:60ht0hWRy1yjUDfNsLuHuP">Lucinda Williams</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:75mafsNqNE1WSEVxIKuY5C">IDLES</a>. Later in 2021, Van Etten released "Like I Used To," a collaborative single with <a href="spotify:artist:6mKqFxGMS5TGDZI3XkT5Rt">Angel Olsen</a>. "Porta," a song about anxiety and disconnection written two years earlier, appeared in 2022. Neither "Porta" nor its successor "Used to It" appeared on We've Been Going About This All Wrong, the atmospheric and emotional album Van Etten released in May 2022. As with her previous release, the LP made a strong international chart showing and reached the Top Ten on a number of U.S. charts. ~ Andrew Leahey & Thom Jurek, Rovi

indie

art pop

Sharon Van Etten

Sharon Van Etten

Artist Overview

Career Snapshot

Career Stage

Recent Momentum

Network Strength

Social Engagement

Weekly

Noteworthy Insights

Jun 20, 2024 - Sep 18, 2024

No Major Movements Detected Recently

Chartmetric Artist Rankings

Audience Summary

Top Statistics

Summary Statistics

Playlist Count

Top Tracks

Fanbase Compare

Albums

In The News

YouTube's Top Recommended Conversations

Related Artists

RIAA Awards