Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Katharine Van Etten (born February 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released the albums Because I Was in Love (2009), Epic (2010), Tramp (2012), Are We There (2014), Remind Me Tomorrow (2019) and We've Been Going About This All Wrong (2022).
Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Katharine Van Etten
February 26, 1981[1]
Belleville, New Jersey, U.S.
- Singer-songwriter
- musician
2007–present
- Jagjaguwar
- Ba Da Bing
- Language of Stone
Early life[edit]
Van Etten was born in Belleville, New Jersey, the middle child of five.[2] She lived in Nutley, New Jersey, then moved to Clinton, New Jersey as a pre-teen. She attended North Hunterdon High School, at which she participated in the chorus and performed in stage musicals.[3][4][5][6]
Later, she moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to attend Middle Tennessee State University and studied recording, but dropped out after a year. She ended up working at the Red Rose, a coffee and record shop and music venue in Murfreesboro for about five years. She fell into an abusive relationship with a rock musician who discouraged her from writing songs. After five years, she left in the middle of the night with whatever she could carry.[7]
She lived in Brooklyn, New York for a number of years, in the neighborhood of Ditmas Park.[7]
Influences and musical style[edit]
Van Etten cites Ani DiFranco as a key influence, saying, "She was the first musician I had ever heard whose songs were super confessional. She could really play guitar... That was my first experience with non-pop female musicians. She made me want to start playing more."[27]
Van Etten possesses a contralto vocal range, which Caleb Caldwell of Slant described as "husky".[28] NPR described her vocals as raspy, elegant and luminous,[29] while Consequence called it "earthy".[30] Van Etten's music is characterized by a heavy use of harmonies.[7] Pitchfork described her songs as having "echoes of folk tradition."[8] NPR Music asserts: "Her songs are heartfelt without being overly earnest; her poetry is plainspoken but not overt, and her elegant voice is wrapped in enough rasp and sorrow to keep from sounding too pure or confident."[11] With "Comeback Kid" and Remind Me Tomorrow, Van Etten introduced electronic sounds into her music.[31] She has said, "I listen to a lot of OMD... I'm into a lot of the new post-punk electronic stuff."[27]
Acting[edit]
Since 2016, Van Etten has appeared in both seasons of the Netflix drama The OA as Rachel, a fellow abductee along with Prairie in Dr. Percy's basement lab/terrarium.[2] Rachel and the other captives are subjected to after-life experiments while conspiring over a period of years to possibly escape, and at one point, Rachel sings a song of remembrance. Van Etten also appeared in episode six of the 2017 Twin Peaks series on Showtime.[32]
Van Etten made her feature film debut with a supporting role in the 2020 film Never Rarely Sometimes Always directed by Eliza Hittman, for which she also wrote and performed the original track 'Staring at a Mountain'.[33]
Van Etten also appeared in the 2021 film How It Ends as Jet. The film featured two new songs by Van Etten, "How Much I Loved You" and "Till We Meet Again".[34]