Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen Cross Paths on new Single “Like I Used To”

Their first collaborative single comes with a striking video directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch.
Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen Cross Paths on new Single “Like I Used To”

Their first collaborative single comes with a striking video directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch.

Words: Margaret Farrell

May 20, 2021

Both Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen seem to have made the most of their quarantined year. The former celebrated the tenth anniversary of epic with a revamped reissue and a covers album, while the latter released a boxset and book Song of the Lark and Other Far Memories.

Now they’ve come together for the cinematic track “Like I Used To” and its video. It combines the free-wheeling nostalgia of Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow and the velvet lament of Olsen’s All Mirrors. The John Congleton–produced track is decadent and buttressed by memories of arena rock’s past with robust acoustic guitars and drumbeat slightly left of neon-lit ’80s. It’s an epic that nods to an extremely difficult year. “Call my family just to know they’re there,” Van Etten sings before the chorus. It’s the perfect song to come on in a dimly lit bar in the company of loved ones, rejoicing in the awareness that despite tragedy, time moves forward.

In a press statement, Van Etten explained her connection to Olsen, “Even though we weren’t super close, I always felt supported by Angel and considered her a peer in this weird world of touring. We highway high-fived many times along the way…I finally got the courage in June of 2020 to reach out to see if she would want to sing together. I got greedy and quickly sent her a track I had been working on.”

“I’ve met with Sharon here and there throughout the years and have always felt too shy to ask her what she’s been up to or working on,” added Angel. “The song reminded me immediately of getting back to where I started, before music was expected of me, or much was expected of me, a time that remains pure and real in my heart.”

Watch the equally stunning Kimberly Stuckwisch–directed visual below.