One door closes and another opens for Juliana Hatfield

By Jennifer Kelly
Published: August 21st, 2008 | 12:05pm

Though she’s been in the music business for 20 years, Boston singer-songwriter Juliana Hatfield seems a bit young to release an autobiography. Still, her new memoir, When I grow up, in tandem with her 10th full-length album, How To Walk Away, mark a definite turning point in Hatfield’s career.

The memoir, she says, ends where the new album begins, and both represent the conclusion of one long phase in Hatfield’s life. “The book is all about how I’m finding myself in my mid-30s in another skuzzy rock club, one of thousands that I’ve played over the years, and I think, ‘Is this what I want to be doing, still, at this point in my life? Is this really what I thought my life would be?’” she says.

The new album, the second released on her own Ye Olde Records label, also describes a major life transition. “I’m exploring the idea of walking away from a lot of things — like relationships that aren’t healthy and situations that I’ve outgrown,” she adds. “Both the book and record talk about stopping, reflecting on what is not good in my life, what is not healthy for me, so that, hopefully, I move on to a better, healthier, more loving life.”

Hatfield says she was exiting a number of unproductive relationships as she wrote these songs, the romantic one described in songs like “My Baby…” and “This Lonely Love,” but also longtime friendships that had lost their vibrancy. Yet she also maintains that the songs on How To Walk Away aren’t entirely negative but instead contain a kernel of hope. “When you walk away from a bad situation, you’re always in that position of strength and clarity,” Hatfield says. “Walking away is sometimes a means of self-preservation.”

While the songs may have been written in a period of soul-searching, they aren’t downbeat at all. “Just Lust” is a clear-eyed, bluesy take on female sexual empowerment, while “Now I’m Gone” rocks out gleefully, despite its relationship-ending story. “This Lonely Love,” enhanced with the 1980s-defining rasp of the Psychedelic Furs’ Richard Butler, is more triumphant than sad.

Hatfield’s songs have always drawn on her own life but not in the disciplined, factual way that an autobiography does. “My songs have always been really emotionally honest, but I was secretive about the details of my life. I didn’t want to give too much away,” she says. For instance, many people assumed that her 1993 hit song “My Sister” was based on real-life experiences. “That’s a good example, because I never had a sister,” she says. “The sister in the song is like a concept that I used to express my feelings of longing and inadequacy. I wrote about this imaginary sister who represented some real feelings inside of me.”

A memoir, though, is far more linear and comprehensive, she says. “With the book, I’m more candid and there’s tons more detail. It’s just a bigger, more cohesive story than what you get in a bunch of songs,” Hatfield says. “Each album is a snapshot of how I’m feeling in a certain time in my life. But the book draws together all of those periods of my life — all of the periods that I went through with each of my albums.”

And, like her songs, Hatfield’s assessment of her career so far is tough-minded but mostly positive. “I’m really grateful that I’ve been able to have a career for almost 20 years and it’s really amazing to me that I’m still able to do it,” she says.

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