Charlotte Wessels: Introspective Oversharer

We are being reintroduced to CHARLOTTE WESSELS on her stunning new album The Obsession, her first ‘proper’ record since releasing two compilations of tracks previously available on her bustling Patreon. But what does she want people to know about her? After a long, considerate pause, she says: “I guess just that I’m very flawed, but that I’m trying, just like anyone else.”

If you’ve ever heard her songs, it is no surprise she is as equally thoughtful in conversation. The Obsession is a record of confessions: on The Crying Room, ‘what could go wrong except everything’ is repeated like a mantra, the tormenting voice of an artist’s self-doubt; Dopamine reveals a conflict between the need for mental health medicine and its profoundly numbing side-effects; and on opener Chasing Sunsets, she sings, ‘is there anybody out there anymore?’, as if to say, after everything Wessels has been through, does anyone still care?

The response to the new record suggests a resounding yes. But, with these worries on her mind, what does it take for CHARLOTTE WESSELS to feel reassured? “I think when people pull out a certain lyric and they put it in a context that shows they know exactly what I mean. That is always very encouraging, because when I write, my one rule is if I write about feeling shit, then it has to either make people feel better, or they should at least feel less alone. Okay, two rules!”

The second rule goes both ways. When fans listen and tell her they feel less alone, she feels it too. She can’t believe how many are listening either. “Sometimes I look at the number and I try to visualise that amount of people. It’s pretty crazy. People are listening now! That’s weird!”

More than 2,200 people subscribe to her Patreon, and it was this community she says helped her get through both the pandemic and her split from DELAIN. It began as a way to share songs, after Wessels had seen Amanda Palmer do something similar. She would set herself monthly deadlines to write, record, and release a track, with no limitations on genre. These time limits taught her that great things can happen ‘when you lower the bar’. The finished product might not be what she originally had in mind, but sometimes that was a good thing. And, she says it’s important to note, she didn’t always create consistently across the month: “Sometimes it’s just two days before the deadline and I’m like, oh fuck, I still have to write a song!”

But the most special part of setting up her own online community came when she noticed interactions weren’t just happening between patrons and herself, but when everyone began connecting with each other. One of her favourite things is being able to step back and see everyone talk about their days, jobs, pets, plans. “It is very special to me,” she says, “and very beautiful.”

Patreon is an effective income stream for artists who know how to use it, with fans paying not for albums or for concert tickets, but for access to their favourite musicians. CHARLOTTE WESSELS says she is a chronic oversharer, so it comes naturally to her to open herself up emotionally. This tracks with the vulnerability she shows on The Obsession. But she does have some limits.

“I’m not going to tell you where I live. I don’t even show my husband’s face. Same goes for the rest of my family.” She pauses. “Pets excluded. They shine on both social media and Patreon.”

She is guided by ‘what feels right’ when it comes to sharing online and it hasn’t steered her wrong. For example, her OCD plays a significant part on the new album, and she has mentioned it in interviews, but she hasn’t been so forthcoming about what her specific compulsions are. Unlike many chronic oversharers, she knows when to stop.

Her constant introspection led her back to heavy music after the experimental sounds of her monthly Patreon output. Simply, she realised it made her happy. “I just really like the feeling heavy music gives me physically. It’s kind of like the difference between a normal blanket and a weighted blanket. If a song is giving me feelings, and a lot of feelings on The Obsession are heavy feelings, then I want the music to do the same thing”. It was a way of tying the album together stylistically too, after the variation found on both Tales From Six Feet Under collections.

She created mood boards to help bring it all together. Initially, the album was to be titled Soulstice after the track of the same name. She loved the word and the song, and its desire ‘for summer, for wine, for physical contact, for love, for all of those good things’. This first mood board had a bacchanalian vibe, but after realising most of the other songs on the record were about fear and panic, it didn’t feel right naming the album after a thematic outlier. The second resembled The Exorcism’s music video, released months ahead of The Obsession. One of the most intense songs on the album, the music and the visuals are a perfect scene setter for this era in Wessel’s career.

How else would she ease someone into the world of The Obsession? “It’s heavier than my previous two albums. I think you’ll like it if you like progressive, symphonic, alternative rock metal. Also, you don’t have to be a nervous wreck to enjoy it, even though it’s called The Obsession and it’s about OCD,” she says with a smile. “But it does help.”

The Obsession is out now via Napalm Records.

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