Hayley Marsten - Girlhood

For me, Girlhood is the album I wanted and needed to hear when I was younger,” Brisbane-based, alt-country singer-songwriter Hayley Marsten says of her eagerly anticipated second album. “Everything from the songs down to the way the album looks was really inspired by who I so badly wanted to be when I was a teenager and I’m really proud of what I made for that younger self.

Although Hayley admits her debut record Spectacular Heartbreak (2019) – a self-described “breakup album” – was “very vulnerable”, Girlhood delves even deeper. “I honestly feel like going to therapy really informed a lot of the songs on this record,” she reveals. “I was doing a lot of reflection on who I was, and the way that I treat myself. I think Girlhood is my entire personality and all the things that – had I listened to it when I was 15 – would’ve made me think, ‘Wow, what a cool album!’ Even the cover art is pink and purple and glittery!”

Hayley’s “very autobiographical” Girlhood album most closely represents where she’s at right now, both as an artist and a person: sometimes sassy, always heartfelt. And something tells us Baby Hayley would wholeheartedly approve of Girlhood, which is, unquestionably, her adult counterpart’s most honest and accomplished set of songs to date.