Joan and the Giants hit new heights with latest single Feels Like Heartache

Perth indie-pop band Joan and the Giants are set to celebrate the release of their new single, Feels Like Heartache, at Mojos Bar this Saturday, July 20, with special support from Siobhan Cotchin and Rosalie Chilvers. The new track comes in the midst of the band’s biggest year yet, highlighted by a performance alongside P!NK and Tones and I at Optus Stadium in March and winning Best Rock Song and runner-up Song of the Year for Born in the Wrong Time at the 2024 WAM Song of the Year awards. OLIVIA WILLIAMS caught up with singer-songwriter Grace Newton-Wordsworth to find out how the emotional new song was born from a year of highs and lows.

Congratulations on winning Best Rock Song and coming runner-up for Song of the Year at the 2024 WAM Song of the Year Awards last month. With the band being together for six years now, how did it feel to be recognised like this?

It is such an honour to be recognised at the WA Song of the Year Awards, especially in an industry where the quality of music coming out of Western Australia is so high. We really are so privileged to be part of WA music. The community here is just incredible and so supportive. It just feels really wonderful to have our songs nominated, and to have won Best Rock Song and Runner-Up Song of the Year was absolutely wild! Absolutely stoked!

The awards add to what was already a triumphant year for you guys, from taking out the ‘Needle in the Hay’ competition to supporting acts such as P!NK and Tones and I at Optus Stadium. What’s the most rewarding and challenging part of taking your music to such a bigger, broader audience?

It has been absolutely overwhelming to see the amount of support we have had this year. We have been grinding really hard, playing hundreds of shows, booking tours from the top to the bottom of WA and now around Australia, and constantly releasing new music over the last six years, so it’s been a highly rewarding feeling like it’s all paying off now. As we all know, the music industry and pursuing this dream are so incredibly challenging, and you never really know if it’s actually going to work out. When we got the opportunity to support P!NK, it was the greatest moment of all of our lives.

I think the challenging part is playing in front of an audience where 98% of the crowd have no idea who you are, and you’ve got to try and win them over, and there’s a lot of pressure with that. So we tackled that by just enjoying every single second of it and giving the best performance we possibly could, and if people like it, great; if they don’t, it is what it is. We can only do what we do.

In the past, you have mentioned that you used to listen to P!NK growing up. How did you respond when you first got the news that you had got the gig? And how crazy was it to have shared the stage with her at Optus?

Getting the news that we were going to support P!NK was like winning the lottery for us—to play a stadium twice and support one of the biggest superstars in the world—it was hard to even believe it was true and was happening for us. It was just screaming and crying and falling to the floor, to be honest (laughs). Sharing the stage with her and getting that opportunity was just incredible—a lot of pressure, but absolutely worth every second of stress, fear, and anxiety as it all tuned into pure joy on that stage.

Aaron and I come from small places. I am from a farm down south, and Aaron, the guitarist, co-writer, and producer, is from a remote Indigenous community up north out of Broome. We really just never imagined that this would be possible, and we’re pinching ourselves every day.

Your new single, Feels Like Heartache, is a noticeable change of pace from your previous releases. Was that intentional? Or did it come organically as a result of what the song is about?

We really produce every song to suit its lyrics and feel. So with this song, it was so sad and heartbreaking to write about the end of our nine-year relationship that it just all came so naturally with the production. We have been very rocky this year, but we’re not bound by genres in this band and do exactly what feels right for the song. If it needs to be slow and sad, that is what it will be.

You’ll be launching the single at Mojos in Fremantle this Saturday. Who else is performing on the night, and what made them a great fit for the occasion?

We have the incredibly talented Siobhan Cotchin joining us. We have been fans of Siobhan, literally, since she started playing live in Perth. We have loved every single one of her releases and are genuine fans of her songwriting and of her as a person. We also love her band, and I think their music goes really well alongside ours, as there’s moments of heaviness and rock, and then she also pulls back for others to a more vulnerable, slow pace. We really can’t wait for Saturday!

We also have up-and-comer Rosalie Chilvers joining, who we believe is a huge part of the future of Perth and Australian music. She has the most wild, exciting energy on stage, and it’s just the most captivating and fun show to watch. Definitely make sure to get there early, as this will be something not to miss.

What's next for Joan and the Giants for the rest of the year and beyond? Any more new releases or live shows on the horizon we can look forward to?

We have so much coming! We’re currently about to start recording an album with our beaut producer Dylan Ollivierre, and with that will come lots of shows and touring and many plans that are still a little secret.