Julia Jacklin on her latest album, 'The Gem'

Julia Jacklin was hard at work on a new album when she realized something.

"And I would listen to it, and I would be, like, 'Technically, this is good, but I don't like it,'" Jacklin says.

She could hear herself holding back. She found herself making choices based on what listeners might expect rather than what she actually wanted to make. So, she started over, became a boss in the recording studio, and she found the record she actually wanted to make. It's called The Gem.

Her new record is named after the neighborhood bar in Melbourne that just so happens to have a recording studio upstairs.