Kitchener rock singer JJ Wilde performed on the opening night of the Revelree Music Festival in Sarnia, Ontario on Friday, July 18, 2025.
Here are SWOMP’s photos from her performance.
SWOMP interviewed Wilde back in May this year at the Meadows Music Festival in Fergus, Ontario.
Listen, below:
Vices, the latest album from the chart-topping and JUNO Award winner, was released back in the fall.
Wilde steadily built momentum towards the release of Vices with an impressive string of singles, including the anthemic “Arizona,” the reflective “Best Of Me,” and the nostalgic “Takes Me Back.”
Songs like “Options” and “Hands” show her versatility, while the raw, unapologetic energy of “im not crazy youre just an asshole (toxic)” rounds out the mix.
Drawing from her everyday experiences and struggles, Wilde’s songwriting remains grounded, and Vices offers an authentic glimpse into her journey through moments of vulnerability and redemption.
“This album is the album I said I would never make,” she said.
“I always said that I would never put a relationship before music or myself and then I went and got completely lost in someone. The amount of emotional, personal and mental growth that this album has brought forward for me is massive. It’s the breakup album I swore I wouldn’t write. But I got dumped before a two month tour across the states, and that was the catalyst to go deeper into my most vulnerable places, and heal. I’ve always had sort of a hard shell and a wall up when it comes to how far I let people in and what I share in my music. I think I had an idea of what people wanted to hear from me. Or what I was supposed to be as a woman in rock music. This album completely tears down that wall to expose a softer side.”
She added, “After being lost in the pursuit of someone, I found myself again while writing this album. I took a road trip that took me across America where I packed my VW and didn’t come back for three months, waking up in a new city and deciding that day where to go next. I stayed on the road for almost an entire year touring around the world. I moved from Ontario to Nashville. I began performing sober for the first time in my life. Each writing session felt like it was unlocking a new sense of hurt that led to healing. There’s so many different beautiful things that come from true heartbreak. And I don’t think I have ever felt hurt like this.”
Follow JJ at https://jjwilde.com/.