Julia Jacklin performs atop a skyscraper in new video for 'The Hardest Thing'

Julia Jacklin has shared a new video for "The Hardest Thing," the third single from her upcoming album The Gem, due September 25 via 4AD. The Danny Cohen-directed clip shows the Australian singer-songwriter performing on top of a skyscraper.

The Gem follows two previously shared songs: "Get Away From Me (I Think I'll Love You Soon)," which came with a self-directed video, and album closer "I Wish." The record marks Jacklin's first release since signing a worldwide deal with 4AD, alongside a run of 2026 and 2027 tour dates that includes North American stops this fall.

Jacklin produced the album with Robert Muinos and recorded it entirely in Melbourne, the city she moved to from Sydney in 2017 knowing almost no one there. She ended up spending a lot of time at a pub called the Gem, which gave the record its title.

Muinos, an old drinking buddy of Jacklin's, owns Rat Shack studios above that same pub. There, she teamed up with Jacob Diamond on guitar, Mimi Gilbert on bass and Jess Elwood on drums. Where her past albums came together in a matter of weeks, this one took nearly a year.

"The Gem felt like a metaphor for the whole process, because a lot of it did feel like digging," Jacklin said in a press release. "I want to love and be loved, but I also want to be free," she added, describing the tension as "the central question of my life."

The Gem follows 2022's PRE PLEASURE, 2019's Crushing and 2016's Don't Let the Kids Win. Jacklin also performs with the band Phantastic Ferniture, who released two new songs, "Change My Mind" and "Dare to Fall in Love," in 2025.