Growing up can be challenging, and becoming the person you hope to be can be even more so. The struggle of someone who is outside the mainstream, at a young age, Julia Capello (performing as Julia Wolf) realized she was a bit different and wanted something else out of life.
Finding comfort in music, she spent most of her time surrounding herself within the confines of its protection. More than just background noise, she would develop a passion for the art of melody, harmony, and the emotion they evoked. Devoting herself, she would listen to music, spend hours discovering the keys of the piano, and eventually develop her own songwriting.
More than just a phase, this was a passion deeply ingrained in Wolf’s nature, and as a result, she would go on to study music in college, yearning for more. Continuing to grow and polish her ability to convey her musical ideas, sadly, the path of art is not always easy and has led to many disappointments. Nearly broken and feeling defeated, the aspiring Wolf almost gave up and even considered relocating from Long Island, New York, to Italy to start a pizzeria with her family. A viable option, considering Wolf’s Italian heritage, it still felt like she was leaving something behind.
With this story in mind, fortunately, fate intervened, and new doors began to open. By late 2019, her music started to gain traction on Spotify. Building on this foundation, she released her first EP, Wolf, in 2020, followed by Girls In Purgatory in 2021. Putting in the work, her debut album, Good Things We Stayed, arrived through BMG in 2023.
A turn of events that even Wolf did not foresee was yet to come, as the 2025 single “In My Room” reached the #1 Spot on the Viral US Charts and amassed an impressive 14 million streams on Spotify alone. Living proof that one should never give up on their dreams, the success of “In My Room” would be followed by several singles before Wolf’s sophomore album, Pressure, hit airwaves on May 23, 2025, via AWAL.
As part of her artistic exploration, it is essential to recognize that Julia Wolf is a performer who is not bound to a single concept or style. True to herself, she is the sort of individual who, if you try to put what she is doing in a box, will do something entirely different to prove you wrong. Rather inspiring if you grow tired of being told who and what you are and see some of yourself in her, the best way to describe it is personal, raw, and full of surprises.
Coming from a pianist background, this influence is evident in Wolf’s work, but she also displays tendencies of Pop, Alternative Rock, and R&B in her sound. Quite eclectic, Pressure is an album that takes you for a spin right from the get-go.
With most of the eleven tracks not exceeding two and a half minutes, there is a flow to Pressure that is not about one particular song, but more a mood the entire collection creates. With that in mind, songs like “Kill You Off” and “Pearl” might lead one to believe the record will follow one road, but then heavier Alternative Rock cuts like “Fingernails” and “Loser” go in an entirely other direction. There are also the more somber tones expressed against the backdrop of distorted guitars on “Limewire,” “Girls,” and “Jennifer’s Body.” However, you cannot ignore the vulnerable storytelling of others like “Sunshine State” and “You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood.
Altogether, Julia Wolf is a unique individual who is only scratching the surface of her potential. Making music on her own terms and experimenting along the way, Cryptic Rock gives Julia Wolf’s Pressure 4 out of 5 stars.
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