Heidi Curtis has announced her new EP ‘Summon’ and shared its title track•
Prima Queen have released new single ‘Dirty Rascal’•
Taylor Swift has announced ‘The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore’ deluxe edition•
Oasis have added four Live ’27 shows across Europe and Knebworth•
CHVRCHES have returned with new single ‘Roses’ and intimate shows•
RIP Magic have announced their debut album ‘1,2,3’•
Jorja Smith, Robyn and Fcukers have won at the 2026 Independent Music Awards•
Basht. have shared new single ‘Kids Vs Guns’ ahead of debut album ‘Poor Advice’•
Niall Horan has honoured Liam Payne with ‘End of an Era’ tour tribute•
2hollis has announced new album ‘Pirouette’, out 11th November•
Taylor Swift has announced new single ‘Patient Zero’, due Friday•
Fontaines D.C. have debuted new song ‘Tongue’ live in Brooklyn•
Open’er Festival have announced sombr, RAYE, The Neighbourhood, Patti Smith and Tame Impala for 2027•
Adult DVD have shared new single ‘Jesus Christ Supercar’ ahead of their debut album•
Girl In The Year Above have released new single ‘Wet Paint’•
Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•
The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•
flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•
Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•
JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•
Heidi Curtis has announced her new EP ‘Summon’ and shared its title track•
Prima Queen have released new single ‘Dirty Rascal’•
Taylor Swift has announced ‘The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore’ deluxe edition•
Oasis have added four Live ’27 shows across Europe and Knebworth•
CHVRCHES have returned with new single ‘Roses’ and intimate shows•
RIP Magic have announced their debut album ‘1,2,3’•
Jorja Smith, Robyn and Fcukers have won at the 2026 Independent Music Awards•
Basht. have shared new single ‘Kids Vs Guns’ ahead of debut album ‘Poor Advice’•
Niall Horan has honoured Liam Payne with ‘End of an Era’ tour tribute•
2hollis has announced new album ‘Pirouette’, out 11th November•
Taylor Swift has announced new single ‘Patient Zero’, due Friday•
Fontaines D.C. have debuted new song ‘Tongue’ live in Brooklyn•
Open’er Festival have announced sombr, RAYE, The Neighbourhood, Patti Smith and Tame Impala for 2027•
Adult DVD have shared new single ‘Jesus Christ Supercar’ ahead of their debut album•
Girl In The Year Above have released new single ‘Wet Paint’•
Audrey Hobert has unveiled a new video for 'Sex and the City' as she begins her headline tour•
The Dork 2025 Readers' Poll nominations are in, featuring CMAT, Turnstile, Wolf Alice, Djo, Hayley Williams and loads more•
flowerovlove has released her first-ever first Christmas track, 'wishlist'•
Mighty Hoopla and Olly Alexander have announced Trans Mission, a concert for trans solidarity•
JADE has announced a deluxe edition of her debut album, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY! THE ENCORE'•
Dork
News
Features
Reviews
Magazine
  • Dork
  • Popzines
Shop
Listings
Directory
Festivals
Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST
Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD
The 19755SOSAlessi RoseArctic MonkeysArlo ParksBastillebeabadoobeeBillie EilishBleachersblink-182BlossomsBlur
Bring Me The HorizonCarly Rae JepsenCavetownChappell RoanCharli xcxCHVRCHESCMATConan GrayDeclan McKennaDjoFall Out BoyFoals
Fontaines D.C.Ghostgirl in redGlass AnimalsGorillazGracie AbramsHAIMHarry StylesHolly HumberstoneInhalerJames MarriottThe Japanese House
The Last Dinner PartyLewis CapaldiLinkin ParkLouis TomlinsonMaggie RogersMaisie PetersMUNAMy Chemical RomanceNiall HoranOasis Live '27Olivia DeanOlivia Rodrigo
Pale WavesParamorePhoebe BridgersPinkPantheressRemi WolfReneé RappSabrina CarpenterSam FenderShameSlipknotTate McRaeTaylor Swift
Twenty One PilotsWallowsWet LegWolf AliceYard ActYUNGBLUDZara Larsson
etc.
Film & TV
Gaming
Literature
Culture
Festival Guides-YOUR ESSENTIAL FESTIVAL COMPANION
Hype-THE BEST NEW NAMES, FIRST
Mixtape-DORK'S BEST NEW TRACKS
Play-DORK'S NEW MUSIC FRIDAY EDIT
Upset-DORK'S HOME FOR ALL THINGS LOUD
Playlist Covers
Playlist Directory
Recommender
Before Doors-LIVE SESSIONS
After Gates-FESTIVAL SESSIONS
Music Video Directory
Down With Boring-THE DORK PODCAST
Chart Attack-UK NUMBER ONES, DISSECTED
Dork Live
Oasis Live ’27Tickets. Dates. What’s the story?Explore the tour
Dork Radio
Live
Live 24/7
Dork Radio
Dork
Down With Boring

Join thousands of music lovers getting the best new tracks, exclusive interviews, and breaking news delivered straight to your inbox every week.

In print now

September 2026

Latest issue variants

View archive
Dork, September 2026 (Carly Rae Jepsen cover)

Carly Rae Jepsen

Dork, September 2026 (Cruz Beckham cover)

Cruz Beckham

Dork, September 2026 (Westside Cowboy cover)

Westside Cowboy

Advertise|Support|About Dork|Editorial standards & corrections|Privacy Policy|Genres|Years|Sitemap|RSS|Cookie settings
© 2026 The Bunker Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Powered by PlaywireAdvertise on this site.
  1. Home
  2. Features
  3. Marika Hackman

She's the one: Marika Hackman

Most people keep themselves to themselves. Maybe, if they’re open, they’ll share those deepest thoughts with a friend. With her third full-length, Marika Hackman is putting it all out there. Seriously, all of it. Unsurprisingly, it’s also one of the albums of the year so far.

She's the one: Marika Hackman
Written by
Dork
Artists
Marika Hackman
Published
5 Aug 2019 • 10:45 am
Marika Hackman is so cool. Like, not try hard cool either. She's wearing a leather jacket and smoking a cigarette and talking about wanking like it's the morning weather forecast. (Dork wishes we were this cool, but you know, there's a reason we're called Dork).
Her third record, 'Any Human Friend' is almost out in the world, and it's about as brave as you can get. She's stripped bare on the cover, down to her knickers with a baby pig covering her boobs, and the songs detail breakups, self-discovery, and… yeah, lots of ‘self-discovery'.

Related Articles

LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦
LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦LIKE THAT? READ THESE✦
Marika Hackman: "It’s really important to not let vulnerability become a fear"
Features

Marika Hackman: "It’s really important to not let vulnerability become a fear"

Marika Hackman’s new album ‘Big Sigh’ is an exercise in catharsis - it’s soul-baring, vulnerable, and melds together all of her previous works to create something with an identity entirely of its own.

"I mean, I feel brave. I felt brave doing it. I feel brave putting it out," she says. "I don't feel nervous, but I feel like it's a lot, it's kind of exposing, and it's exposing parts that people maybe don't always wanna see. It's kind of every facet of my human character, so even the bits where I might come across as a complete dickhead, it's important to share that, and that's the whole idea of the record.
She
Good job too, because this record really is a deep dive into Marika's personal psyche. While she's always told honest stories with her songs, 'Any Human Friend' is her most candid work yet, speaking directly about the queer, female experience.
"Masturbation is an interesting topic. ‘hand solo' is about masturbating and I love the lyrics of that song, it's so funny. I think it's nice to hear women singing really directly about sex and their own sexualities; it's really empowering. And the way I sing about having sex with women, it's explicit but it's not in a derogatory way, it's all about that experience from both sides, and that's important to me that it doesn't come across as me being a twat or putting anyone down, it's supposed to be a celebration of that. You don't hear that perspective so much."
She
She knows that too, and has used it to her advantage on this album. She's playing with her songwriting, characters and identity, and thinks you'll find it a little shocking.
"I thought it'd be interesting to hear it from my voice, from a female. I think people see me as quite a soft character, so to see someone like me singing about these kinds of things in that way, whether that will be shocking. I'm interested to see what the kind of response to that would be, if people do find it shocking, well why? Because you hear it all the time, but does that suddenly become this different narrative that's like ‘ooh you shouldn't be singing about that' or anything, I'm interested to see how that goes down, but I think it'll be a good thing."
It wouldn't a new era without a new sound now, would it? 'Any Human Friend' is Marika taking on her most synth-pop sound yet. It's slick and shiny and new. There's an actual guitar solo on it (!!), it's bold and direct, it's fucking fantastic. "When I was writing it, it felt poppier, so I was like ‘oh this is where it's going', and the treatment of that in the studio was ‘let's not shy away from this'. When I was first writing, when I was a kid, I was like ‘I don't wanna be pop', and as I got older I was like ‘well I love pop music'. The reason it's pop is that it's popular, and it reaches a wider audience, and people connect with it, and that's an amazing thing. If you can harness that energy and still keep your integrity and remain true to what you're saying, that's the ultimate combo.
"It felt like it was maybe time to challenge myself and step out of that comfort zone, so I worked with David Wrench, who is known within the industry for having, like, the best ears. It was a co-production, the first time I've had that role, which is quite an intimidating label, but stepping into it felt quite natural. It was just about taking these parts that I'd written at home in my bedroom, and it was just let's get this in here and record this, so it sounds really big, really slick and just fucking clear and spacious and great, and that was the mentality going in. He works really quickly, I'd be like ‘oh should I do maybe ten more takes?' and he's like ‘no we've got enough in here, it's fine', and it gives it that real immediacy, which is great because that really reflects the lyrics and what the album sentiment is."
She
"I was watching it with my friend Meg, and she cut to this bit, she was like ‘you have to hear what this little girl says, it's so sweet'. So there are two little girls talking about their experience of the week, and she's talking to them like ‘oh have you made any friends?' and the one goes, ‘yeah I've made lots of friends', then the other goes ‘oh even with the old people', and the other girl goes ‘yeah any human friend'. I just thought that childlike sense before you get cynical and browbeaten by life and all the sadness that's in it, to just come out with this idea of any human friend, it's like, yeah anyone. Anyone can be that.
If she's got one wish for the album, it's RSVP. The past two years are in the record, and she hopes you've got something to say about it too. "I don't write music for myself, I don't write it for other people, but I write it for a conversation, I write it for a wider narrative. Having to wait for that response, on the 9th August, that's when the conversation starts, that's when I actually open the dialogue, and I can finally have the other side of the story."
Taken from the August issue of Dork. Marika Hackman's album 'Any Human Friend' is out 9th August.
Words: Abigail Firth
She

Never miss a thing

Get the best new music in your Google feed

Two taps, takes ten seconds. Get Dork in your Discover feed, and tell Google to rank our reviews and interviews higher when you search.

☆ Follow Dork in Discover↑ Pin Dork in Search

WatchDork’s Before Doors sessions

Intimate, stripped-back live sessions filmed moments before the doors open. Raw sound, real rooms, no second takes. Subscribe on YouTube so you never miss a new one.

Subscribe on YouTubeWatch the latest →

Latest Updates

Lennon Stella has released new single ‘Comedy Show’
News

Lennon Stella has released new single ‘Comedy Show’

24 Sept 2026
Genesis Owusu and Tame Impala have led the 2026 ARIA Awards nominations
News

Genesis Owusu and Tame Impala have led the 2026 ARIA Awards nominations

24 Sept 2026
Michael Kiwanuka has shared full details of self-produced new album ‘FUDGE’
News

Michael Kiwanuka has shared full details of self-produced new album ‘FUDGE’

24 Sept 2026
System Of A Down have announced a ‘Toxicity’ 25th anniversary exhibition
News

System Of A Down have announced a ‘Toxicity’ 25th anniversary exhibition

24 Sept 2026
Apocalyptica have shared ‘Upperhand’, their anthem for ‘Control: Resonant’
News

Apocalyptica have shared ‘Upperhand’, their anthem for ‘Control: Resonant’

24 Sept 2026
Marika Hackman: "I curiously had a lot of time on my hands..."
Features

Marika Hackman: "I curiously had a lot of time on my hands..."

Marika Hackman's lockdown time didn't involve perfecting sourdough loafs, sourdough waffles, or sourdough cookies. Instead, she's produced a fab new covers album.

Marika Hackman has released a new version of 'Skin' featuring Laura Marling
News

Marika Hackman has released a new version of 'Skin' featuring Laura Marling

Marika Hackman collaborates with Laura Marling on a new recording of 'Skin' to celebrate her debut album's tenth anniversary.

Live at Leeds In The City has signed up Marika Hackman, Phoebe Green, Swim School and more
News

Live at Leeds In The City has signed up Marika Hackman, Phoebe Green, Swim School and more

The festival will feature over 100 artists across Leeds' independent venues, showcasing new music talent.