Anne Wilson Talks 'Seventh of June' — and the Role Her Late Brother Still Plays in Her Life (Exclusive)
The Grammy-nominated Christian artist lost her older sibling in a car accident on that date in 2017
Laney Oakes
Anne Wilson has never particularly loved the seventh of June, and this year was no exception.
“It was pretty hard,” says Wilson, 21, in an interview with PEOPLE. “I was just off. I didn't get on my phone, didn't answer text messages or anything.”
This year, the Grammy-nominated Christian artist spent the seventh of June with her family at their Kentucky farm, trying their best to collectively get through the haunting day.
“We just took that time to go through the emotions of all of it,” she says. “And then I had to get back on the road for a show, and so it was kind of a short day and a short grieving time. But we just tried to be intentional with our time together as a family and make it as healing and as good as we could have.”
Laney Oakes
Anne WilsonFinding the good has been something Wilson has tried her best to do since June 7, 2017, when she lost her 23-year-old brother Jacob in a car accident.
“In the beginning, I remember that we all tried to fill our schedules full of stuff just as a way of getting through,” Wilson remembers. “A lot of it was just distraction. But now, it's like we need to have that time together as a family to grieve properly.”
Part of that grieving process has essentially played out through Wilson’s heartfelt music but has never been as raw as it is in her powerful song “Seventh of June.” And while the writing of the song was painful enough, Wilson says she couldn’t even imagine how tough filming the music video would be.
But earlier this year, she found out.
“I immediately knew that the music video had to be filmed at the farm,” recalls Wilson. “It was the first time ever in my career that I've led a project creatively, which was really good for me to do as an artist.”
Wilson further reminisces about the filming of the “Seventh of June” music video in a new interview premiering exclusively on PEOPLE, where the talented music artist goes into all the feelings she went through on that fateful day.
“The scene of me looking at the grave was really hard,” remembers Wilson of the painful scene in the “Seventh of June” music video. “That was heart-wrenching to do, especially while cameras were filming.”
Surprisingly however, the scene also provided Wilson with some much-needed healing. “It’s about facing the fact that Jacob's gone,” she says quietly. “I think being able to face that helped heal me and also helped convey the emotion in the video, along with the severity of it.”
Laney Oakes
Anne WilsonAnother touching piece of the video is the point in which Wilson is shown looking into a pond on the family farm, while her late brother’s reflection can be seen right behind her.
“I was on the phone with the director, and he had this idea of this scene where I would be looking at the pond and the camera would see the reflection of my brother,” says Wilson. “The scene was meant to remind people that even though you can’t feel them there, they are always there with you. I honestly began to cry on the phone when the director told me about his idea. That moment is so powerful along with the fact that while we don't always see our loved ones and we don't feel them, they're with us all the time.”
It was a realization that even served as a wakeup call for the “My Jesus” hitmaker.
“Jacob is with me all the time, even though I can't see him, and I don't feel him,” says Wilson, who made her Grand Ole Opry debut back in 2021. “When I saw the video and how it turned out, it was just insane. It was just such a cool moment to have.”
Finding the actor to play Wilson’s brother also seemed somewhat destined.
“We were originally going to use one of my brother's friends,” remembers Wilson. “We wanted to find somebody that looked like Jacob. My mom runs a Christian school, and one of her students always reminded her of Jacob. So, he was able to be a part of the video and he just expressed how much it meant to him to play this part and play a role in that scene. He even wore Jacob’s shirt in the scene.”
But not everything about the day felt serious.
“It felt like a family day of just hanging out on the farm,” says Wilson, who will head out on her My Jesus tour starting in September. “We got to make biscuits, which was so fun. And my dad and sister were fishing in the pond while we were like filming the video. It felt really special to have my family by my side."
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