New Music
New Music
New Music: Sasha Sloan
We pick the hottest new live acts so you can tell your friends you heard them first. This week's pick is a dose of sad-girl pop from American singer-songwriter Sasha Sloan.
Ticketmaster New Music is your one-stop destination to discover the best emerging live acts before they explode. These are the artists we’re expecting to make waves in the live music scene, and we want you to know about them first.
Even if you don’t know American singer-songwriter Sasha Sloan by name (yet), we’re certain you’ve heard her music before. She’s lent her velvety vocals to tracks like Kygo’s This Town and Odesza’s Falls and has co-written with everyone from Charli XCX to Camila Cabello and Troye Sivan.
But it’s through her own music that we get to know Sasha best. Blending honest songwriting with glorious pop hooks and fluttering soundscapes, shimmering electronics, or stripping everything back to its bare essentials – her catalogue may be brief, but it’s magical. She’s a self-described #sadgirl, and she’s won our hearts.
Check out Sasha Sloan’s new video for ‘Faking It’.
The Story
From the beginning
“I first started making music when I was in fourth grade. My mum had a piano in the house and I started taking lessons. Once I knew a few chords I wrote my first original song. It was terrible but it was a start.”
What you’ll hear
“I would describe my sound as sad pop with folk elements mixed in. I think it came from the music I grew up listening to such as Amy Winehouse, Brandi Carlile, Eva Cassidy, The Carpenters, and of course Britney Spears.”
Influences & inspiration
“I’m the biggest Brandi Carlile fan – she’s been an idol of mine since I was a kid. More recently I’ve become obsessed with Kacey Musgraves. Her songwriting is unreal. When it comes to songwriting, I’m mostly inspired by things that are happening in my life or to people around me.”
For the love of music
“I love the process. I constantly fear I’ll never write a song I like ever again, but it’s never true. Once I get an idea I love and figure out how to say it and find a great melody for it, it’s the best feeling. It feels like solving a giant therapeutic puzzle.”
Kicking goals
“I think the coolest moment I’ve had is when I saw my vinyl sold in Newbury Comics. I’m from Boston, so I grew up with that store. I would always roam the aisles to check out which new records they had. This past summer, when I was on tour, we stopped in Boston and I walked into Newbury and saw my vinyl sitting there on display. I almost died of happiness.”
Essential Tracks
Sasha Sloan – Chasing Parties
“After I broke up with my ex I started partying a lot. I was depressed and didn’t know what to do with myself. Soon after I fell in love, and ever since then I’ve hated going out. My boyfriend and I got stoned and wrote the song about being homebodies who would rather stay home with each other than go get hammered at some party with random people.”
Sasha Sloan – Ready Yet
“It’s the first song I put out and it’s a very personal one for me. I’ve had a tough relationship with my dad, and the night before I wrote the song he texted me and said he wanted to start talking again. I said I wasn’t ready yet and the next day the song poured out.”
Sasha Sloan – Older
“I’ve been trying to write this song my entire life. My parents got divorced when I was a kid and the experience became a huge part of who I am and how I see the world. I used to be upset with them for not making it work, but after my first break up I realized how tricky love can be and that no one really knows what the fuck they’re doing.”
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