Sarah Kinsley
Article by Gabrielle Groves
Hosted by: 1824 - UMG’s creative solutions team
Photo by: Dillon Matthew
Capitalizing off the success of her 2021 single ‘The King,’ indie alt-pop singer-songwriter Sarah Kinsley is set to release her first full-length album Escaper on September 6th. Kinsley takes a philosophical approach to this record by focusing on the concepts of “what-ifs” and coming to terms with loss. Of these concepts Kinsley explains, “There’s a completely different alternate reality of who you become when you make these tiny decisions, and if you spend too much of your life thinking about it, it’s like there’s [these] infinite realities of who you might be... How do we balance the fact that we can imagine all of these worlds?” She has also noted that the new songs are more about platonic relationships than romantic ones, and that she’s not as “romantically obsessed” as she was at the beginning of her career.
The soft-spoken 24-year-old listened to a mix of classical and pop songs before eventually starting songwriting in middle and high school. At the time, she was also a classical musician yet she didn’t see herself doing that long-term as it is a highly competitive field. Kinsley then became interested in music production, and wanted to dig deeper into how songs come together. She utilized YouTube tutorials to teach herself how to produce, and the rest is history. Constructing Escaper was Kinsley’s first time working with another producer (John Congleton) for an entire project, as she mainly produced her own music prior.
Kinsley revealed that the title for Escaper comes from knowing the importance of escaping, but also embracing humanity regardless of its flaws. However, she is a firm believer that people have the opportunity to interpret the meaning of the songs any way they’d like. Of the 12 tracks, Kinsley has already released ‘Last Time We Never Meet Again,’ ‘Realms,’ and ‘Starling,’ the latter quickly becoming a fan favorite. The music video for ‘Starling’ was co-directed by Kinsley and close friend Chloe Gottlieb. Kinsley says she co-directed the video partially “out of necessity” and because she loves directing, all the while labeling herself as a perfectionist. For the video, Kinsley chose to include her closest friends and decided on the concept of using ice to symbolize love.
Kinsley is ecstatic for the release of Escaper as well as her upcoming tour to promote the album. The Escaper Tour spans across two continents, starting in mid-September and concluding at the end of November. She is most excited to perform in Germany, Los Angeles, and New York City, but is looking forward to savoring every bit of the tour life from start to finish.
