"Thoughts" by Sasha Alex Sloan, Monday, May 2, 2022

Alexandra Atourovna Yatchenko, better known to her 9.6 million monthly Spotify listeners by her stage name Sasha Alex Sloan, bears the introvert soul often missing these days in pop music. The singer-songwriter grew up religious to Russian/Ukrainian immigrant parents and attended a semester at Berklee College of Music before dropping out to write songs for other artists. Before releasing her debut EP Sad Girl in 2018, the singer-songwriter wrote songs for Charli XCX, Kygo, and   Lecrae, among others. She continues to write music for herself and for other artists working in Nashville. 

SOMETIMES I CAN'T CONTROL MY THOUGHTS. "Thoughts" is the opening track on Sasha Alex Sloan's second EP, Self Portrait. Listening to Sloan is an intimate experience. Her poignant writing is specific enough to make listeners feel like they know her personally. But the writing is also vague enough for listeners to appropriate her lyrics to their own lives. For example, the second track on Self Portrait, "Thank God," establishes Sloan as an imperfect person. She lists, in what could be embarrassingly specific ways, that she has fallen short of her Christian upbringing. But the chorus she says, "Thank God for making a hell . . . a place for greedy-ass liars . . . . a place where I can smoke / and tell fucked-up jokes." Her full-length debut in 2020 Only Child also had many heart-stopping ballads, in which she talks about divorce, loss, and falling in love. Songs like "Until It Happens to You" will break your heart as you reach for the limits of empathy. I'm pretty sure that song will make an appearance later on my playlist. Her songwriting isn't her only strong point. The melodies and songs make her stand out among her "sad girl" contemporaries. The religious themes in her work align the singer with the members of boygenius: Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus. There's certainly a hint of Kacey Musgraves and a sliver of Lana Del Rey, too. 

I SWEAR TO GOD I'M TRYING.  Today's song makes me not feel so different from other people, at least from the 9.6 million people who listen to Sasha Alex Sloan. I'm a worrier, and I've been a worrier since I was a kid. I remember being terrified after school safety demonstrations and praying every night that I wouldn't get kidnapped or that our house wouldn't burn down or there wouldn't be a gasoline explosion. I thought that I had to pray through every gruesome scenario because I thought the devil was very active and praying specifically would give me protection. I don't know when exactly my prayer list shorted to just "general protection for me and the people I love," but I'm still plagued with worry for the future. We all know this will end, right? It's not like everyone stays alive forever. Furthermore, what can go wrong at work and socially keeps me up at night more than it should. Sometimes, my mind goes to the worst-case scenario. What would I do? How would I survive that level of alienation? Somehow, thinking of the worst-case scenario lessens the blow of otherwise a snag in my plan. I guess I think my success is kind of doomed anyway. Any success along the way is just bonus, right? Seriously, I need to get out of these thoughts.
 


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