Before Sarah Kinsley’s headline show at Koko last month, she made one decision: “I’m gonna go kind of feral,” she recalls. The 25-year-old American singer-songwriter doesn’t make the kind of music you might describe as “feral.” Cascading pianos and synths open many of her songs, giving way to erudite and careful lyricism. In someone’s music library, her work would be filed between Lorde and Kate Bush, and reserved for the more delicate, self-reflective moments of life.
But that didn’t stop Kinsley letting loose in front of her London fans — and her audience ate it up. “It was genuinely the best [show of the tour], and we didn’t even have to really try,” she laughs. “Even though I am an overthinker, when you just decide to give in to something, people can sense it. It’s like when cats can tell if you really want their attention, the opposite of that.”
From Classical Training to Pop Stardom
Kinsley doesn’t consider herself a “pop star,” even if her 1.2 million monthly Spotify listeners might disagree. She’s speaking as she wraps up a two-month tour that has taken her across the United States, the UK and Ireland. A lot of that doesn’t feel real to her — save for the occasional second where her brain lets it all rush in. “I have moments where I’m falling asleep in my bunk on the tour bus, and my brain can recall times when I was 13 or 15, and I was so desperate for this to be my life.”
It wasn’t always The Big Dream. Kinsley was trained as a classical musician from an early age. When she was four and growing up in Connecticut, she asked her parents if she could learn the piano. Then the violin. Then she wanted to join an orchestra. This obsession with classical music — she cites Chopin, Ravel and Debussy as early favourites — carried her through much of her teens. But pop music crept in, and by the time Kinsley’s friends were auditioning for the Berlin Philharmonic, she was being pulled in another direction.
The Algorithm Jackpot
While at university she started posting cover songs online. In 2021, one of her songs — The King, a sprawling, cinematic ode to growing up and growing apart — hit the algorithm jackpot. It became one of those songs inextricably associated with Covid-19, lockdown growing pains and spending months cooped up inside, wishing to be unleashed.
In contrast, much of her latest EP, Fleeting, was written in motion. Zipping in cabs across New York, where she’s currently based, or on trains between touring commitments. “It’s very cliché,” she says, “but moving through things on a train, moving forwards or backwards, it’s very inspiring.”
Ready to Be Still
Now, after her longest tour yet, she’s ready to be still again. “I need to be ingesting a lot of art again. I feel like I can’t put more out until I’m full,” she says sagely. Kinsley is wise beyond her years — but maybe that’s what you’d expect from a pop star raised on Debussy.
Fleeting by Sarah Kinsley is out now.
