IN CONVERSATION WITH SADIE JEAN

interview by JANA LETONJA

Sadie Jean has transformed deeply personal songwriting into a connection with millions of listeners. The California-born singer-songwriter first broke through with WYD Now?, the intimate debut that became a viral TikTok phenomenon and established her confessional approach to pop. Since then, Sadie has continued to turn the emotional realities of growing up, heartbreak and relationships into songs that feel simultaneously specific and universal. With an increasingly confident live presence and a return to Europe this October, she is entering a new phase, one that moves beyond the viral moment and reveals the artist she has been building toward all along.

WYD Now? changed your life very quickly. Looking back, what do you think that 19-year-old version of yourself would make of where you are today?
My 19-year-old self was very overwhelmed by the sudden success of that song. So, I think maybe she would be so excited to know that things calmed down and that it gets so much less scary. I was a really nervous 19-year-old, and now I feel so much more confident on stage, and in the studio, and just in life in general. I've accomplished so many bucket list things since that first song came out that I had only ever dreamed of in my wildest dreams at that point. She wouldn’t believe it. She’d be pinching herself.

Your songwriting has always been incredibly personal. Has becoming more visible ever made you hesitate before putting certain experiences into a song?
It has made me hesitate, but it hasn't stopped me from doing it. I think I hesitate almost every time I go to release a song because it is so personal, and when I'm writing now, I just try to pretend that no one will ever hear this song. Otherwise, I would find myself being scared to put in certain vulnerable details, but those are the things that I think make for a good song. The songs that I've been the most nervous to put out have also been the most rewarding and the most well-received, so I try to just pretend like it's not happening, and no one will hear it.

You started writing songs when you were incredibly young. What does songwriting give you emotionally that simply talking about something cannot?
I think I have a really hard time putting feelings to words, and I always have. For whatever reason, it's just come super naturally in the form of music. I used to write songs on piano, that I would compose, and I would notate it. I was really obsessed with piano, and I loved doing it that way. I guess it's like journaling, because I don't have to explain it to anyone else. I can just channel it directly from my brain or heart, or the sky, into this thing. And, I like that it's physical because you can play an instrument, and it's way more therapeutic to me than talking about it. I don't like talking about my feelings.

When WYD Now? exploded on TikTok, did you feel pressure to immediately recreate that success?
Yes, I felt so much pressure to try and recreate that. Everyone was telling me that if your second song isn't bigger, that you have failed, which is a crazy amount of pressure to have. I was an 18-year-old that just had this unreal once-in-a-lifetime moment online, and I think because of that, I didn't release another song for 10 months until I had another really big viral moment, the second song Locksmith. If I didn't have that pressure I would have been releasing songs way before that. It's tough, but I've worked past that since, and now I release the song whenever I want, so that's good.

Is there ever a conflict between Sadie the person wanting privacy and Sadie the songwriter wanting to tell the complete truth?
Yeah, maybe there's a conflict, but at the end of the day, wanting to tell the truth always wins, because that's always what has served me and I'll always feel like it’s worth it. I feel like I'm not this mega superstar, you know, Beyonce level, where everyone knows about my personal life, and I'm grateful for that because I'm not really concerned about my privacy right now. I will say everything, I don't care. I'll put everything in a song, but maybe one day I'll think more about it when people know more about my private, personal life. I think saying the truth in a song is always the best way for me, it's always served me.

You attended NYU’s Clive Davis Institute before your career suddenly accelerated. What did that period teach you about the kind of artist you wanted to become?
That education was super valuable because of the people that I got to meet around me that really inspired me, like my friends in class that I learned so much from, and also actually learning about the history of pop music, contemporary music for the first time. Up until college, I had only listened to the radio, I was never going back and listening to old music that has paved the way for me and the artist I am, so I got to find my inspirations. I was getting put onto Joni Mitchell for the first time, and she has  now completely changed how I see myself as an artist. She was the first confessional songwriter, or like Dolly Parton, or Carole King. I discovered so much music by being in college and learning about artists in class, and also through the people around me that had much wider music tastes than I did. So that was the best thing to ever come from school, just the knowledge in music.

You’ve spoken about growing up somewhere where pursuing music didn’t necessarily feel like the obvious path. Has achieving what once seemed unrealistic changed the way you think about ambition?
Oh my god, I never thought this could happen. I think it has also made me change the way I think about arts, education, and schooling.  I wished that it didn't take so much ambition for me to believe that this was a dream that could come true. So it makes me want to do more for music education for the youth because If you're really good at something and you love something so much, that can take you so far. Of course, ambition is important, but I wish that there were more people around me that were encouraging. I wish there was more of that back then. 

So much of your initial relationship with listeners happened online. What changes when you finally meet that audience in a live setting?
That's the best part of being an artist. It's my favorite part. It’s why I do it honestly, because I get to hear in person these people's stories of the way that these songs have infiltrated their lives in such individual ways. It's the most mind-blowing thing ever to put a face to the number online. It’s very emotional to hear these stories and to sing these songs with people. It's crazy.

What goes through your mind when thousands of people sing back lyrics that began as something incredibly private?
It's so powerful. I get chills thinking about it. This is so cliche, but music is so powerful. Especially when I was on tour with Rod Wave, and I was singing in arenas for the first time, I remember feeling like all of the sudden that I missed the ex that I wrote that song about so much, and it was so random, because it had been years and years post-breakup. I realized eventually, a few weeks in, that it was because I was singing a song about him every night, and for 15.000 people. You realize the power of community and these voices and the vibrations of sound in a room actually can change the way your brain is wired. It’s super powerful, and it's the most rewarding thing, too. And it makes me want to just  keep writing songs.

You’re returning to Europe for shows this October. Do European audiences feel different to you from audiences back home?
I mean, yes and no. I just love touring in Europe so much, I'm obsessed with Europe. I guess the most different part is when I get to sort of see the cultural difference. They'll be chanting something at me that I'm like, “What is this chant?” A better example is fans coming up to me after and giving me snacks to try or their country's chocolate to try. It's so fun. They're so excited that I'm in their country, so far from my home. It feels maybe more special because it's such a long distance, so maybe they appreciate it the slightest bit more, because it's like, “Wow, you came all this way,” and I appreciate that too so much. It’s special to know that people across the world are listening to my music, and then to get to see them in person is amazing.

Touring can be both exhilarating and exhausting. What have you learned about yourself from spending so much time on the road?
My two favorite things to do are sit in a moving car and look out the window and listen to music. I have learned that touring is kind of perfect for me, because I just love to look out the window and listen to music, which is so much of my time on tour, traveling. I've also learned that it helps to bring a friend. I've been bringing my friend Charles Hsu with me for the past 4 tours, and it makes it feel like a road trip with a friend, and you get to meet all these fun people along the way. It's the ultimate road trip tour. I've learned that I love it, and that I want to do it forever.

Your music is rooted in emotional vulnerability, but how important is the visual world around it, from fashion and artwork to stage aesthetics, in communicating who you are?
It's so important. I feel like with this album, this was the first time that I felt really inspired by the visual world, and drawing inspiration. I drew so much inspiration from Girls by Lena Dunham for this album, and Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw, and all these iconic stories of young women experiencing being single, and friendship. That was the core of the album, and so I tried to take inspiration from that visual world and that fashion world, especially Carrie Bradshaw. And I got to work with my friend Sophia Zimmon, who I went to college with, and I just wanted it to feel really girly and me and fun. So for the album track list, we made custom nail polish shades of different pinks and purples with all the track names on them. I just had so much fun building out the visual world, because it felt very authentic. I wasn't trying to do something different than myself.

If the first chapter of your career was about people discovering Sadie Jean, what do you want this next chapter to tell them about who you really are?
I only really can think about the music side of it. I hope that people would draw their own opinions from all of the music that I'm going to be putting out, but I hope that they see and recognize the hard work and the dedication of who I've been really trying to be. I want them to just realize it's authentically me, and I'm just being myself and that I'm doing my favorite thing in the world. Hopefully the people that resonate with it will resonate with me as a person as well, but it's more about the music for me.