Vulnerability, Change, Acceptance: Sarah Kinsley’s Newest EP Fleeting
Written by Michelle Sy | February 4, 2025
Photos by Florence Sullivan
Photos by Florence Sullivan
Acclaimed for her cinematic sound and powerful storytelling, Sarah Kinsley is a standout in this year’s lineup of up-and-coming artists. She has released four EPs to date and teased two new singles off of her newest EP, Fleeting, in early January. Comprised of just five songs, this EP is an exciting culmination of her work thus far, feeling quintessentially “Sarah Kinsley” while ushering in the inkling of a new era.
Fusing a background in classical music training with alternative pop influences, Sarah’s approach to music is layered, complex, and very intentional. Her music alludes to themes like the passage of time and change through various avenues in songwriting and production. Part of Sarah’s mass appeal is her ability to create almost alternate realities and worlds through her music; a “homemade, yet cinematic” form of pop that allows its listeners to slip into a place not quite here nor there. In fact, those who attended her exclusive, unreleased EP pop-up shows, described them as deeply moving and electric. Rest assured that for her upcoming biggest tour to date, her team is working hard to build an equally gripping and immersive visual world.
In a recent interview, Sarah shared some behind-the-scenes and what will unfold in the next chapter of her artist journey. She described the entire experience as quite novel to her, as she’s never had such a long period of waiting between making and releasing a project. Fleeting is ultimately a capsule of, and a tribute to life’s ephemerality and the desire for intimacy. With much of her previous work containing threads of existentialism and the passage of time, this project is her attempt to embody and honor those feelings.
In New York, the city that never sleeps serves as the backdrop to Fleeting, consciously and unconsciously influencing its sound. In New York, you’re “constantly inundated with newness,” Sarah observed. Its lights, silhouettes, evenings, and memories find themselves woven into the visual world and creation of this EP. She recalled one morning after a night out dancing that really inspired parts of the project. She was watching a dramatic sunrise outside and feeling everything so deeply and vividly, when she was suddenly struck by an indescribable kind of euphoria. “You have these quiet moments by yourself where the noise of the city is ringing in your ears, and you’re kind of sweaty and gross, but it’s so cathartic, it’s something that feels so particular to this city.” And whatever magic and liminality exists in those moments is sure to find itself reflected in her work.
Photos by Florence Sullivan
From a production standpoint, Sarah enlisted the help of producer Jake Aron to transform these ideas into fully fleshed out songs using a more, “maximalist” style of production. “Lonely Touch” is a perfect precursor to what might be expected in the full EP: lots of noise, instruments, and sound at full volume, all layered and textured in deliberate ways. It serves as a “sonic representation” of exactly what Sarah felt in that moment, the louder the noise, the more chaotic and intense those emotions may have been. Specifically, she says that it was tied to a feeling of unrelenting desire and yearning that can be hard to separate herself from. Seeing everything come together “kind of like a gel” was her favorite part of the process: a common experience for artists, as their work doesn’t really take shape until the later stages of production.
This EP also holds special significance because it is one of the first times that Sarah will be releasing music as honest as it can be. She admitted that previously, she has relied on metaphors, analogies, and ambiguity in her lyricism to create different meanings. And while she would never claim to prescribe a certain feeling or message onto anyone who indulges in her art, Sarah isn’t using double meaning in Fleeting. When asked if this new level of vulnerability is intimidating, and she noted that there’s always some nervousness, after all, she’ll be singing very literally about real life experiences. But mostly, she’s excited to present this side of herself to the world.
Photos by Florence Sullivan
One of her goals as an artist is reclaiming an essence of childlike wonder by returning to a previous self. Part of this desire is because seeing the world as a child means you can be easily surprised and stimulated by new things. New ideas are exciting; failures feel less serious. It’s easy to get trapped in a cycle of perfectionism, especially at a stage of artistry like Sarah Kinsley’s, but she is determined to unlearn habits of being too self-critical. This approach mirrors challenges she overcame in the past with unlearning some of the rigidity and rules of classical music. Learning to trust her intuition and “inner wolf” as she jokingly puts it, has been the crux this entire time and definitely one of the biggest challenges as an artist.
Unsurprisingly, Sarah’s new direction in music parallels the motif of Fleeting. The song “Fleeting” is a homage to transience, change, and all of the moments in between. It seems natural that sometimes, when you change, it’s not always something completely different: it can be reframing a part of your life and reclaiming it. There is meaning in impermanence, a message stressed throughout this project and knowing that some things won’t last forever. Sarah truly demonstrates the versatility and novelty that can come with creating new eras of artistry. She’s unafraid to make drastic changes and try new things, and perhaps this is something everyone can take away as well: embracing your inner child and perceiving the world through a gentler lens.
Diving into Sarah Kinsley’s past, goals, and intentions as an artist, it’s easy to see why she has acquired such a loyal fanbase, one that very quickly sold out her high demand shows (and will probably do so with the upcoming tour!) She has an undeniable talent for using music to illustrate difficult but profound experiences in life, and this new project really takes these experiences and anthropomorphizes them to the next level. She reflected that, if there was one message she could deliver to her previous self, it would be to, "let the future reveal itself to you.” For anyone looking to understand a little bit more about what that sounds like, or how to appreciate the brevity and magic in life, look out for the release of Fleeting on February 13, 2026.
