INTERVIEW: Sarah Barrios releases debut EP 'Letters I Never Sent': “Women are always being discredited and made to feel inferior for our emotional awareness and empathy."
Words: Jett Tattersall
Singer-songwriter Sarah Barrios delivers a wonderfully addictive debut EP Letters I Never Sent, a killer four-track of reflection, insecurity, admission and joy all sung with Barrios’ incredible vocal dexterity.
The Connecticut born LA based songwriting powerhouse was charged with she-roes like Stevie Nicks and Norah Jones, heavily influenced by her parents and the music they played, her mother was a singer and her father encouraged her song writing from an early age. “My mum, she was a musician, she completely inspired me. Stevie Nicks, Hayley Williams of Paramore – she’s incredible,” Barrios says. “I remember seeing her up on the stage jumping around, head-banging and completely rocking out - it was so exciting.” An avid reader Barrios cites Jane Austin and JK Rowling as her heroes just as much as the musicians she adores. “I love Pride and Prejudice, it’s such a complete story. I also had a very intense relationship with the Harry Potter series - very intense.”
Guitar in hand and a head full of stories Barrios started writing songs at 13 but, feeling she lacked the emotional experience (as opposed to insight) young Barrios wrote from the perspective of others. “I hadn’t the emotional experience - I hadn’t any real experience, everything I wrote about I learned in books so I learned to write from the perspective of someone else, someone I imagined to one day be.”
’I Didn’t Mean To’, the EP’s first release, a deliciously infectious pop heartbeat of a song that showcases Barrios incredible vocal range - the clicks, the voice, the ‘oooh’s’ - It’s a confessional song about owning up and acknowledging past mistakes. “The funny thing here is the title of the EP is Letters I Never Sent but this song actually came from a letter I did actually write - and send,” Barrios recalls “I’d hurt someone and when I initially sat down to write it into a letter/ a song It was already too late. Three weeks into trying to write about it all I had was defensive lines ‘your fault’ ‘screw you’ and I realised I had to take a step back and see it from another perspective… Sometimes we have to change perspective and take blame. No one wants to be the bad guy in someone else’s story, but sometimes you are. Our mistakes don’t have to define us. I knew I needed to apologise and own up to mine.”
Melodically the track is smooth while having this beautifully disjointed – rewind – thought process to it. Barrios’ addictive vocals making up the percussion section weaves hand in hand with the delicious melody.
The EP’s curtain-call track ‘Emotional’ is a confronting bluesy heartbeat of a song inspired by the frustration and shame that comes from being too sentimental, too emotional.: “My highs are too high / Lost count of my lows / Cause I laugh till I cry / And I cry all the time,” she sings. “Women are always being discredited and made to feel inferior for our emotional awareness and empathy,” Barrios says. “I used to think it was right or cool to bury those vulnerabilities, like no one wanted to see it. But that’s not who I am, not who we are.”
She is equally quick to say the song’s not just for women either. “My father is very emotional, cries all the time, just like the song. And proudly so, too. Men shouldn’t feel any less [of a man] for being emotional or moved by things, we need to change that.”
Barrios touches on the inadequacy of feeling sentimental in ‘Love Songs’ – an upbeat playful and joyously addictive track that again speaks of her concerns with emotional connection and romantic whimsey: “You make make this feel like a rom com / Like pink balloons and roses too / You make me wanna write love songs / And I really hate love songs”. “I kept trying to write love songs that were cool, but love isn’t cool,” she admits. “It’s cheesy and happy and confusing and scary all at the same time.” How is that anything to feel ashamed of? Barrios' love of story and perception has clearly not been left behind as she has grown. Her innate skill to layer experimental melodies with incredibly reflective lyrics (prior to her own releases she has written with artists such as Maggie Lindemann, Eric Nam, and Zara Larsson) is nothing short of captivating, paired with her vocals that take the breath away Barrios is most definitely here to stay.
Letters I Never Sent is out now via Sony Music You can download and stream here.
To keep up with all things Sarah Barrios, you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
