The singer-songwriter on TikTok, touring and Early Twenties Torture.

There’s a moment in the pilot episode of Girls — which I watched upon Sadie Jean’s recommendation — where Lena Dunham’s Hannah Horvath proclaims herself to be the “voice of a generation”. When I re-listened to Sadie Jean’s debut album, Early Twenties Torture, after embarking on my binge-watching venture, the show’s influence on the artist’s songwriting soon became clear to me. “I think I was just trying to draw some of that playfulness [into] the chaos and [the] really depressing vibes that were happening,” she tells me. The “really depressing vibes” in question? A move to a new city, the quest for friendship and a mammoth heartbreak. “Canon events”, as I tell Sadie Jean multiple times over the course of our interview.

After having her heart broken by her first love, Sadie Jean started posting snippets of songs she’d written about the event on TikTok. Her first single, ‘WYD Now?’, is, upon first listen, deeply personal. Recounting the breakdown of the relationship that took her from late teens to early 20s, it’s a song Sadie Jean believed only herself and a few others could relate to. A few hundred million others, according to Spotify streams. While for most of us, revenge is nothing but a fantasy, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter has turned her pain into a career as TikTok’s favourite ‘heartbreak poet’, becoming somewhat of “a voice of a generation” herself.

But the road to success and acceptance that her early twenties would be “the most dramatic time of life” wasn’t easy for the singer, who admits she only released music after “hundreds of thousands of people were peer-pressuring me to do it.” Pressure makes diamonds, as the saying goes, which is exactly what Early Twenties Torture is. The album eloquently encapsulates the elusive notion of “girlhood”, from pre-date jitters in ‘See you on Sunday’ to recounting conversations with friends about getting their hypothetical husbands to build houses next to one another in ‘Know You Forever’. While Sadie Jean effuses about “constantly [struggling] with the passage of time,” she also tells me that she feels “stable and secure in knowing that I’m getting older”, for the first time ever. A headline tour, a highly anticipated debut album and a song featured on one of Netflix’s most talked-about TV series of the year illustrate that confidence better than any words could.

You’ve been very busy this year. You’ve supported Lewis Capaldi at Hyde Park, completed a European festival run and been on your own headline tour. What’s been the highlight?

 Whoa, [that’s] hard. It's been such a dreamy year so far, being able to tour this album. I had never played a festival in Europe before this summer, so I was pinching myself being in these beautiful  places and seeing people come to my set. I loved Mad Cool. I got to see Lorde perform,  and I saw someone standing in front of me wearing my merch at her show. I was like, ‘This feels like a sign from the universe’, 'cause I'm such a Lorde fan.

What does your songwriting process look like?

I like to write my songs about things that have actually happened to me. [I wrote] my debut album, Early 20s Torture, from ages 20 to 23, and every other day the world was ending for me. I would go into a session with a friend and rant, and then pick a title. [For] ‘She's Dating My Boyfriend’, I went in, and was like, ‘I just stayed up all night stalking this girl's Instagram’. 

Canon event. Is there anywhere else you find inspiration, or any particular artists who have shaped your sound?

 When I'm feeling uninspired I listen to music that I love, and it makes me wanna write a song so badly. I'm not a sports player, but I imagine it'd [be] like if I played football and I was watching a football game — I'd be like, ‘Ugh. Put me in!’ I'll listen to Phoebe Bridgers 'cause the songwriting is just so good. 

[For] this album I drew a lot of inspiration from Girls by Lena Dunham, because I really resonated with her, unfortunately. I think I was just trying to draw some of that playfulness [into] the chaos.  My song ‘The One That I Want (But I Don't Know Why)’ was inspired by my life, but also her [character’s] relationship with the guy played by Adam [Driver]. 

You’ve played piano since early childhood, and started posting on SoundCloud when you were still in school. Was music always the plan?

This was always my secret plan, but it wasn't something that I vocalised until I was, like, 17, 'cause I was so embarrassed by it. I thought [that] wanting to be a pop star wouldn’t sound realistic, so out loud [I said] that I was planning on going to business school, but since I was a child I knew that [music] was the only option. Eventually I sort of came out, like, ‘Guys, I have to tell you this’. It was so dramatic. 

I ended up going to NYU for music, and then it felt way more real. Growing up, I didn't know anyone that wanted to do anything that was crazy or unrealistic. And then I went to school and everyone around me wanted to do the exact same thing, and I was like, ‘Oh, this is totally reasonable.’

Many of your songs reference being 16 and 17, and your album is called Early Twenties Torture. Do you feel nostalgic for your teenage years?

 I definitely hyper-romanticise my high school years, which is so funny because if I went back now, I would be so miserable. It's interesting how your brain decides to remember things so much better than they were.  I had my first love in high school, and I tie so much of my innocence and youth to that relationship. It took me so long to accept that it'll never be that way again. 

It was really hard for me to transition from teenager to young adult, so a lot of the songs [on Early Twenties Torture are] about that. I constantly struggle with the passage of time, it keeps me up at night. Now I'm 24, and I feel stable and secure in knowing that I'm getting older, but this is the first time I've ever felt that way. 

Your first single, ‘WYD Now?’ went viral on TikTok, and has now racked up over 245 million streams on Spotify. What did it feel like to have your first project become so successful? 

[It] was such a complete shock. I was a sophomore in college at that point, [and I] didn't know anything about the music industry whatsoever. It was such an abrupt entrance into this world, but it was so sick. That's all I could've ever wanted.  I was holding out on releasing music for a long time because I was really scared. I think the only way that I would have ever released a song was if, like, hundreds of thousands of people were peer-pressuring me to do it. 

So was it something that you’d teased on TikTok? 

Yeah, I posted on TikTok, and it went super viral, so I was like, ‘Oh, I have to put this out’. But if the internet wasn't peer-pressuring me to do it I probably still to this day would not have music out.

You’ve been described before as a ‘heartbreak poet’. Do you feel a pressure to stay within that subject matter?

 I don't feel pressure, but I do love writing about breakups and heartbreak. It is interesting, when I'm happy in life and things are going good, I'm like, ‘Oh, no, what do I write about?’ I kinda have to dig deeper [and] challenge myself creatively in those moments. I love breakup songs. I work out to Adele. 

You're kidding! 

It gets me going. It's so satisfying. 

How do you feel Early Twenties Torture differs from Simple Like 17?

 I think it is definitely more mature, and it explores so many new themes. Simple Like 17 was all about the same person, and then in my 20s I was single for the first time ever, so I was writing about what it was like to be dating again [and] experiencing my first situationship, living in a new city and making friends. It felt like such a classic early 20s experience in LA, so I tried to put that all into [Early Twenties Torture].

Is there anything you wish you knew before entering the industry?

The best thing you can do is stay authentic to yourself. There's no reason to try and do anything differently just because you might have the resources to. It took me a full year of doing sessions with other collaborators to realise [that] I knew best the whole time. But also everything happened for a reason, and I loved learning the hard way as well. 

So, what’s next?

 I'm working on my deluxe album right now, which is gonna [have] a bunch of new songs and I'm super excited for that. I'm also touring in Europe, opening for Ruel for all of October. Those are the main two things coming up that I'm super excited for. 

Listen to Sadie Jean’s latest single, ‘Good Ones’ here, and find details for her Europe dates supporting Ruel in October here.

Writer Lucy Wragg