Rolling Stone talked to Sadie Jean for the latest episode of On Your Radar.
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00:00 Hi, my name is Sadie Jean and this is On Your Radar.
00:04 I would describe my sound as sad and pretty.
00:10 I really like melodies that are just super satisfying to the ear and organic instruments.
00:17 I love the piano.
00:18 I love guitar.
00:19 It's hard for me to remember my first memory with music because it goes back as far as
00:24 I remember, but I do remember I used to be in the car all the time because I grew up
00:30 in a suburb and I would make my mom turn off the radio and I'd be like, "It's Sadie's radio
00:37 time!"
00:38 And I would just make up songs in the backseat.
00:41 I remember thinking it was really fun.
00:43 And it was really fun.
00:46 I don't know if any of those lyrics made it into my music now.
00:50 I was definitely sad about really different things back then, I feel like.
00:54 So, it'd be interesting if I could...
00:56 I do have all my notebooks from my whole life, like a huge box of notebooks just from as
01:04 far back as I can remember.
01:05 I even have some pieces of paper because I used to make my older sister write down my
01:09 songs for me because I was too young to write things down.
01:13 And so it's really fun to look back and see what I was so concerned with.
01:17 It's so ridiculous just being so confused on how cartoons work.
01:23 I have a whole song about how come when a tree falls on their head, they're just fine
01:29 after.
01:30 I was so concerned about it.
01:32 So my subjects now are definitely a little more heavy, I feel like.
01:36 My writing process is definitely very natural just because it's about my real life.
01:41 I don't have to try and be too creative with it because it'll just be about how I'm feeling
01:47 that day.
01:48 It's just about my life.
01:49 I feel like the reason I started really writing songs was once I could be aware of what it
01:55 meant to write a song.
01:57 I was just doing it in a selfish way.
02:00 I just wanted to listen to something and know that no one else could relate to it as much
02:05 as I could.
02:06 When I have writer's block or something, I like to go on drives or just sit at the piano
02:11 for hours and see whatever's catching my ear.
02:16 But I try not to force it too much, honestly.
02:19 I feel like the internet is a crazy place, but it's also such a special, can be such
02:27 a special sanctuary for creative people.
02:31 And it's been really cool for me to connect with strangers on the internet.
02:35 I know you're told, like, stay away from strangers on the internet when you're growing up.
02:39 But I mean, it's just been really special to see people relate to something I make and
02:45 something that I originally thought was too personal, honestly.
02:50 My first song, "What Are You Doing Now?"
02:51 I was like, "No one's going to relate to this because there's specific age.
02:56 I'm talking about 17."
02:58 It's so about my experience.
03:01 I didn't expect that many people to resonate with it and also go a step further and add
03:08 their own verse with the Open Verse Challenge.
03:12 But it was definitely the most emotional part of the release process of that song.
03:17 I would just cry in my bed for hours every night, listening to people write their verses
03:26 and being like, "How did they know that that's how I felt about that whole situation that
03:32 I was writing the song about?"
03:33 So it's really cool.
03:35 I'm vibing with the internet.
03:36 I think it's fun to just have a creative collective for everyone to join in.
03:43 I did not expect the song to go gold.
03:47 I honestly didn't even really know what that meant until it did go gold.
03:51 I just didn't look into it, but it's such a crazy...
03:55 I don't know.
03:56 It's crazy to see the plaque and know that it represents people listening to my song.
04:02 That's so weird.
04:03 It's crazy.
04:04 I was definitely, growing up, I thought that writing music was really embarrassing.
04:09 I feel like when you're growing up, everything's embarrassing.
04:13 So I was very secretive about it and I didn't want anyone to know that I wrote songs.
04:18 But going into senior year, my first boyfriend had just cheated on me and I wrote a song
04:28 about it.
04:29 I was so angry that it was honestly the reason.
04:33 It was so petty.
04:34 I just wanted everyone to know that he sucked.
04:38 And so that was the real motivation.
04:42 I was like, "I have nothing to lose."
04:44 I already felt humiliated that he had cheated on me and the school knew.
04:49 And so I kind of wanted to take my power back a little bit, I think.
04:53 So I put the song on SoundCloud and everyone knew it was about him and it was awesome.
04:58 I'm really excited because my new single is called "16" and I really love it.
05:04 And it's really different than my previous three songs, which is kind of exciting.
05:10 Because normally I would shy away from doing something different this early, but it just
05:16 feels really right.
05:17 It feels very summer.
05:19 It's basically just about wishing I could go back to being 16 because I really loved
05:26 being 16.
05:28 I'm still really close with my high school friends and we're always together when everyone's
05:32 home for the summer.
05:33 And so I've been with them a bunch.
05:35 And it's just weird to be in the same place, like be in my hometown, and really recognize
05:40 the passing of time.
05:41 It's really trippy.
05:43 And so "16" is me trying to cope with being 21 years old.
05:49 Because it's just, I still feel like I'm 16.
05:52 I'm manifesting balance into my life, kind of just all the time.
05:58 I'm always manifesting that.
06:00 But I'd really just love if I could thrive in all of the areas and not suffer in the
06:08 other area.
06:09 When I thrive in the other...
06:12 Um...
06:13 Was that a bit crazy?
06:14 Yeah.
06:15 That's like what I want.
06:24 Like I'd love, to be more specific, I'd love to tour.
06:28 I'd love to put out so many songs, connect with people who listen to my music.
06:32 And also I'm moving to LA, which is really new.
06:36 And I'd like to make friends and see my family too.
06:42 There's just so many things.
06:43 It's really hard to live a life of balance.
06:45 So that's kind of my goal.
06:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]