SAILORR pulled up to the Genius office to break down her hit song, “POOKIE’S REQUIEM.” The track, which blew up on TikTok and Instagram with hundreds of thousands of impressions, comes from her latest project, 'CUT IT.' On today’s episode of Verified, the rising R&B artist shares the personal inspiration behind the song, her surprise at its viral success, the meaning behind her name, and more!
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00:00I was using this song as an opportunity to kind of make fun of my ex and myself.
00:05And I feel like when I made this song, a lot of cool stuff was happening music-wise,
00:09but I was also just within my personal life, like, shit is not okay right now.
00:13In a lot of my writing, I try to keep it lighter as kind of a way of coping.
00:18I don't really like making super heavy songs.
00:21I do for myself, but if I knew my ex was going to hear it, I was like,
00:25oh yeah, I'm going to talk my shit.
00:30So when I initially made Pookie's Requiem, I didn't realize how many people were really
00:38going to resonate with it.
00:39So to see that sort of reception is insane.
00:42One day I had like 3,000 followers on Instagram.
00:44And then the next, I wake up and 100,000 people are looking at what I'm doing and perceiving
00:50me.
00:50And that was just genuinely a shock to me.
00:52I'm super grateful because it also has opened doors for me to connect with people that I
00:58really love and respect and people that really fuck with the music.
01:00So that's just been a super, super beautiful experience.
01:03But I also have gone through a lot of growing pains within the past few months of just learning
01:07how to navigate it all.
01:09The most beautiful thing about it is that this song is, I guess, my letter to myself
01:13about self-healing and really just coming to terms with how that relationship changed
01:19me a bit.
01:20And so when all of that was happening, plus this song coming out and the reception of
01:24it all, it's really forced me to kind of sit down and take a self-inventory and be
01:29like, yo, this is what's important in your life.
01:32This is what's good for you.
01:33And this is how to really take care of yourself.
01:41During that time specifically in my life, I went no contact with my ex.
01:45And I was like, ooh, you know how bad that hurt.
01:48It was non-voluntary on my side.
01:51I was like, damn, you got me down bad.
01:54I'm not going to lie.
01:55But it was cool.
01:56I was coming to terms with the fact that I was like, okay, I need to get over you.
01:59Like, I need to actually live my life now.
02:01The, I'm hard to get a hold of, it was like reminding myself, like, okay, make yourself
02:06scarce.
02:07Like, why are you hitting this man up so many times?
02:09Like, girl, go get the fuck up.
02:11Oh, I'll say one thing, my requiem of a dream.
02:18To whatever bitch you got in Bushwick.
02:21This relationship, by the way, was a long distance relationship.
02:23He lived in New York.
02:24I was in Jacksonville at the time.
02:26I had an inkling that he was talking to other people, but I was just like, I was being delusional.
02:31So I was like, you know, whatever bitch you got in Bushwick, like tell her, this is what
02:35I got to say.
02:36I'm trying to poke less fun at the girl.
02:38It's more so the fact that like my ex probably replicated my entire personality to win her
02:43over.
02:44And that's like the funny part about it.
02:54The only reason why I found out that he was talking to other people was because I was
02:58following the other girl's meme page.
03:01So I'm like, let's just like send him the most niche meme I have.
03:05Something that like I would only really laugh at and like isn't inside joke type shit.
03:09Tell me why two days later I see it up on her page and I was like, yeah.
03:15Like it takes time to source and harvest these things.
03:17You know what I mean?
03:18Like that's like, that's a real love.
03:20If I send you reels, like you better watch that shit.
03:23If I send you anything, like you better watch that shit and you better like, I'm a little
03:26toxic.
03:27I'm like, don't share that shit with your friends.
03:28Like they shouldn't be laughing.
03:29You and I, we're doing this intimate thing right now.
03:32Like you better laugh at what I'm laughing at and that's it.
03:34Now you're using my humor and my music and my swag and my sweat just to, you know what
03:40I mean?
03:40Like, yo, that's my girlfriend now.
03:43Like.
03:51What I meant by the mini me line was that he is another version of me now.
03:55Like my ex is a version of me and he won her over using my swag.
04:04This is the part where I was really feeling myself.
04:09Okay.
04:09Like I was like, you know what?
04:11Like, ha ha.
04:11You know what?
04:12You, you stole everything from me.
04:14You took everything.
04:15I bet y'all get a dog and name it after me.
04:17That's how much you love me.
04:18I don't know if they actually ever did that for over.
04:21I'm a retired tweaker girlfriend.
04:23Like I genuinely don't want to know what the fuck you're on anymore.
04:27Like whoever I'm dating, I'm like, you know what?
04:29I'm just going to.
04:34In a very literal sense, I did after that breakup, like rewatch Requiem for a dream,
04:50like over and over again, just to like keep picking at scabs.
04:54I don't know.
04:54To me, I feel like Requiem is the portion of a piece of like, whether that be music
05:02or like literature or whatever that like comes at the end.
05:05This whole song was a reflection of that whole relationship.
05:08And like overall the themes of that entire film is just like addiction.
05:12Pretty much.
05:13It's just like being really, really drawn to like this other person and like not being
05:18able to like give up something, even though like, you know, it's not good for you.
05:22In another world, maybe we would have worked out whatever.
05:25This is my last piece to you.
05:27Like, this is what I have to say to you.
05:32Two things here, crying and also the feeling that love gives you sort of like an addiction
05:45to drugs.
05:45Like it's a double entendre here to where it's like, yeah, like I was crying so much
05:50like over this guy for so long, even knowing how it was going to transpire.
05:55I still went through with like that whole relationship, even though it like wasn't
05:59great.
05:59Like I knew like, okay, it just feels good.
06:02Like that instant validation.
06:03Like that's just what love gives you sometimes.
06:06And so that was that play on words there.
06:15That's just my everyday shoe for real.
06:16So that's, that's what I wear.
06:18Faizos.
06:21And I like wearing black Air Force Ones because I'm irresponsible and I get shit on my shoes
06:26all the time.
06:30That was a portion of the song where I could be vulnerable.
06:37And so vulnerability, honesty, balance it out with wit and humor and you just get a
06:44good little melting pot of emotions.
06:47Like that's how I really like to write all my music.
06:49I think that was the moment in the song where I was like, yeah, like I am not okay right
06:54now.
06:54And then let's get back into the hook.
06:56What's up, Genius?
06:58I'm Sailor from Florida's Finest.
07:01If you know, you know.
07:02Sailor.
07:03Okay.
07:04So my Finsta used to be Sailor Goon and that's a play on Sailor Moon, of course.
07:10But also, okay, I'm Vietnamese and a lot of my family, like we're all immigrants.
07:15And so like when that mass exodus of like people from Vietnam came over to America,
07:20like they're all sailors, especially like within my family.
07:23They're all sailors, especially like within my family.
07:26I just have hella fishermen.
07:28That's how we started like here in America, I guess.
07:30And so like I feel like that like is a nod, nod to my ancestors.