Sarah Jaffe’s endearingly stark narratives have gone from homespun folk-pop songs to decidedly cathartic pop ballads without losing any of their thoughtfulness or intimacy. Instrumentations now veer more towards electro-pop, but her storytelling and heartfelt lyricism is still every bit as cerebral. With three EPs and four studio full-lengths to her name – including 2017’s critically acclaimed Bad Baby LP – Jaffe has toured the US and Europe multiple times, performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and has shared stages with the likes of Norah Jones, Patty Griffin, Erykah Badu, Metric, Chelsea Wolfe, Midlake, Blitzen Trapper, and Cyndi Lauper.
In addition to her solo career, Jaffe has written and performed twice for designer Jonathan Simkhai’s New York Fashion Week shows, and has composed original music for the independent film Never Goin’ Back, which premiered in 2018 at Sundance. Jaffe also has a writing partnership with hip-hop producer S1 and the duo’s first collaboration, “Bad Guy,” appeared on Eminem’s Grammy Award-winning The Marshall Mathers LP2. Her voice was featured in the Disney Pixar short The Blue Umbrella scored by Jon Brion and can also be heard in the Occulus virtual reality short Dear Angelica.
Jaffe’s most recent releases, the upcoming digital EPs This Is Better Pt 1 and This Is Better Pt 2 will be out July 19, 2019 via Kirtland Records. These releases continue her collaborative journey, this time with producer, Aaron Kelley, who Jaffe first connected with while writing music for films. That relationship quickly pivoted to the two writing songs intended for other acts – “I was knee-deep in some gnarly heartbreak” says Jaffe, “I needed to keep my brain occupied and writing was, quite literally, the only thing that felt good. Because of where I was at mentally and physically, everything I wrote was so close to the chest. ‘LAY LOW (TAKE CARE)’ was the first track we did together. I realized about four songs in that these songs all felt like mine. It’s interesting to me to have gone in with the intent to pitch songs to other artists and end up with two EPs about grief and coming out of it. I’m really grateful to have met Aaron at a very strange time, in what now feels like, another life.”
