Sabrina Claudio Signs to EMPIRE, Releases Candid ‘Need U to Need Me’ Single

After spending the last two years navigating the fulfilling experience of writing for her peers, Sabrina Claudio is entering a new chapter of her career as the R&B singer signs with EMPIRE, Billboard can reveal.

“I think my uniting with Empire was divine timing,” says Claudio, who was signed to Atlantic Records from 2018 to 2023, of partnering with the independent powerhouse. “There’s a reason why after nearly 10 years of being an artist, now was the right time to have come together. They have been a blessing in my life.”

Claudio continues: “Their support for the art I’ve created is unlike anything I’ve experienced before and I am beyond grateful to have partners who only want to enhance and champion my vision.”

Now that her label situation is sorted, Claudio is pouring back into herself. With her velvety vocals, the 28-year-old kicks off the next era of her artistic evolution with the release of “Need U to Need Me” on Friday (March 7).

Equal parts dreamy and vulnerable, the song is about Claudio’s desires to be yearned for by those she holds closest to her heart, the Florida native tells Billboard.

“I wrote ‘Need U to Need Me’ as a fear-based admission. A romanticized translation of longing and yearning to be a necessity to the ones you love most,” she says. “While most stigmatize needing as a form of weakness, I believe admitting that needing someone or desiring to be needed is a form of strength that can potentially breed a sense of closeness and community with those you value.”

There are plenty of silky ballads on the way, as Claudio is said to be working on a new album, which would be her first studio LP since 2022’s Based on a Feeling. In 2023, EMPIRE also served as the distributor for her most recent project, Archives & Lullabies, which featured several unreleased songs and acoustic versions of tracks from Based on a Feeling.

Listen to “Need U to Need Me” here.