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Eddie Vedder paid tribute to Bruce Springsteen during Pearl Jam’s concert in Pittsburgh on Friday night (May 17), performing a solo acoustic rendition of “My City of Ruins” in what appeared to be a quiet but powerful response to Donald Trump’s recent public criticism of Springsteen.
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Vedder did not reference Trump directly and did not mention Springsteen by name before performing the song. But the choice was likely intentional, as Springsteen has been performing the 2002 track during his tour alongside fiery speeches condemning what he describes as attacks on civil liberties by Trump and his allies.
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During the kickoff of his European tour on May 14, Springsteen told the audience, “In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, and has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration.”
Trump responded on Truth Social on May 16, calling Springsteen “highly overrated,” “dumb as a rock,” and “a dried out prune of a rocker.” He also threatened to bar the musician from returning to the U.S. after his tour, writing, “Springsteen ought to keep his mouth shut until he gets back into the country. Then we’ll all see how it goes for him.”
Springsteen did not back down. “Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy, and they’re too important to ignore,” the rocker said to the crowd in a three-minute speech on Manchester’s Co-op Live stage on Saturday, as heard in a video posted by the L.A. Times.
“In my home, they’re persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. That’s happening now,” Springsteen said, echoing what he’d spoken about at his May 14 show. “In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. That’s happening now. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”
Springsteen continued, “They are removing residents off American streets without due process of law and deploying them to foreign detention centers as prisoners. That’s happening now…They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American.”
Eight years on from the unexpected passing of Chris Cornell, Soundgarden‘s Ben Shepherd has teased the release of an unreleased album of new material in a tribute post to his late bandmate.
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In the post shared on Saturday (May 17), Shepherd reflected on the legacy of Cornell, noting he had been reflecting on an unheard song written by the late musician alongside drummer Matt Cameron. “Its a song Chris and Matt wrote ‘The Road Less Traveled’ for our album that has yet to be named,” he explained.
“Just hearing Chris’ voice helps, I know he did that for everyone he knew… help them, he did for me, filled with self doubt and indebtedness and in just his tone knew what I was going through and forgave me like he always did even when he was older,” Shepherd continued. “It’s at this point of recording all of our previous albums I’d get this overwhelming hit of awe, camaraderie, power of creativity, majesty even, and love, from the music, and my bandmates… and I guess just pure life force.”
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Soundgarden disbanded following Cornell’s passing on May 17, 2017, though they have since performed on a handful of occasions with guest vocalists. Most recently, they performed as Nudedragons in December 2024, with Shaina Shepherd on vocal duties.
In 2023, the surviving members of Soundgarden reached an “amicable out of court” agreement with Cornell’s widow Vicky to end a four-year legal battle centered around seven unreleased audio recordings made by the singer before his death.
Upon the conclusion of the legal dispute, the band noted that their newfound “reconciliation marks a new partnership between the two parties, which will allow Soundgarden fans around the world to hear the final songs that the band and Chris were working on.” To date, no further update has been given in regard to when this unheard music may arrive.
In April, Soundgarden were one of the many acts announced as the 2025 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Speaking to Billboard, guitarist Kim Thayil said he feels confident Cornell would “definitely be stoked” about the induction.
“He’s the one who convinced me how appreciative the fans and our peers and the Soundgarden community — that includes the people that we work with and work for us — would be about it,” Thayil explained. “He realized how important that was, and he understood that would be important to us because it’s important to people who cared about us and helped us and supported us all along.
“That’s how I believe Chris would respond to this. I think he’d be very appreciative and thankful to all the people who have believed in him and believed in the work he did and the work that we all did, collectively.”
The 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction will be live on Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The 2025 ceremony will once again stream live on Disney+, with a special airing on ABC at a later date and available on Hulu the next day. It currently remains to be seen whether the surviving members of Soundgarden will perform at the ceremony.
Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro has apparently put to bed any hopes of further shows from the group, claiming there’s “no chance” of them playing live together again.
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Navarro’s comments came about in a recent interview with Guitar Player where the famed musician looked back on the best and worst gigs of his career.
In the latter category, Navarro turned to the band’s last run of shows in 2024, noting that some of those gigs were his favorite, with the group working together in perfect unison. “If you combined Grateful Dead and Radiohead, there were moments like that — just weird, experimental jams that we’d never done before as a band,” he claimed.
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However, it’s Jane’s Addiction’s final performance, at Boston’s Leader Bank Pavilion on Sept. 13, that takes the dubious honor of being his least favorite. That show made headlines last year when frontman Perry Farrell threw a punch at Navarro during a rendition of “Ocean Size.”
Navarro walked off stage following the incident, ending the show early, and soon after, Jane’s Addiction announced the cancellation of the remainder of their tour dates. The announcement included a statement signed by Navarro, bassist Eric Avery, and drummer Stephen Perkins highlighting the “behavior and the mental health difficulties of our singer Perry Farrell”.
According to Navarro, the incident is “still very tender and unresolved,” with the guitarist taking care not to be “naming names and pointing fingers” while speaking to Guitar Player.
“There was an altercation onstage, and all the hard work and dedication and writing and hours in the studio, and picking up and leaving home and crisscrossing the country and Europe and trying to overcome my illness — it all came to a screeching halt and forever destroyed the band’s life,” he explained. “And there’s no chance for the band to ever play together again.”
Much of the sadness around the unexpected and unfortunate end to Jane’s Addiction relates to the fact that the shows prior to their final performance were some of Navarro’s favorite.
“I’ll just say that the experience prior to that gig, when we were in Europe and gelling, really, for the first time — because at our ages, in our 50s and 60s, everybody’s done what they’re gonna do, and we weren’t competitive with each other — we were getting along,” he explained. “There was no ego issue; it was just four guys making great music, just like we did in the beginning. I was just us on a stage, with people going f–king crazy.
“And that gig, September 13th, in Boston, ended all of that,” he added. “And for that reason, that is my least favorite gig that I have ever played.”
In the wake of Jane’s Addiction’s final gig, Navarro, Perkins and Avery have reportedly been working on new music together, though it’s unclear exactly what form this will take.
Weeks after he was fired and subsequently rehired by The Who, Zak Starkey has announced he is once again no longer drumming for the band.
Starkey’s membership saga began in April when a spokesman for the group claimed that “the band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall,” referring to a pair of gigs the month prior. A report from those shows claimed that vocalist Roger Daltrey had stopped several songs mid-performance, citing difficulty hearing the band over the drums.
Starkey later issued a statement noting he was “surprised and saddened” by the news, though guitarist Pete Townshend later claimed Starkey was back in the band following the resolution of “communication issues.”
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While fans were eager to reference “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” in regard to Starkey’s reinstatement, the entire saga appears to have started all over again, with the band announcing a new drummer ahead of their forthcoming farewell tour.
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“After many years of great work on drums from Zak the time has come for a change,” Townshend shared on social media on Sunday (May 18). “A poignant time. Zak has lots of new projects in hand and I wish him the best. Scott Devours who has worked with Roger’s solo band will join The Who for our Final shows. Please welcome him.”
Starkey himself responded to the announcement via social media hours later, making it clear it was not his decision to leave the band.
“I was fired two weeks after reinstatement and asked to make a statement saying I had quit the who to pursue my other musical endevours this would be a lie,” he wrote. “I love the who and would never had quit.
“So I didn’t make the statement ….quitting the who would also have let down the countless amazing people who stood up for me (thank you all a million times over and more) thru the weeks of mayhem of me going ‘in an out an in an out an in an out like a bleedin squeezebox x.”
Both Townshend and Daltrey also issued a more formal statement regarding Starkey’s ousting via The Who’s website, reiterating Devours’ nascent role in the band and referring to Starkey’s myriad other projects as the reason behind the lineup change.
“The Who are heading for retirement, whereas Zak is 20 years younger and has a great future with his new band and other exciting projects,” they wrote. “He needs to devote all his energy into making it all a success. We both wish him all the luck in the world.”
Notably, despite The Who’s reference to Starkey being “20 years younger” and a need to focus on his other projects, Devours is himself 15 months younger than Starkey, with a similarly-busy schedule.
Starkey is the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Maureen Starkey, and has also enjoyed a fruitful career outside of The Who, playing with Oasis, Johnny Marr, Paul Weller and Graham Coxon. He currently performs in the recently-formed supergroup Mantra of the Cosmos, also featuring Shaun Ryder and Bez of the Happy Mondays and Black Grape, and Andy Bell of Oasis and Ride.
“None of this has ever interfered with The Who and was never a problem for them,” Starkey added in his social media post. “The lie is or would have been that I quit the who- i didn’t. I love the who and everyone in it.”
Sleep Token scores its first No. 1 album, and first top 10, on the Billboard 200 with the chart-topping arrival of its fourth full-length studio release, Even in Arcadia.
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The set, which is the English rock band’s major-label debut, bows atop the list dated May 24 with 127,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending May 15, according to Luminate — marking the act’s best week by units ever. It’s also the biggest week by units for any rock album in nearly a year, and the biggest for any hard rock album in two years. Further, the set’s streaming numbers are so big that it scores the largest streaming week ever for a hard rock album.
Sleep Token released its first single in 2016 and made its overall Billboard chart debut in 2019. The band previously scored one entry on the Billboard 200 with Take Me Back to Eden in 2023, debuting and peaking at No. 16. That set has earned 819,000 units in the U.S. to date, and its dozen songs (six of which were top 10 hits on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart) have generated 935 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. The band was among Billboard’s year-end top 10 on Top Hard Rock Artists in both 2024 (No. 8) and 2023 (No. 5).
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In early 2024, the act signed to RCA Records after previously releasing music on the indie label Spinefarm. The masked band — whose members have remained anonymous through the group’s career — made its debut on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in March with the new album’s “Emergence.” Two more pre-release songs from the set debut on the tally: “Caramel” (a career-best No. 34 high for the band) and “Damocles.”
Sleep Token’s No. 1 debut coincidentally comes just two weeks after another masked hard rock band from Europe, the Swedish act Ghost, landed its first leader with the chart-topping debut of Skeletá (May 10 chart).
Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Kali Uchis achieves her third top 10-charting set with the debut of Sincerely, at No. 2.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 24, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on May 20. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Even in Arcadia’s 127,000 first-week equivalent album units, album sales comprise 73,500 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 53,000 (equaling 68.89 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 500. Sales of the album were bolstered by its availability across six vinyl variants, a standard CD, two deluxe CD boxed sets (containing a CD and a branded hoodie) and a standard digital download album. All configurations contained the same 10 songs.
Even in Arcadia is just the fourth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2025, of 13 total, to also simultaneously be No. 1 on both Top Album Sales and Top Streaming Albums, following Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM (March 22), Kendrick Lamar’s GNX (Feb. 22) and The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow (Feb. 15).
Prior to Even in Arcadia, the last rock album to have a larger week, by equivalent album units earned, was Zach Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene, in its first full week of release, with 137,000 units (July 20, 2024-dated chart). The last hard rock album to score a larger week was Metallica’s 72 Seasons, which debuted with 146,000 units on the April 29, 2023 chart.
In terms of streaming numbers, Even in Arcadia posts an eye-popping — and historic — sum for a hard rock set. Its SEA figure of 53,000 equates to 68.89 million on-demand official streams of its 10 songs. That’s the biggest weekly streaming sum for any hard rock album ever. The last rock album overall with a bigger streaming week was The Great American Bar Scene, when it tallied 77.76 million during its fifth week on the chart, dated Aug. 10, 2024.
Even in Arcadia sold 73,500 copies — with vinyl comprising 47,000 of that figure. That’s the largest vinyl sales week for the band, and the biggest for a hard rock album on vinyl in the modern era (since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991). (It trumps the previous record, set only two weeks ago by the debut of Ghost’s Skeletá with 44,000.) It’s also the second-largest sales week in the modern era for a rock album, following the opening week of blink-182’s One More Time… (49,000; Nov. 4, 2023).
With Even in Arcadia debuting at No. 1 just two weeks after another hard rock album was tops — when Skeletá debuted at No. 1 on the May 10 chart — there have been two No. 1 hard rock albums in less than a month. That hasn’t happened in more than a decade. The chart last had two hard rock No. 1s in less than a month’s time nearly a dozen years ago, when Queens of the Stone Age’s …Like Clockwork and Black Sabbath’s 13 debuted at No. 1 in successive weeks (June 22-29, 2013).
Rock and hard rock albums are defined as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums charts, respectively.
Finally, Sleep Token is the fifth act in 2025 to score a first No. 1 this year, following Ghost (with Skeletá), Ken Carson (More Chaos), Tate McRae (So Close To What) and PARTYNEXTDOOR (with the Drake collaboration set $ome $exy $ongs 4 U). In all of 2024, there were five acts that got their first No. 1s: Ty Dolla $ign (with the Ye collab Vultures 1), TWICE (With YOU-th), Sabrina Carpenter (Short n’ Sweet), Jelly Roll (Beautifully Broken) and Yeat (Lyfestyle).
Going back another year, there were also five acts in 2023 that got their first No. 1s that year: TOMORROW X TOGETHER (The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION), Karol G (MAÑANA SERÁ BONITO), NewJeans (2nd EP ‘Get Up’), Zach Bryan (Zach Bryan) and ATEEZ (THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL).
At No. 2 on the Billboard 200, Kali Uchis’ Sincerely, debuts with 62,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the artist’s third top 10-charting effort, following Orquídeas (No. 2 in 2024) and Red Moon in Venus (No. 4 in 2023). Of the 62,000 units earned, album sales comprise 38,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 24,000 (equaling 32.45 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 18 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
The first-week sales of Sincerely, was aided by its availability across 10 vinyl variants (including signed editions), three CD variants (including a signed edition), a cassette and a standard digital download album (all containing the same tracklist), as well as a deluxe download with two bonus tracks.
A trio of former No. 1s is next on the Billboard 200, as SZA’s SOS is steady at No. 3 (51,000 equivalent album units; down 3%), Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is a non-mover at No. 4 (48,000; up 6%), and PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U climbs 7-5 (47,000; up 17% following its vinyl release). Fuerza Regida’s 111XPANTIA falls 2-6 in its second week (just over 43,000; down 43%), while Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping GNX dips 5-7 (43,000; down 4%), and Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet falls 6-8 (40,000; down 2%).
The Weeknd’s former No. 1 Hurry Up Tomorrow vaults 27-9 with 38,000 equivalent album units earned (up 82%), largely owed to sales generated by the release of new CD and vinyl editions of the album. Rounding out the top 10 of the Billboard 200 is Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which falls 1-10 with 38,000 units (down 55%), a week after it hopped back to the top following its release on vinyl.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Bruce Springsteen resumed denouncing Donald Trump from the stage of his Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour Saturday night (May 17) in Manchester, England.
The Los Angeles Times reports the Boss didn’t back down from his stance on Trump this weekend, after the U.S. president called Springsteen “highly overrated,” “dumb as a rock” and a “dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!)” in a post on Truth Social. The rant was Trump’s reaction to the musician calling out the president’s “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration” at his tour opener earlier in the week.
“Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy, and they’re too important to ignore,” Springsteen said to the crowd in a three-minute speech on Manchester’s Co-op Live stage on Saturday, as heard in a video posted by the L.A. Times.
“In my home, they’re persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. That’s happening now,” Springsteen said, echoing what he’d spoken about at his May 14 show. “In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. That’s happening now. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”
Springsteen continued, “They are removing residents off American streets without due process of law and deploying them to foreign detention centers as prisoners. That’s happening now. The majority of our elected representatives have utterly failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government. They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American.”
On a note of optimism that quoted novelist and civil rights activist James Baldwin, he added, “The America I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its many faults, it’s a great country with a great people, and we will survive this moment. Well, I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, ‘In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.’”
On Friday, after Springsteen had shared similar thoughts from the stage on opening night of his tour, Trump responded on Truth Social, writing: “I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he’s not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country. Sleepy Joe didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is ‘dumb as a rock,’ and couldn’t see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.’ Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”
The “Born in the U.S.A.” singer, who’s performing across the U.K., France, Spain, Germany and Italy from now through early July, endorsed Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Sleep Token has secured its first U.K. No. 1 Album on the Official Albums Chart with Even in Arcadia (May 16). The masked metal band previously hit the No. 3 spot with their 2023 LP Take Me To Eden, and have three songs in this week’s U.K. top 40 singles. In June, the band are […]
Jonah Kagen reigns on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart for the first time, topping the May 24-dated survey with “God Needs the Devil.”
The song, which rises a spot, marks Kagen’s first ruler on any Billboard ranking, earned with his second charted title. Previously, Kagen spent a week on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in 2021 with the Matoma collaboration “Summer Feeling.”
Kagen becomes the sixth act to rule Alternative Airplay for the first time in 2025. Almost Monday accomplished the feat first in February (“Can’t Slow Down”), followed by Justice and Tame Impala (both on “Neverender” in March), Balu Brigada (“So Cold,” March) and Lola Young (“Messy,” April). Of that group, Justice, Balu Brigada and Young led in their first appearances on the list, like Kagen.
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Roughly halfway through 2025, the year is the best for acts notching inaugural Alternative Airplay No. 1s with their first entries on the chart in five years; in 2020, Absofacto, White Reaper, Sub Urban and All Time Low all reigned on their first tries.
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Kagen’s 29-week trip to No. 1 is the lengthiest since 2023, when Bad Omens’ “Just Pretend” took 32 weeks.
Concurrently, “God Needs the Devil” lifts 9-8 for a new high on the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart with 2.6 million audience impressions, up 10%, in the week ending May 15, according to Luminate. The song peaked at No. 22 on Adult Alternative Airplay in November.
“God Needs the Devil” is on Kagen’s EP Black Dress, which was released in November and has earned 27,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated May 24 will update on Tuesday, May 20, on Billboard.com.
Josh Freese announced on social media Friday (May 16) that he’s been abruptly removed from the Foo Fighters‘ lineup after two years drumming for the band.
“The Foo Fighters called me Monday night to let me know they’ve decided ‘to go in a different direction with their drummer.’ No reason was given,” he wrote, punctuating the news with an old-fashioned sad-faced emoticon. “Regardless, I enjoyed the past two years with them, both on and off stage, and I support whatever they feel is best for the band.
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“In my 40 years of drummer of drumming professionally, I’ve never been let go from a band,” Freese continued, adding that he’s “not angry—just a bit shocked and disappointed” by the decision.
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Still, his message ended on a cheerful note that showed the musician seems to be taking the cryptic dismissal in stride. “I’ve always worked freelance and bounced between bands so, I’m fine,” he concluded before promising, “Stay tuned for my ‘Top 10 possible reasons Josh got booted from the Foo Fighters’ list.”
Before taking up the mantle left by Taylor Hawkins’ tragic and sudden passing in 2022, Freese spent his decades-long career drumming with everyone from The Zappas, The Vandals and Devo to Guns N’ Roses, Sting, Nine Inch Nails and Weezer.
He’s also worked extensively as a studio musician for the likes of The Offspring, Lostprophets and the Replacements, and contributed drums to hit albums like Avril Lavigne’s Let Go, Kelly Clarkson’s Thankful, Good Charlotte’s The Young and The Hopeless, Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream and Lana Del Rey’s Norman F–king Rockwell.
Meanwhile, the Foo Fighters booked their very first show of 2025 earlier this week by announcing they’ll be performing at the Singapore F1 Grand Prix in October — just months after frontman Dave Grohl hit the stage at Coachella with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Representatives for the Foo Fighters declined Billboard’s request for comment. Read Freese’s full statement about his firing here.
Alexandra Savior has considered leaving the music industry many times. Having started her musical career early – signing to Columbia Records at 17 and releasing her debut album Belladona of Sadness by the age of 19 – she’s had plenty of ups and downs all before the age of 30. She’s played in bars she was too young to be in, worked with well-known musicians including Danger Mouse and the Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, and released an independent album after she was dropped by her major label.
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“It’s really a fight to try and survive in this industry,” Savior says. “I always wanted to go back to school just because I am the happiest when I am learning. After my first album, I was pretty ready to be done.”
Without a label or management, she moved back to the Pacific Northwest, and considers it a miracle her second album (2020’s Archer) even happened. “Throughout my life, I’ve felt that I wanted to go towards something else that would be easier, but it never happens,” she tells Billboard. “I always feel like I need to make another album anyways.”
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Now onto her third album, Savior is making a point to separate herself from her previous work and create music on her own terms. Beneath the Lilypad (out today, May 16, via RCA Records) is self-produced by Savior, alongside her partner and producer Drew Erickson, and delivers an intimacy not found in her previous two albums. Started during the height of the pandemic, Savior says her sound became a lot more tender, soft and quiet.
Alexandra Savior
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“I wasn’t thinking of how it would be perceived as much,” she says. “Because I was doing this on my own and literally on my own every hour of the day like the rest of us, it gave me a lot of freedom to let go of any sort of outside pressure. And not having a label, it made me feel more free to express myself.”
She kicks off Lilypad with the deceptively cheerful “Unforgivable,” which alludes to her mistreatment earlier in her career. In her signature voice that harkens back to Hollywood starlets of the 1950s, she sings, “When I get the chance, I’ll muster up some recklessness” and “I’ll use the knife that you once held/ And when it’s time to pay, I’ll send the invoice right your way.”
Savior has called the track a “mantra” to help her and other women who have been mistreated to stop blaming herself. The opening track sets the tone for her new 11-song collection, which sees the seasoned musician tackle the preservation of her mental health and find her unique sound all on her own.
Below, Savior dives deeper into Lilypad, and getting past the pressures of her early years in the industry.
The first track on the album is “Unforgivable,” which is about telling off someone in the industry who wronged you in the past. As a launch into the album, it feels like “let me address this, so we can move onto my album.”
Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny because it’s actually the last song that I wrote for the album. It felt like I was taking a step and trying to make a statement about wanting to have control over my own autonomy, of my own work and of myself as a woman that I don’t think I have had in the past. So, I wanted it to be at the forefront of this album.
You were a teenager when you first started in the music industry — and that’s a lot of pressure for a teen. Do you feel you’ve been able to shake any of the pressure by your third record?
Yeah, the expectation and the pressure I felt was like, “Find out who you are now so that we can market it and make money off of that.” I didn’t know who I was, because who knows when you’re that young. I had a lot of self-doubt within that experience and that was very confusing.
Beneath the Lilypad focuses a lot on your unmistakable voice and is more stripped down than your previous albums. Why did you scale back on that fuller sound?
That is because I felt a lot more confident with myself this time around. Before I felt like I needed to use that wall of sound to mask my insecurities about myself as a songwriter or a singer or a musician. I didn’t feel that way this time. I actually wanted to get rid of all of that and try to be vulnerable. That was definitely intentional.
On this album there are a lot of references to outer space like “Mothership” and “Venus,” what do you feel is your connection to the interstellar?
Well, first of all, I like conspiracy theories and UFOs and parallel universes and all of that. I feel connected to the universe and I think it’s a magical thing to think about, like how we are all made out of the same stuff and how does all of this affect us. You know, classic stoner thoughts. I don’t smoke weed, but I have a lot of stoner thoughts.
Another big theme on this album is mental health and how you are navigating that.
It is everything about what I write. I felt like it was impossible for me to not talk about ti with this album in particular because my songwriting comes from my mental illness. It’s a way for me to digest the experiences that I have within that and reflect on them. When I am in psychosis or mania or depression, I don’t have a clear perspective of what I’m experiencing.
So, to be in that space and write about my experience in a visceral way, instinctual way, it helps me be able to look back on that experience and understand myself more and understand my brain chemistry and what parts of it are me and what parts of it are just the perception that I have. Writing has been really helpful for that.
You created all of the art for this album including the cover art and the videos. How long have you been creating visual art?
I did the cover for the most recent single, “Mothership.” I did the album cover and then a lot of [my art] has been used within the merch and the videos. I’ve made stop motion videos for the songs. I’ve been doing [visual art] longer than I’ve been doing music. I started when I was 12. I took my first art class and that when I got my head kind of cracked open. I was immediately like, “This is what I have to do.”
You’re not thinking when you’re 12 how you are going to make a living when you’re 30, but I was painting and drawing predominantly. I was meant to go to art school. I had a dorm room picked out and everything. My mom was like, “You should probably try to make to make it with this, give it a few months and try to do this music thing.” So, now I have incorporated it into the music, because it’s fun.