Sarah Saint James has made a splash on TikTok, amassing 2.4 million streams and more than 1.5 million views for user-generated content using her 2021 track “mad at god.” With her latest track “fake ass friends,” she might just make the transition from viral musician to mainstream star.
This single is heartbreakingly beautiful. I feel the loneliness in her vocals and the powerful lyrics, the result of a collaboration with former X Factor winner Cyrus. The understated production lets those two elements shine, drawing you into her world and daring you to listen to her story. I wish I’d heard this song as a teenager. It resonates with me now, but it definitely would have made me feel less isolated then.
“I only got invited to a few parties when I was younger. My small group of friends and I always wanted to go out, but we were so unpopular that we had nowhere to go,” Sarah recalls. “When I was at a party in Year 11, I overheard those so-called friends calling me a loser on the other side of a bathroom door, and that experience inspired this song. I thought about how I’d rather be surrounded by fake friends at parties looking cool, than be at home on a Saturday night watching their stories alone. When I look back, I feel really sad that I compromised myself to be surrounded by fake people – but everyone feels that way at some point, regardless of where you sat in the high school hierarchy.”
Sarah Saint James has more new music coming, with her debut EP Home Is Where The Hell Is scheduled for a March 18 release.
Image used with permission from Bianca Blancato; credit: Jess Gleeson