Good things come to those who wait and we have been waiting for Tragic Sasha’s newest single for a long while. Rejoice all of you, who enjoy smart, witty, alternative pop music soaked in melancholic vibes and social commentary. Sasha’s latest track titled “Billboards” landed a couple of days ago and it’s absolutely jaw-dropping. After falling in love with her music about three years ago, we finally had enough time to review her two songs last year: “Fate’s A Bitch” (May) and “Overnight Success” (July). Those two articles were super popular among our readers, so we truly hope you will enjoy reading this new review too, as much as we enjoyed typing it in.
“Billboards” single cover picture by Cordelia Lawyer
Official bio: After a breakout 2024, Tragic Sasha (aka Sasha Gurney) is stepping into 2025 as one of the year’s most exciting independent artists. With praise from BBC Radio 1’s “One to Watch,” BBC 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq (“spellbinding”), and The Line of Best Fit (“talented sod”), she’s built a reputation for sharp storytelling, innovative production, and a distinct visual identity. Her upcoming releases dive deeper into themes of comparison, nostalgia, and self-worth, wrapped in her newly coined “Dead Hollywood” aesthetic: a tongue-in-cheek take on the pursuit of perfection that’s always just out of reach. “It’s old Hollywood on a £200 budget—all my clothes are from charity shops, and my songs are full of drama and depth, but produced in a tiny bedroom in Essex.”
The first thing that came to my head when I was listening to “Billboards” was how cinematic the song feels. This track was meant to be used as a sonic background to some long shot scene somewhere in a movie or a TV series. The long shot, also known as a wide shot is a filming technique that captures the characters in full and places them against their environment, in usually one, slow take. It is easy to imagine a dramatic scene where the main heroine, stares into the night, fights some internal battle and the camera moves away from her, contrasting her diminishing silhouette against the growing glimmering cityscape.
Somehow in my mind, the main heroine of the song is a blond bombshell, a Hollywood Golden Era actress whose relationship has recently ended. She let her ex-lover go (no regrets on her part in that department) but now they are “taking over the world”. She thought that their, probably very public, breakup would cause them misery and heartbreak but what happened was the exact opposite: the ex-partner is now on “billboards”, earning a lot of money from media interest, but her career suffered a major setback. Maybe, I’m reading too much into the rather ambiguous lyrics of the song but believe me, every woman knows another woman who has been in this situation. It doesn’t have to be Angelina Jolie or Amber Head, it doesn’t have to be Hollywood, but it is always the same scenario: the guy, comes pretty much unscratched from any scandal, misdeed or trouble he caused, while the woman is somehow blamed for everything, by media, family members or the general society. Patriarchy is very generous with men: offering them money, better prospects or connections while harshly punishing women, socially and economically. And while men can quickly re-bounce, women find themselves “caught in a supernova”, sometimes losing not only their jobs, careers but very often also their lives. If anybody thought about a happy ending here, well, you don’t get them too often neither in reality nor on the silver screen.
Tragic Sasha by Cordelia Lawyer
Whatever is the listener’s interpretation, all reviewers I found online agreed that Tragic Sasha is phenomenal at creating complex musical stories. “Billboards” is barely two minutes and 17 seconds long but after seeing the video and listening to the track, one feels like spending 2 hours in a cinema watching an actual film! Her voice, sometimes soothing, sometimes lyrical, is electrifying. I’m shocked that she is not signed to a major yet. She has been making critically acclaimed music for a number of years now and legends of British music journalism praised her to high heavens, Steve Lamacq is hardly the only one. Are the labels deaf and blind these days? Are their A&R people dead or something, cause how else can you explain this blasphemy? This is a crime against serious, eclectic and intelligent music, and should be punishable by, at least, a kick up their arse.
“Billboards” is a slow, electronic alternative pop track inspired by the 90’s power ballads and 1980’s cold wave. Written and produced by the singer, with its simple yet mesmerizing video, the song proves that you do not need a big budget to create something unique. Tragic Sasha is one of the immensely talented independent female creators that built successful careers with their skills, creativity and sensitivity.
I truly hope that 2025 will open new doors for her, she truly deserves to grace big billboards and big stages.
Follow Tragic Sasha online at:
www.instagram.com/tragicsasha
www.facebook.com/tragicsasha
www.tiktok.com/@tragicsasha
https://open.spotify.com/artist/13POEdcy38kG2ZzQD6PnTB?si=Yh90dCzeRoasR7fGhDU6OQ&nd=1&dlsi=81aa469cf2f5423b
https://soundcloud.com/tragicsasha
https://twitter.com/tragicsasha
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMXMsi5MXDZPK2aPp8V9t3w
Further read:
https://www.tmrwmagazine.com/en/news/tragic-sasha-explores-heartbreak-and-comparison-on-new-single
https://fizzymag.com/articles/tragic-sasha-billboards-new-single
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 