Sarah Kinsley - The King (2021) Hi-Res

Sometimes, growing up is no fun. They say that time moves faster when you’re older, and trying to hold on to the important bits of youth as you start to leave your teenage years behind – friendships, spontaneity, a sense of adventure – can become increasingly tricky when everything feels dizzying and uncertain, as if the world is spinning around at 100mph.

It’s an emotionally affecting reality that the New York-based Sarah Kinsley confronts on ‘The King’ EP, an immersive collection of indie-pop songs that evoke how momentous it feels to stand at the edge of adulthood. The sublime title track – which the singer-songwriter and producer has previously said captures “everything about what it means to turn 20” – draws from the exact moment where fear turns to clarity: as she sings of ageing and irreversible change, her crushingly beautiful voice warmly hugs the lilting melody, as though she is comforting herself. But the optimistic pre-chorus – “So tell me/Before we get older/Let’s do everything” – suggests hope, not self-pity.