Sky Ferreira has been waiting for a call from A24 for years. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this for a long time because I felt like so many of my peers have worked with A24 musically,” she tells Rolling Stone over the phone. “I was like ‘Why am I the only one who never gets to do anything ever? I don’t get to have an album or write for films…’”
The call finally came early this summer, when she was contacted by the team behind A24’s upcoming erotic thriller Babygirl, including music supervisor, Meghan Currier, and writer/director Halina Reijn. As soon as she watched the film, Ferreira felt like she immediately understood both story and Reijn. That made it easy to produce a song like “Leash,” which is out today and featured in the film.
“I started off with a way poppier idea, and then I watched the film for a second time and then ‘Leash’ came to me,” Ferreira explains. “I wasn’t sure they would go for it because it wasn’t so obviously pop. I feel like it embodied the actual undertone of the film moreso than the written premise of the film.”
She worked with Jorge Elbrecht, the same producer she collaborated with for her 2022 single “Don’t Forget.”
“We have a lot in common musically, but we also undeniably trust each other which I don’t really have with a lot of people musically,” she explains. “It takes time to push each other in a good way. We could read each other’s minds without really having to say too much, so it saves a lot of time too.”
“Leash” came at the perfect time for Ferreira, who recently exited her longtime contract with Capitol Records. She released a full-length album with Capitol, 2014’s Night Time, My Time, but has been in career limbo ever since. Her fans and the general music industry have been waiting anxiously for her to drop her long-teased sophomore album Masochism. While she has dropped one-off songs here and there, many people, including Ferreira herself, had given up on the idea that she would release another full-length album again.
“I’m lucky that people still care about the stuff I put out so long ago,” she says. Over the last few years, she’s been playing more shows all over the world. And her fans at one point even launched a #FreeSky movement to push her and her label to release new music.
“It definitely helped me get out of that situation,” she says. “I would have just been stuck forever or they would have waited to drop me when they thought no one cared. Being able to play and meet people who listen to my music has meant a lot to me and reminded me that I wasn’t completely trapped and that I have some control over my life. It really did make such a big difference in my life. Without my fans supporting me, I wouldn’t have been able to even do this song. I owe a lot to my fans.”
Ferreira says she has another new song coming soon, to follow on the momentum “Leash” is allowing her. She will also film her first music video in years for the song, which will be released after the holidays. She’s hoping she’ll get more calls to do music for films or even get to score one some day. The structure the assignment brought her was a helpful new way to work and release music.
“It happened quickly, which I was surprised because usually I can dance around things for a while,” she explains. “I’m definitely interested in doing a whole score or something like what Aimee Mann did for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia.”
As for Masochism, she promises it will be out in 2025, at long last, along with more touring with bigger production. She’s still not sure if it make sense to drop her long-awaited sophomore album as an independent artist or to shop around for a new label partner. She’s already doing a lot to make her career happen on her own and without a manager at the moment. “I didn’t want to immediately run into someone else’s arms. It’s like going from one boyfriend to another boyfriend immediately. It just didn’t seem very wise after everything that’s happened.”
No matter what, she’s keeping that name. “I have fought a little too hard for too long for it not to be [called Masochism]. It’s fitting, isn’t it?”
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