Sky Ferreira Talks Getting Through a ‘Rough Year,’ Industry Misogyny & Her ‘Little Nod’ to Nicole Kidman in New Song ‘Leash’

Last week, Sky Ferreira revealed she was releasing her first song as an independent artist in conjunction with the upcoming A24 drama Babygirl. The reaction was instant, with fans, fellow artists and critics welcoming the news. The new song, “Leash,” serves as a return for the singer-songwriter, whose last album, the acclaimed Night Time, My Time, dropped way back in 2013. “I was already so excited for babygirl but now we get babygirl + a new song from Sky,” tweeted friend and collaborator Charli XCX. “Omg stan mode activated.”

The fervent reaction — and her involvement in the Nicole Kidman-starring awards season favorite – comes after an admittedly dark time for the artist, during which she endured an acrimonious split with Capitol Records. “There’s a lot of people who are starting to understand the extent of what happened,” she told IndieWire of the period.

Now, Ferreira finally feels free, and her new song speaks as much to the plot of Babygirl as it does her own career. The singer-songwriter spoke to Billboard about reactions to her song, her creative inspirations and how she’s taken back her professional and creative power.

When all this was announced, the internet went ballistic. What did you make of the reaction?

I’m excited that my fans like it, you know? I always feel weird being like “My fans!” (Laughs) But you know, people that listen to my music often or whatever. But I’m glad that it’s just out now. It was just this thing that I was anticipating. Now I’ve been doing all these interviews and stuff like that, and I haven’t been doing that in quite a while, so I’m kind of adapting to that again. But I’m glad that it has positive feedback, for the most part, from what I’m aware of because (coming out with this song) wasn’t the most conventional choice. I wasn’t really sure how people were going to take it or if they were going to accept it as much.

I think your fans were clamoring for this comeback, redemption arc, or whatever you want to call it. Especially in an era when people are taking charge of their own stuff, whether Taylor Swift or Kesha, artists who are reclaiming their power in their own ways.

Definitely, definitely, and I mean, it does seem like maybe there’s finally some progress in that sense where people are starting to feel more comfortable talking about this without all the repercussions of doing so. I mean, I feel those repercussions a little bit — not as much as I used to years ago talking about it. I don’t feel like I’m just yelling into a void or something.

What do you think changed?

Well, I can’t pretend that misogyny still isn’t rampant by any means, because it definitely is. There’s even moments with this when I’ve noticed it. But for the most part, I feel like people are more aware of this thing, that it happens. It’s not just something that happened in the ‘90s, 80s or ‘70s. I think younger people too, especially artists, maybe are more aware that they’re supposed to have more ownership of not just of their music but their career. They’re aware of the importance of it. I think that makes a big difference. It’s holding some space (for the fact that) the music industry might have to be more accountable for these things now. And someone like Taylor Swift definitely has made a huge impact in a sense, because she’s the biggest pop star on earth. So I think that brought a lot of awareness.

Have you spoken to other artists who have been in vaguely similar situations?

I’ve talked to some people that were older that have been in deals, maybe they were married to someone that they were signed to, stuff like that. But that was a long time ago, that sort of thing. But no, I actually haven’t. And obviously I would like to. I don’t really know that many people. I’ve known people that have been buried for other art, like, other artists, but they weren’t held captive by their label for such a long period of time. I know that happened to JoJo, right? I think she was stuck in her deal forever. But I’ve never really come across anyone that’s had it to the extent where I have, where they just kind of sit on you for years, because I think that’s why a lot of people seem to not believe certain artists or me even. I feel like the common thing is people ask, “Well, why won’t they just drop them?” And it’s not a wise business decision on their part. I think they don’t want you to do better elsewhere. So it’s better to just keep you there, because they don’t want to lose their jobs or something. At least that’s one way of trying to think about it. I’ve gone through so many of the motions of trying to understand why it happened and to the extent that it happened and there’s really no answer that I can think of that makes it seem reasonable.

It’s incredible to think with your own body of work that your last album was released before streaming really kicked into gear. Are you seeing new audiences discover you now that “Leash” is out?

You know, it’s so weird when people are like, “I was the fifth grade when your album came out!” Like, I’m that old. Like, f–k! It is funny though because there’s young people who don’t realize I’m 32. They see the album cover and think I’m a teenager or something.

Let’s talk about “Leash” which is adventurous, provocative, creative — all of these things you’re known for. Where’d the title come from? Did you feel you were inserting your own experiences in at least the title of the song?

I mean, yes and no. It’s funny; the song was due and it was like, “What do we name this song?” We’re going through titles and “Leash” was the one I liked the most that I wrote down. There were different ones that didn’t capture the energy of the song. I didn’t want it to be too tragic sounding. The title definitely tied in with — I don’t know if you’ve watched the film — but it tied in with this dog that’s kind of like a symbol in the film.

I know you said the song got you out of your comfort zone while you were creating it. How so?

I felt responsible to make something for other people besides me. I don’t make creative decisions based off of other people, like what they would want. And this actually wasn’t a challenge because they gave me a lot more trust and freedom that I didn’t expect. But I was hired to do this thing and serve the film, so I wanted to be in line with whatever the director, the music supervisor and A24 envisioned for it. So I felt responsible to do that while trying to create something that is memorable, but also captures something within the film without being on the nose. I’m not describing anything that actually happens in the film or any of the plot — it’s more of a feeling.

I know you started the song fresh. Why not just get inspiration from your own archives? I’d assume you have a mountain of unreleased material right now.

I think for me, I’m trying to move forward. I wanted to show myself and try new things and I didn’t want to answer to anyone. I didn’t want to have to deal with any of that. It was definitely a therapeutic experience for me, a learning experience. I knew how to do all this and I have been doing it but it was validating. My self-esteem was pretty low after the last year. I had a pretty rough year. I’ve had a pretty rough year for like five years. But it showed that I’m capable of doing this without having to listen to the outside world telling me what I can do, what I can’t do, and what I’m capable of, or worrying what people will think of me. Because when people are saying things already, what more could they say? What more could they do at this point, you know? And it kind of allowed me to kind of deal with a few things to write about, that I subconsciously didn’t realize I was doing at that time. It showed that I don’t have to fully be stuck in my past. Though, I’ve never felt stuck in my past. Like, “Oh, the good old days!” or something like that. I’ve always been trying to make something new and challenge myself in some way. But I wanted something that didn’t carry all the weight because I already carry that.

The idea of putting a countdown in the song before that switch up I thought was really interesting. It reminded me of Madonna. Where did the idea of putting that countdown in there come from?

Well, there were a few things. How I developed writing pop songs and the stuff I generally tend to lean toward pop-wise are definitely more ‘80s and ‘90s music. In a way that’s kind of just where my mind goes. I’m a big Madonna fan and I’m a big Janet Jackson fan. I didn’t do it on purpose. I didn’t think of Janet Jackson on purpose, but after I did it I was like, “Oh, it doesn’t sound like Janet Jackson, but she I feel like she counts a lot in all of her songs, right?” But also I thought it would be fun to kind of have a little nod to Nicole Kidman somewhere in there. And I was originally trying to find scenes from Eyes Wide Shut, just little clips and distort it and do something like hidden within it and turn it into almost like an instrument within itself. What we ended up with was the counting from the film; I mean, I jumped over it because apparently I could probably get in trouble for that, so it’s my voice counting. I just kind of sat there for like 30 minutes trying to sound like Nicole Kidman. And I actually got pretty close. It was funny. I was like, “Oh, this is what I would sound like if I was more womanly and less, I don’t know, West Side L.A. girl sounding.”

I know you know one of your most vocal supporters has been Charli XCX. She tweeted about the song and you’ve collaborated in the past. What do you make of her success with Brat, from your perspective?

Well, I wasn’t necessarily surprised by it by any means. The only thing I’m surprised by is that it didn’t happen sooner. I’m so proud of her, I’m so happy for her, and it shows that hard work and talent does matter. It’s not just based off of who knows who or whatever. I think she had such a huge following to begin with before this, with her diehard fans and a great body of work. I mean, I can’t really think of anyone else I’d rather see that happen to. She’s always been so kind since I’ve known her for the past 12 or 13 years. I was always expecting it.