SadBoi makes music that feels built for motion. Her songs borrow from dancehall, rap, R&B, and club music to create something that feels informed by pop, while staying personal and honest. The energy is restless by design: confidence collides with heartbreak, bravado folds into vulnerability, and the night out often arrives carrying the emotional residue of whatever came before it.
Raised in Toronto and shaped by Caribbean influence, SadBoi has built a world that feels deeply tied to the city’s language, nightlife, and emotional rhythms, even as her audience stretches well beyond it. Her music carries the spirit of Toronto, but refuses to stay geographically fixed, absorbing new sounds and perspectives while remaining rooted in the culture that formed her. For SadBoi, genre matters less than instinct, and identity matters more than expectation.
As her career grows, she remains protective of the emotional honesty that made people connect in the first place.
Your sound pulls from so many scenes and styles. Do you think about genre when you make music, or is it more about feeling?
Definitely more about the feeling. People always ask me what genre I’d call my music, and honestly I never really know how to answer because I don’t create with genre in mind. I just make what feels good and what feels honest to me. The second you start trying to label yourself too much, it can feel like putting yourself in a box.
You first built a following under your own name before becoming SadBoi. What did the name change allow you to express that you couldn’t before?
I think the name change really helped me tighten my identity and build a real world around the music. Before SadBoi, I loved so many different sounds that I would just create whatever inspired me in the moment and put it out. Now I still love everything, but I have a clearer understanding of what fits within the SadBoi universe and what doesn’t.
Toronto has such a specific language and rhythm to it. How important is it for you to keep that in the music as your audience grows globally?
It’s very important. Toronto is such a huge part of who I am, the slang, the energy, the music, the people, all of it shaped me. No matter where I go, I can never stay away too long. Even when I’m traveling or experiencing new cultures, I’m always comparing it back to how we do things in the city.
There’s a strong Caribbean influence in your music. Is that intentional or ingrained in you?
I’d say a little bit of both. I’ve always naturally gravitated to Caribbean sounds based on how I grew up. I love the energy that it brings to music. Now that I have developed a sound, producers know what to send me, so I think it has become more intentional.
Your music often moves between vulnerability and confrontation. Do those emotions come from the same place for you?
Absolutely. I’m not naturally someone who likes to sit in vulnerability for too long. If I’m hurt or going through something, my instinct is usually to turn up, go outside, be around my friends and escape it for a little while. A lot of my music lives in that space between feeling everything deeply and trying not to let it consume you.
You’ve said your music is “for the girls,” and there’s a real sense of community around it. Who are you thinking about when you write?
I think about myself, my sister, my friends, and honestly just women I’ve met throughout my life. As girls, we go through so many of the same emotions and experiences. I’ve had girls come to my shows alone, fresh out of relationships, looking for an escape or a sense of community. That means everything to me. If my music can give someone confidence, freedom, or even just a few hours to forget what they’re going through, then I’ve done my job.
A lot of artists are pushed to soften or polish themselves as they grow. What parts of SadBoi are you most protective of?
I’m protective of all of SadBoi. Some of the biggest setbacks in my career came from letting people tell me who I should be or what they thought “the girls” wanted from me. I’ll always be open to growth, criticism and coaching, but never at the expense of my identity or what I stand for.
Future of Music is about artists shaping what comes next. Do you feel like you’re reflecting where Toronto music is now, or pushing it somewhere new?
I think I’m helping push it somewhere new while still respecting what came before me. Toronto will always be my foundation, but I’ve also been lucky enough to experience so many different cultures and sounds around the world. That perspective naturally finds its way into my music, and I think that’s what makes it feel fresh.
As Canadian music becomes more global, what do you think artists here need to hold onto in order to keep that momentum going?
I think Canadian artists have to hold onto what makes them unique instead of trying to blend in elsewhere. Canada has its own perspective, sound and culture, and that’s exactly what makes people connect to us globally. The more authentic we are to where we come from, the further the music travels.
Anthony Orosz*
The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr, Bono and Adam Clayton (from left) in 1978 Patrick Brocklebank
Class photo from Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin, 1978. Bono is in the front row, third from left; his future wife, then Ali Stewart, is to his left. The Edge is in the back row, center, in jacket and tie. Courtesy of U2
U2 in Berlin circa Achtung Baby Anton Corbijn
Anton Corbijn
Bono, the Edge, and Clayton perform at the Sphere in Las Vegas in 2023, with Bram van den Berg filling in for Mullen on drums Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
U2 shooting the “Street of Dreams” video in Mexico City in May Eloisa Sanchez
Michael Schwartz
Did ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Need an Encore? And Where Is Taylor Swift Going Next?
Taylor Swift has always loved a story. It’s what has set her songwriting apart for 20 years now — and what she has used to maintain her almighty superstar status. Both in her work and in the presentation of it, Swift has woven strong narratives of heartbreak, success, redemption, torture, and glory where all of the pieces fall into place and it’s easy to root for her.
With her latest album, The Life of the Showgirl, Swift presented a sequined tale of triumph. Finally, finally, the girl who spent her whole life trying to put the feeling of love into words had changed the prophecy by getting engaged (and now married) to Travis Kelce. Professionally, Swift was at her peak, too. She’d just bought back her masters with the earnings from her historic Eras Tour, an all-encompassing career feat that inspired the project.
But there’s no debating that the musician’s 12th album was her most polarizing yet (yes, even more than the 2017 LP, Reputation). Some critics and fans alike didn’t appreciate the execution of the “showgirl” idea sonically or thematically. But hate it or love it, Showgirl was the perfect way for Swift to revel in her success — and set the stage for her next show-stopping move.
That’s why it’s so confusing that the expert storyteller decided the show wasn’t over when she released The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore with four bonus tracks. One of the strongest elements of the original album was that Swift delivered a tight 12, and only 12, songs. “There’s not a 13th, there’s not other ones coming,” she said last year. “Every single song is on this album for hundreds of reasons, you know, and you couldn’t take one out and it’d be the same album. You couldn’t add one. It’s just right.”
Now, there is suddenly more to the story with the addition of “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.” Unfortunately, as many fans have pointed out, none of the songs add to the narrative set forth in Showgirl.
Swift said she wrote the bonus tracks last year following the success of the album. “We just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in,” she said, referring to the project’s collaborators, Max Martin and Shellback. That moment found Swift newly engaged, yet her lead single back, “Patient Zero,” looks back at a past relationship. “Pink Clouding” also reflects on a former flame, but without the regretful yearning that made “Ruin the Friendship” a standout. Meanwhile, “Cleveland!” takes the gushing over-the-heels joy from “Honey” and “Wood” and adds an almost spiteful twist. And then there is the new curtain-closer, “Babylon” where Swift hands out more pearls of wisdom over an acoustic cut that would fit better on Folklore or Evermore. In fact, all four songs sound like they were plucked from previous albums like Midnights or The Tortured Poets Department. With these four tracks, she has not only confused the story of Showgirl, she’s also muddled that of Taylor Swift™.
Swift is a known mastermind, who has planned her next career move years in advance, and she’s been celebrated for her expert marketing power moves. But where does the showgirl go from here? The Encore has unleashed more questions about Swift’s next chapter rather than offer a clear path forward.
On Sunday, Swift premiered the cinematic music video for “Patient Zero” at the 2026 MTV VMAs. It’s a chilling thriller, and one of her most impressive visuals to date. Was that the point of it all, to highlight her full-throttle pivot to film? We know that the musician has a directorial debut on the way with Searchlight Pictures. Maybe she finally found the time to finish it, and that’s why she worked on the Toy Story 5 soundtrack.
The Encore could also just be a way for Swift to get her 12th album back into the conversation, just in time for the first round of voting for the 2027 Grammys. One would expect the singer-songwriter to submit the project for all of the major categories, including the coveted Album of the Year and Song of the Year. It’s unclear whether Swift will submit both “The Fate of Ophelia,” which became Swift’s longest-running Number One song atop the Billboard Hot and her new shining single “I Knew It, I Knew You” for Song of the Year — the songwriting-focused Grammy she has yet to win.
Swift has spent the last six months riding on the high of “I Knew It, I Knew You.” The song dominated on country radio — and led the musician to drop a ton of Easter eggs hinting at her big return to the genre. She could honor her songwriting legacy with a country music return timed to the 20th anniversary of her debut in October. Now that would be a great story.