Perth musician SACHA, is bold, “brutally honest” and bowing to no one – except maybe her mum.
SACHA, AKA Sacha Taylor, is the daughter of well-known hair salon owner Charlie Taylor. But after growing up in Perth and training as a hairdresser herself, she’s cutting loose to pursue music in London.
Her debut single, Something We’ll Regret, will be released on June 11.
Written by Sacha herself, produced by Glasgow-based Lewis Gardiner and with artwork by Edinburgh photographer Jodie Mann, the track is a wholly Scottish effort – a fact that makes the proud Perth lass love it even more.
“I’m really excited,” says independent artist Sacha. “I’m at the point now where I’ve got all this music I like, so I thought ‘OK, time to release’.”
Some may recognise Sacha from her start on ITV’s talent-seeking show, The X Factor. After posting videos of herself singing on YouTube, she was scouted by reps from the programme and performed on it in 2016, but “didn’t get very far – thankfully”.
Her gratitude is well placed. If the TikTok generation has proven anything, it’s that radio-safe, cookie-cutter hits are out. Big beats and big attitudes rule the airwaves now – which shouldn’t be a problem for SACHA.
Boasting what she calls a “dark, gritty pop” sound, she cites her major influences as Bebe Rexha, Miley Cyrus and “early” Dua Lipa. And with hints of Amy Winehouse in her vocal too, it’s clear the 26-year-old isn’t out to make palatable pop.
“I’m not like a little pop princess!” she laughs. “That’s not the music I’m making. I write all my own songs, all my own music.
“I feel like I’m very brutally honest and I’m open about making mistakes and not being perfect.
“So many people try to put across the perfect popstar image, but I feel like I’d rather keep it real, be honest and share my stories.”
‘I’m still battling my bad boy demons’
Her debut track, Something We’ll Regret, is a prime example of Sacha’s willingness to admit mistakes.
Asked about the inspiration behind the song, she says, with refreshing bluntness: “I’ve got a lot to write about, especially relationship-wise, because I’m an extremely bad picker.
“I tend to go for…” she pauses. “I dunno how much detail I should go into here, my mum’ll probably kill me!
“I was just continually going for these kind of bad guys.
Followin’ the pattern of my past mistakes,
lookin’ like another type of risk I’ll take.
Wish I could take a look inside a crystal ball
and see if you will leave me drownin’ from the fallSACHA, Something We’ll Regret
“My mum is just like, ‘Sacha no, not again! Come on!’ This one guy had tattoos all over his face, covered my arm in tattoos… God.
“So that is, in a nutshell, what the song’s about – making reckless decisions when you’re young, and knowing it’ll end badly but just going, ‘Oh, sod it’.
“I was younger at the time, but even now, I’m still battling my bad-boy demons!”
Safe to say, Something We’ll Regret‘s familiar narrative of disappointing romance will be as relatable to listeners as SACHA hopes. So does she regret it, after all?
“I don’t actually regret it in any way,” she says, and although we are on the phone, I can practically hear her chin jutting out in defiance.
“Because it’s given me a hell of a lot of material to write about, I’ll tell you that!”
Something We’ll Regret will be available on Spotify from June 11 2021.