SASAMI has announced a new album, Blood On The Silver Screen, the follow-up to 2022’s Album Of The Week Squeeze. Since her last effort, Sasami has teamed up with J Mascis for a new version of “Tried To Understand,” guested on Winter’s “Good,” co-produced King Tuff’s Smalltown Stardust, and released the single “Honeycrash,” which will appear on Blood On The Silver Screen. Today, she’s sharing the album’s opener: a dance-pop bop called “Slugger.” It comes with a video directed by Crystalline Structures Studio.

Opening up about “Slugger,” SASAMI says: “I wanted to be more playful and communicate more with pop culture. When I listen to music, I think about how I feel, how I want to feel, how I want to move to it. And that’s what’s special about music—how it connects to culture, how it connects to different styles of music, how it connects to the timbre of the voice of the person singing it.”

SASAMI also unpacked her thought process around making her pop-minded new album, which comes co-produced by Jenn Decilveo and Rostam.

This album is all about learning and respecting the craft of pop songwriting, about relenting to illogical passion, obsession, and guiltless pleasure. It’s about leaning into the chaos of romance and sweeping devotion—romanticism to the point of self-destruction.

I was always a weirdo outsider and I didn’t feel like pop music spoke to me. Being a woman of color, I’ve always felt this pressure or need to make something that’s mysterious or innovative, and always shied away from lightheartedness.

My relationship to love and sex was so tied into these repressive, super restrictive definitions. This album for me is about having deep, meaningful relationships within a new definition of what is good, what is right, and what is powerful. We are still passionate beings.

I wanted to go all out with this album. I wanted to, in my tenderness and emotionality, have the bravery to undertake something as epic as making a pop record about love. I hope it makes people feel empowered and embodied, too. It’s important to not box yourself in.

Listen to and watch “Slugger” below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Slugger”
02 “Just Be Friends”
03 “I’ll Be Gone”
04 “Love Makes You Do Crazy Things”
05 “In Love With A Memory” (Feat. Clairo)
06 “Possessed”
07 “Figure it Out”
08 “For The Weekend”
09 “Honeycrash”
10 “Smoke (Banished from Eden)”
11 “Nothing But A Sad Face On”
12 “Lose It All”
13 “The Seed”

TOUR DATES:
10/22 – Belin, DE @ Urban Spree
10/23 – Paris, FR @ Le Pop-Up Du Label
10/26 – Amsterdam, NE @ London Calling
10/29 – London, UK @ The Lower Third
10/30 – Manchester, UK @ Yes
11/06 – Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall
11/07 – Columbus, OH @ The King of Clubs
11/08 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Thunderbird Cafe & Music Hall
11/09 – Detroit, MI @ The Eastern
11/10 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
11/12 – Montreal, QC @ Theatre Fairmount
11/14 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
11/15 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
11/16 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
11/17 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
11/18 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
11/20 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
11/22 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Midtown
11/23 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger
11/24 – McAllen, TX @ Cine El Rey

Blood On The Silver Screen is out 3/7 via Domino. Pre-order it here.