Sky Ferreira

Sky Ferreira is an uncompromising artist who mixes synth pop and indie into cathartic, confessional music. The vocalist/songwriter won praise for her ambitious 2013 debut album, Night Time, My Time, and kept fans waiting on its long-labored follow-up, Masochism. Singles from the album slowly eked out, but a solid release date was slow to materialize almost a decade after the debut.
Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Ferreira began playing Elton John songs on the piano at nine years old. While growing up, she spent a lot of time with her grandmother, who was Michael Jackson’s personal hairstylist. After hearing Ferreira sing, Jackson encouraged her to develop her gift, prompting her to take opera lessons and perform with her local gospel choir. As a teen, she wrote her own songs and posted videos of herself singing them online, attracting the attention of Swedish producers Bloodshy & Avant. Her connection to the duo behind Britney Spears’ “Toxic” led to a deal with Parlophone Records in 2009.
While recording with producers Greg Kurstin, Dallas Austin, and Paul Epworth, Ferreira also appeared in Matthew Porterfield’s indie drama Putty Hill and Uffie’s “Pop the Glock” music video, and provided vocals on the Shoes’ remix of the Virgins’ “Teen Lovers.” In 2010, she moved to Capitol Records and released her first singles: “One,” which reached number 64 on the U.K. Singles Chart, and “Obsession,” which hit number 32 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart. A year later, she released the dance-influenced debut EP As If! Ferreira then collaborated with Jon Brion, Shirley Manson, and Dev Hynes on 2012′s Ghost EP, which featured the single “Everything Is Embarrassing.” The EP peaked at number eight on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.
During her years at Capitol, Ferreira fought against the label’s teen pop expectations of her music, and she ultimately financed her debut album with money she earned from modeling gigs. She recorded most of the songs with Justin Raisen and Ariel Rechtshaid over the course of a month, and issued Night Time, My Time in October 2013. The album’s mix of synth pop and grunge won widespread acclaim, and it entered the Billboard 200 Albums chart at number 45. Around the time of Night Time, My Time’s release, Ferreira appeared in the Eli Roth film The Green Inferno. She was also arrested on misdemeanor charges of drug possession and resisting arrest when she and Zach Cole Smith, the frontman of DIIV and her boyfriend at the time, were pulled over in Saugerties, New York. Ferreira’s charges were later dropped. In support of Night Time, My Time, Ferreira toured with Vampire Weekend and Miley Cyrus.
In 2015, Ferreira began work on her second album, Masochism. The following year, she collaborated with Primal Scream on their 2016 album Chaosmosis. She also appeared in several film and television projects, including Edgar Wright’s 2017 movie Baby Driver (which featured her cover of the Commodores’ “Easy”), the third season of Twin Peaks, and Jonas Åkerlund’s 2019 film Lords of Chaos. During this time, she issued a cover of 'Til Tuesday’s “Voices Carry” and worked on music with Night Time, My Time producers Ariel Rechtshaid and Justin Raisen. In March 2019, Ferreira released the track “Downhill Lullaby,” a Masochism teaser that featured production by Dean Hurley and Jorge Elbrecht. In August 2019, Ferreira collaborated with Charli XCX on the song “Cross You Out.” It would be almost three years before the second Masochism single was released. That song, “Don’t Forget,” appeared in May 2022, and unlike “Downhill Lullaby” had a similar high-energy synth pop approach as some of the songs on Night Time, My Time. ~ Heather Phares & Jon O’Brien