New Artist Highlight: SAILORR
005: Why I'm excited for RnB again
With the release of her new single and a captivating live performance of ‘Cut Up’ on Genius’ Live Performance series, this weeks’ newsletter is dedicated to SAILORR, an RnB singer that has been on the radar and has me turning my head as of lately. A musician deep in her RnB bag and singing of her passions and in love, SAILORR is not only a Sagittarius venus (queen sht), but an artist with a precise vision of who she is and where she’s going next. Rising through the ranks, SAILORR’s identity and vulnerable storytelling via her lyrics and visuals makes her journey exciting to watch.
SAILORR comes from Jacksonville, Florida, a state that stays on the mind for being the birthplace of genre-bending artists such as Doechii, Twelve’lena, and Nascent. Florida is characterized and stakes their place in the industry as a wildcard — full of artists that renditions new sounds that pushes outside the box in order to get to what’s real and what represents their story. Beyond the musical and artistic direction of her breakout hit, ‘Pookie’s Requiem’, I’m curious to see who is the girl behind the black grills that follows this new wave of Floridian artists?
Upon first impressions, I knew SAILORR was the woman of the hour and of the times when she told Genius in their lyric exploration series Genius Verified of the backstory of her artist name: derived from her finsta @, sailorrgoon, the name SAILORR is a statement to her legacy, venerating her roots of loving Sailor Moon and to her family of sailors & fishermen. It’s always refreshing to see how inspiration can come from the most understated and unassuming spaces. Relaxed and in her power throughout the interview, I was curious to see who SAILORR was before her breakout hit.
Searching and finding a podcast that felt more like a facetime with friends, SAILORR talked shop with iancomplex on procrastination.radio back in 2023, and it makes me root for her even more. At the heart of it, SAILORR is a girl from Jacksonville that has dreams bigger than her hometown and has a sense of genuineness in her desire to “just make music”. Vulnerable and down-to-earth, she reflects on her experience, from her creative process — having intentional periods of rest that paradoxically didn’t make sense and awe for artists reaching out to her for collaborations — and sincere recollections of facets of her life, ranging from family to maturity, all ties into a realization to hold herself at a higher standard.
To see that she’s keeping herself to that standard is seeing a woman of her word. SAILORR fills the sails of her trajectory by releasing three singles and a second version of ‘Pookie’s Requiem’ featuring Summer Walker since November. ‘Pookie’s Requiem’ introduced SAILORR to the spotlight showcasing an undeniable face card against a backdrop of women in intimate wear, extraordinarily long braided hair, and black teeth, with an ethereal, smooth voice that calls to the prominent faces in her root genre — SZA, Coco Jones, Muni Long, to name a few. With her voice and lyrics unabashedly having beef, SAILORR mocks her cheating ex for stealing her personality and delivers the blow in a tasteful way.
SAILORR’s vocals and storytelling contains that virality, but her imagery and creative direction has the boldness that speaks for the dedication of her craft. The motifs of her styling is a twist on her Vietnamese heritage and placing it in the modern context makes it that much more meaningful. The black teeth and grills she wears — stemming from the Vietnamese tradition of married and powerful women dying their teeth black, a practice her grandmother has done — symbolizes empowerment, regality, and quite frankly: it’s a look that’s hard as fck, and something that’s completely her own. Another aspect of her look is the persistent sense of femininity that is unapproachable for most men, but seen as enticing and inspiring for femmes and supporters of her work. It’s the makeup with high contrast, the pleaser heels, the abundant use of lace and ruffles, bows in braided hair that grows beyond the hips, the use of pink and black, and the juxtaposition of all these symbols with power symbols such as a shoulder-padded suit, sport cars, and a ski mask — such statement elements make up a clear identity of a girl that’s sexy without the objectification and that isn’t to be fcked with. Tying in reverent Vietnamese pieces such as an ao dai with pink and black embroidery in her ‘Cut Up’ live performance with a modern floral arrangement places the power back to her womanhood and her roots. Using these styling motifs of excess and maximalism that’s exudes presence with her music, she delivers on embodying an attitude that fits the notion that ‘bitch, I’m gonna talk my shit and take it all’ very well. You’ll never ask yourself who’s pookie when the requiem is too damn good.
SAILORR released her new single “Down Bad” this past Friday and is out now on streaming platforms.
Loved this! I've been loving Sailor's visual direction with her recent drops. It's really paving the way for her to be a stand out artist in the upcoming years.