Since his start in 2017, Portland rapper sadeyes has pushed the envelope as an artist, drawing from alternative hip-hop, emo, and lo-fi to represent his truth. Amassing over 140M+ streams and 820k+ steady monthly listeners, he’s made a name for himself by releasing moody lo-fi hits that pull you in with diaristic lyrics. His new EP ‘molotov’ is a sharp departure from his earlier releases and the catalyst to reveal a side of his artistry that we haven’t been able to see before. Out today, listen to it now.
“As I get older, it’s been easier to open up and be myself,” sadeyes explains. “I was really afraid of showing everyone that I was more than just a lo-fi artist. I was scared of failure but the more I worked on other styles of music, the more comfortable I felt sharing, and then the sound started to evolve.”
The EP’s lead single ‘dropout’ found him straying from lo-fi beginnings and toeing the line of viral cloud rap and pop, which overflows into the rest of the project. Throughout the eight track EP, he channels artists such as Oliver Francis, Nav and Drake as he experiments with different flows and autotuned RnB hooks to elevate his signature sadboi sentiment. Combined with haunting metaphors, sticky melodies and sinister trap beats, sadeyes embodies a bad-ass vulnerability that’s universally relatable. As a Portland native, sadeyes doesn’t necessarily identify with the regional music scene, but instead credits the internet. Transcending genre and regional boundaries, sadeyes has been able to connect with different artists and producers while collecting eclectic influences from all over. Beat stores such as BeatStars make this kind of collaboration even easier; setting the foundation for the majority of ‘molotov’ to be built upon. After forming a cohesive project by curating beats from a lineup of talented young producers, from there the lyrics “pretty much wrote themselves.”
With the release of his debut full-length ‘monarch’ earlier this year and now three EP’s to follow, 2022 has been prolific for sadeyes. He’s prepping for an international tour this November, expanding his reach to the UK with fellow artists nothing,nowhere. and guccihighwaters. Many creatives at this level start to fold under this kind of pressure, but sadeyes is ready to take on whatever life throws at him next. Instead of resisting this evolution, he sees ‘molotov’ and this next stage of his career as a natural progression, embodying the person and artist he’s become. “I’m in a new chapter in my career where I’m beginning to tour and evolve. With growth comes stress and this tape helped me alleviate that,” he said.
‘molotov’ Tracklisting:
1. nyctophobia
2. raining in osaka ft. Rxseboy
3. paranoia
4. high hopes
5. dropout
6. dear labels
7. fix things
8. gold
UK TOUR w/ nothing, nowhere. and guccihighwaters:
November
12 Leeds Key Club
13 Oxford O2 Academy2
14 Nottingham Bodega Social Club
15 Newcastle Cluny
17 Glasgow SWG3 Studio Warehouse
18 Manchester Club Academy
19 Dublin Academy Green Room
20 Belfast Limelight 2
22 Birmingham O2 Academy2
23 Bristol Fleece
24 London Electric Ballroom
