Sienna Spiro Is Shaping Her Legacy in Debut EP ‘SINK NOW, SWIM LATER’

Teasing singles throughout the year, giving a jaw dropping debut performance in Hoxton this past November, and announcing her UK & European tour this week, we included have been counting down the days to hear the full project of Sienna Spiro’s debut EP SINK NOW, SWIM LATER. Writing the material for the EP since Sienna was 16 years old, the four year journey has been executed into an exceptional 8 track project delivering more than our expectations. 

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Reminiscing on our conversation for New Wave in July of last year it is hard to believe how far the artist has come in such a short amount of time. Then, listeners from TikTok were melting over her Donald Glover & Amy Winehouse covers and requesting classics for the singer to record which eventually catapulted into her original verses being shared for the world to hear. “BUTTERFLY EFFECT” opens the project with a sombre entrance to the project with a title that foreshadows the effect of Sienna’s debut, one intital beginning that is about to make a large difference in this chaos theory.

Her magnetic performances via the screen were enough to have viewers and fans hooked creating a young loyal fan base for the singer to relate her lyrics to. This fan base were the ones who sang word for word at Hoxton Hall to the five songs of the EP that were already released last year. Sienna used her first solo show as an opportunity to give us a glance at the full track list including newer additions “ORIGAMI” and “CYANIDE”. There was a lingering sense of awe and emotion in the crowd which is exactly how it feels to listen to this EP back to back. A complete journey of ups and downs, feelings of loneliness, anger, frustration and insecurity comes along with tracks that also create an empowering sound of vengeance, power and confidence. 

The EP’s cover art is expectedly on brand for the singer featuring her signature tomboy style, an oversized tailored look and a vintage car for what we can only guess to be part of her admirable storytelling approach, photographed by Petro Studio. 

Last week Sienna’s second track on the EP featured as BBC Radio 1’s Song of the Week which currently has almost 4 million streams. Radio hosts compared Sienna’s vocals to those of Raye and a “young Adele”. Counting jazz musicians from Sinatra to Fitzgerald to hip hop legends as her inspirations, there are fusions of both genres combined with pop melodies that build her unique sound. The slower acoustic track “I DON’T HATE YOU” captures Sienna’s soulful raspy tones that magnetically draws you into her lyrics through a scalic minor crescendo. Effortlessly, Sienna’s voice glides off the back of strings and drum rolls on this track layered with echoing backing vocals that build up to a breathtaking outro. Tracks like this one and “BACK TO BLONDE” build Sienna’s repertoire that cements her as one of the contenders you think of for a record like the Bond theme song. 

“ORIGAMI” begins with semibreve accordion notes giving an eerie introduction into the heartfelt gospel-like track. Sienna mixes her production with string sections, heavy bass instrumentation and fluctuates between soft vocals and raspy riffs and runs that blend so well together you never know how the next verse is going to sound. In contrast to the London born artist’s favourite track “MAYBE”, hears forte piano chords and arpeggios and violins form a breakup anthem accentuated by Sienna’s powerful voice on what is by far her most popular track so far on the project reaching over 37.5 million streams. 

Experimenting with a more sultry sound “CYANIDE” has a darker feel with an electric guitar underpinning the heavier lyrics Sienna sings. The words create a sense of numbness that flow over metaphorical lines on body confidence, young love, and simply the mind of a young woman’s tribulations, “just wanna be thin, I know it won’t be enough… if you wanna see my blueprint it’s not under my blue jeans”. The artist’s debut project unleashes a rare lyrical vulnerability and talent of executing multiple tracks that share this feeling in a variety of ballads and anthems for her audience. 

Every year, month and week there are new artists entering the music space, even more frequently from London within the pop scene. Less often are they 19 years old with a tour including Australian/EU & UK shows with co-signs from the likes of Snoh Aalegra & SZA, and an EP under their belt. Since her viral TikTok covers there was an unwavering confidence in Sienna’s listeners that she was destined for success in the jazz and pop industry, this EP has just confirmed it. If you came from a first listen of “TAXI DRIVER” or “NEED ME”, there is more of the personal journey to hear on this project. Be prepared to have your heart strings pulled on in Sienna Spiro’s debut EP as it unleashes a new sound experience that you didn’t know you needed to feel until now.