After a fraught decade-long relationship with Capitol Records, Sky Ferreira now has the freedom to release music as she pleases since being dropped from the label in 2023. But according to her, reclaiming the recordings she made while still signed to its roster won’t be as easy — despite how someone such as Taylor Swift might make it seem.
In an all-encompassing interview with Vogue published Monday (Dec. 2), the 32-year-old alt-pop darling opened up about the struggles of winning ownership of her past work back from Capitol — including her long-overdue sophomore LP Masochism, which Ferreira claims the label blocked from release for years. The most high-profile case of another artist battling with their former label over rights to their masters is, unequivocally, a certain “Anti-Hero” singer, who’s spent the past three years re-releasing “Taylor’s Version” replicas of her first six albums with Big Machine under her new label, Republic Records.
But as Ferreira points out, that process requires resources not all artists can afford. “People keep telling me I should just re-record the songs and it’s like, yeah, Taylor Swift can do that because she’s a billionaire,” she told the publication. “But I basically put all the money I’ve ever made as an artist back into making music. I think most musicians I know generally pay to work.”
“I’m working to try and get some of those songs back, but I’m not getting every single one,” Ferreira added. “It’s such a complicated process, and I have to figure out how to do all this s–t by myself now.”
The interview comes three days ahead of the release of “Leash,” a track Ferreira wrote and recorded for A24’s upcoming film Babygirl. It’ll mark the star’s very first release since her 2013 cult-favorite debut album Night Time, My Time, which preceded years of alleged internal sparring; as the California native describes it, “Capitol didn’t think my sound was commercial enough.”
Ferreira said that the label officially dropped her on the 10-year anniversary of her first LP, claiming Capitol sent her “an automated message that got forwarded” to her. “To let me know I’ve been dropped from the label in such an impersonal way was clearly so personal,” she told Vogue. “It feels liberating, but I’m honestly still angry about the situation. I was catatonic for a few weeks after that email. Not because I was dropped, but just the way it happened.”
“It felt like their way of trying to break my spirit one last time,” she added. “It’s kinda like when someone gets out of prison and they don’t know what to do with themselves. And it’s similar in that way where you still don’t have rights to everything that you did before.”
Billboard has reached out to Capitol for comment.
Looking into the future, Ferreira confirmed that she has plans to independently release a new song right after “Leash.” She also shed some light on her experience auditioning to play Madonna in the superstar’s delayed biopic — which had initially tapped Julia Garner for the titular role before the film was scrapped — a process which apparently involved hanging out with Madge at the legend’s own house.
“I spent two months working on it, between the auditions and dance rehearsals,” Ferreira said. “I don’t usually get starstruck, but it was just so surreal to be with Madonna at her house. I sat in one of her guest rooms to read the script, then she took me downstairs into her bedroom and did my makeup and put her clothes on me.”
“I was just sitting there watching her put blush on me, like, ‘Is this really f–king happening right now?’” she added. “I kept getting called back to see her, so she seemed to like me for a bit. Even though I didn’t end up booking the part, it really was just an incredible experience getting to spend that time with her.”
