Sky Ferreira Says Album Delay Is "Not a Conspiracy"

"Being 'difficult' or 'high strung' doesn't give people the right to damage & stall my career. I am in a DIFFICULT situation."

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Jan 16, 2023

It's January, which means lists of the year's most anticipated new albums pervade — and, like clockwork, our faves over at Stereogum once again included Sky Ferreira's long-awaited sophomore album, Masochism, on theirs.

In December 2021, the pop singer had reposted the publication's 2022 most-anticipated list and added that the album was "actually coming out" that year. Yet here we are in 2023, with no Ferreira album! She would like us to know that this is not her fault and that "it's not a conspiracy."

Ferreira took to Instagram over the weekend to share a snippet of new music in a reel — captioned "Ahem" — with the overlaying text, "I WANT TO PUT THIS OUT."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Sky Ferreira (@skyferreira)

 
She further aired her grievances on Instagram Stories, pointing out that the song she teased was from 2019. "I TRIED TO PUT THIS SONG OUT FOREVER AGO," she wrote [via Rolling Stone]. "This is not my fault & it's not a conspiracy or whatever."

Ferreira burst onto the scene with her 2013 debut album Night Time, My Time. She's been teasing the follow-up for years — and in 2022, things were looking up: she released comeback single "Don't Forget," and it seemed like she might actually be able to keep her word about Masochism.

Elsewhere, though, the singer-songwriter bemoaned the "sexist" music industry, implying that the hoops she was being asked to jump through were the reason for the holdup. "You're set up in situations to seem difficult," she told Nancy Sinatra in a conversation for Interview Magazine, and that's the word that keeps coming up.

"Being 'difficult' or 'high strung' doesn't give people the right to damage & stall my career," Ferreira wrote. "I am in a DIFFICULT situation & I have to be 'difficult' to get through it. I have to protect my work & myself somehow? A lot of it is not being allowed to say or do anything I want/need without it being dismissed. The thing I actively tried to avoid happens & it somehow gets reversed."

She added, "I am not a hysterical/lying/lazy lunatic. I can pull up performances from 2014 of unreleased singles too. This is beyond fucked up. I am so frustrated & over it."

The artist continued:

I can't think of a time in the last 7 years where I've been able to just focus on what I'm supposed to do & my work being presented the way I want it to or my shows being the way one needs it to be to perform & play well. Despite having to basically sacrifice every aspect of my life to make sure it happens & the amount of time/work I put into everything beforehand. It's not okay. If I'm not allowed to say something without consequence & the people who are supposed to do their job refuse to look out for me… How am I not going to be 'difficult'?!?

It's safe to say that Stereogum isn't alone in wanting for Ferreira's new album to finally become more than mythology, and she evidently refuses to have it not be on her own terms. Hopefully we can collectively will Masochism into existence... 2023's the charm?

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