Go away with ... Sarah Kinsley
Singer-songwriter Sarah Kinsley has shared the stage with Mitski and gotten a shout-out from Chappell Roan, but what she vividly remembers is the line around the block for her first professional gig in 2021 at the Mercury Lounge in New York. “It was my first time playing any of my music in a venue with tickets and people actually choosing to come listen to me for an hour and a bit,” said Kinsley, 25. “I remember I was so scared I wasn’t going to be able to hear myself the minute before we went on stage, so I turned my in-ear mix all the way up and gave myself hearing damage from my stage mic picking up the loud screaming crowd. I was exhausted and sweaty, but it felt like I was at the beginning of something true and real bubbling in front of me. It was the culmination of a dream I’d held onto from when I was 12 years old.” The Brooklyn resident updates her tour on her website (https://www.sarahkinsleymusic.com/tour/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sarahkinsleyd/).
Q: What is the story behind your new record “Fleeting”?
A: It’s an EP acknowledging and embracing the transience of life. I have always struggled with the passage of time, with understanding how to constantly find oneself in a present moment that is always changing, always moving. There is something equally painful and undeniably beautiful about knowing that something will end. “Fleeting” is my attempt to hold both sides equally and pay homage to both!
Q: Did you work on “Fleeting” while you were on the road?
A: We played “Lonely Touch” on a tour in April for two weeks and at festivals over the summer – almost a year before the song actually came out. It gave me a chance to really play with my vocal performance and the feeling of how the song should exist for me. I have good memories of showing one of my closest friends, Dea – who I tour with – my early demos while we were stranded in airports or slightly terrifying hotels on the road, too.
Q: Does the music you hear in a particular place inspire your own work?
A: I’m very intrigued by the music scene in Copenhagen [and] general Scandinavia right now. My friends have sent me a lot of very, very incredible work coming out of that scene. Astrid Sonne. Smerz. I also just historically love a lot of English and Scottish artists. My favorite band of all time is the Cocteau Twins and I’ve been on a wave of loving New Order and the Blue Nile recently. When I was younger, I was definitely inspired by French classical music as well, the stuff of Ravel and Debussy was absolutely coursing through me when I was writing.
Q: What is your bucket-list venue that you have yet to perform in?
A: Beacon Theatre in New York. Also Brooklyn Steel, which I am in fact playing in April. This is a very big dream come true for me. Red Rocks. The Sydney Opera House.
Q: Will your upcoming tour take you to places you haven't been to yet?
A: We’re going to a lot of places in the U.S. that I’ve both never been to or toured in. Orlando. Carrboro, North Carolina. Birmingham in England, too.
Q: Do you have any nonwork-related trips planned?
A: I am hoping to escape to a chateau in the south of France this summer. I’ve been so desperate to go to the Dolomites, the mountainside of northern Italy, at some point in my life. I don’t know if that will happen this year or maybe next. As long as I get to see them with my own eyes eventually I don’t mind when it happens.
Q: Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A: Tokyo. Croatia. Brazil. Peru. Montana. Georgia, the country. Iceland. Nepal.
Q: When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A: Noise-canceling headphones. Camera of some kind. A journal that has space to hold dried flowers or receipts, any kind of relics of my time spent in this other place. A really fantastic book that isn’t too heavy or boring. And the ultimate must-have item is space in my suitcase to fit new trinkets and keepsakes.
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(Jae-Ha Kim is a New York Times bestselling author and journalist. You can reach her at www.jaehakim.com, follow her on Instagram and X @goawaywithjae, or read more from her on Substack (jaehakim.substack.com).)
©2026 Jae-Ha Kim. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(c) 2026 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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