'Treat me nice and I'll write nice songs about you, treat me badly, I will write nasty songs about you' says Sasha Keable, with a conspiratorial smile.
For Act Right EP, it was definitely the latter. Written during the aftermath of a deeply painful breakup, the seven-track EP sees the South London singer move through unfiltered rage and despair while ultimately landing in a tender place of compassion and self-love. 'This EP comes from a place of betrayal and heartbreak' she says. Sonically, it's richly soulful, with nostalgic R&B stylings and a sharp feature from Jamaican-born US rapper Beam, but ultimately it's Sasha's spellbinding vocals that make Act Right EP pack such a visceral punch. You can hear the anger in her voice in Heartbeat, while Work oozes a newfound confidence.
First single act right may have been where the project began, but it's a decisive and conclusive post-mortem of the relationship; 'If you wanted to, you would act right.' Over a mellow R&B beat, produced by her longtime collaborator, Etienne, Sasha's voice is strong and scorching, a poignant reminder that this is a woman picking herself right back up, reclaiming her power. act right has a distinctly nineties feel; the storytelling of Faith Evans, the emotion and powerhouse vocals like Mary J Blige.
In the stripped back video, the British Colombian artist sits alone, her cards literally laid out on a table next to her. She doesn't move from her seat for the full 2 minutes and 54 seconds. 'The message is really just in the song, it doesn't need a whole concept,' she explains. The video is also a subtle nod to her Colombian roots; the bold colours and the way the sunlight hits the faded, sun-exposed wall behind her, while Sasha sings with the aggression of a telenovela. 'Passion is something huge that comes with being Colombian. I love the traditional music — Cumbia and Vallenatos — there's a lot of drama in the music, you hear the artists really singing from their soul.'
act right marked the start of a huge healing journey for Sasha. 'That song was the first time I got my thoughts in a row. The producer knew the whole situation, so it was very easy for me to kind of decompress in the studio.'
Feel Something sees Sasha in the heat of her rage. Written late at night during an alcohol-fuelled songwriting session in Tennessee with Grammy winning producer Taylor Hill and hotly tipped Florida artist P90Pope, Sasha 'needed to say what I needed to say.' She was so clear on the message that the song was written in less than two hours. She deftly juxtaposes a choral arrangement (made beautifully from her own layered vocals) with swaggering verses that transplant the listener into a car crash of fiery toxicity that is a destructive relationship.
Ever since her formative teenage years, the 31-year-old musician has always used music as a means of working through heartbreak and trauma, and celebrating joy and love. Growing up, her Colombian mother played Latin music around the house, while visits to her Dad's included everything from Aerosmith to Seal. As a teenager, she was immersed in South London's vibrant R&B and rap scene. 'I've always loved storytellers and artists that aren't afraid to bare their soul' she says, citing Donny Hathaway, Amy Winehouse and Stevie Wonder as some of the artists that shaped her early songwriting. Sasha, who has been open about her mental health struggles, has always found the process deeply therapeutic, usually writing alone and from a place of pain. 'I feel like I was put on this earth to find words that other people can't necessarily say themselves. And to do that, I have to be completely 100% brutally honest with myself.'
She does that in droves on Can't Stop, another nod to the 90s R&B she grew up listening to. Written after a rebound relationship straight after the breakup the EP centres around, the track contemplates the unintentional hurt Sasha caused another person. 'It's probably the song where I'm looking at myself a little bit more, realising maybe I'm not as perfect or as innocent as I thought. I ended up hurting her, because I wasn't ready for a relationship.'
Last year's Hold Up marked the first time Sasha had sung about a woman as a love interest, and throughout the EP, Sasha continues to paint a picture of queer love in all its nuances; beautiful, complicated, unrequited, sexy, messy, tender. 'There are a lot of queer artists coming up who sing about sex, but I'm like, where's the relationship bit, the real bit?' You love them then you hate them, that's always been the place i've written from.'
While the EP brings to life the crushing agony of heartbreak, elsewhere, we see a celebratory kind of self-love. Work ft Beam 'is what it says on the tin; a sexy song.' Move It Along written with Leon Thomas strikes a more playful tone as Sasha advocates for herself. Smooth and soulful, the beautifully introspective Why asks, 'Why is it me you give all this love to?' It could easily be dedicated to a new lover, while several of Sasha's friends interpreted it as a worship song. However, Sasha's real intent was 'to manifest the love I've never experienced for myself. The love that I want for myself. People are always going to take your song and use it in a way that's fitting to them. That's what I love about music.'
The EP marks a return to Sasha's intuitive songwriting style. She was just seventeen when she signed a five album deal with Polydor. She released a handful of successful EPs, toured with Disclosure and leant vocals to their 2013 single, Voices. Despite her growing success, as the years passed, she felt creatively stifled as a young woman struggling to navigate the proprietary music industry. After 2021's Intermission EP, she took a three year hiatus. 'At that point I had no management, no label, no team, no one. It was just me. At that point, I had nothing left to lose. So I was like, fuck it, I'm just gonna do what I need to do.'
Free from the pressure to churn out hits, Sasha went back to basics, arranging her own sessions and writing most of the songs at her mum's house, where she'd first learned to read music on a second hand piano. Reconnecting with herself as an artist, Sasha stopped making music for record label executives and went back to distilling her emotions into song. She took control, making sure she had more ownership and creative freedom on her future releases. There's a notable shift in her recent output. Her authenticity is palpable; she's been nominated for Best R&B/Soul Act at the 2025 MOBOs, while her latest Colors performance of Why has garnered over a million views. Sasha has an upcoming slot on the BBC's prestigious Jools Holland show as well as NPR's legendary Tiny Desk series. Plus, there is surely no greater payoff than getting co-signed by Beyonce, who recently described Sasha as part of a new generation of songwriters who inspire her.
Act Right EP marks the first full EP from Sasha 2.0: wiser, rawer and stronger than ever before. 'I felt like if I didn't make this music I might lose my mind' she says. 'I made this EP for myself, it's exactly what I needed.'
