Sidney Asks "what if it ends?" in Introspective New EP
Whether it’s your fear of a relationship’s future, or the hope that there’s light at the end of heartbreak’s tunnel, you’ve probably asked yourself the same question singer-songwriter Sidney asks on her new EP — what if it ends?
The Australian artist, a self-described over-thinker, explores her own anxieties on what if it ends?, moving deftly through relationship fears and worries that she might have peaked already.
“I’ve asked that question in so many different contexts,” Sidney said of the EP’s title. “Over coffee with friends, crying into my mum’s arms, journalling about an exciting new chapter. As an anxious over thinker, ‘what if’ questions are always pretty dangerous. Thoughts as a WHOLE can be dangerous...We put so much pressure on making the ‘right’ choice, but I don’t even know if that exists.”
“Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to ask the question — usually that’s enough to get you where you need to go,” she added.
Track “sliding doors” sees Sidney going back over a relationship that ended and wondering if there was anything she could’ve done differently. “I still think about you often,” she sings wistfully before asking, “Was this everything I wanted? Was I everything you wanted?”
Lead single “anything” does the same, marrying a delicate piano melody with lush, layered production on the chorus, where Sidney confesses she would “give anything” to go back to the beginning.
The singer-songwriter also examines her fears about where her career is taking her. The Lizzy-McAlpine-reminiscent “long haul” describes her worries that the constant travel her job requires will end a relationship, driving guitars and drums soundtracking her prayer to make things last “for the long haul.”
Meanwhile, on title-track “what if it ends?” Sidney wonders if her career as an artist is already coming to an end. “‘It’s all happening,’” she sings, making a sly reference to Almost Famous (another work that sees artists grapple with career highs and lows), before asking, “What if it’s not?” Her nerves bleed through the whole song, from the anxious lyrics, to the thrumming guitar line that runs throughout the track.
“Songwriting has always been my safe space to feel things fully, especially when I didn’t have answers yet,” Sidney said of the EP. “This project allowed me to hold space for two truths at once — to love someone and still not be happy, to feel proud and terrified at the same time. It’s the most emotionally honest thing I’ve created, and I hope it gives other people that same permission: to not know, to ask scary questions, to feel everything before deciding what comes next.”
Listen to "what if it ends?" now:
