Jazz singer-songwriter Sarah Bernadette’s debut full-length album New Leaves, out May 27, vividly paints the changing of life’s seasons with artful ease. Going through those coming-of-age feelings like finding love, losing it and then reconnecting with yourself, New Leaves is a cross-between the effortless lyrical relatability of Taylor Swift and those jazzy earworm hooks from Lake Street Dive. Detailing the emotional highs and lows of navigating love as a young adult, she skillfully weaves together the imagery of plants and their congruity with the human experience throughout the album. Every track is a metamorphosis demonstrating growth, change, withering or renourishment. Her single “Green” “refers to botanical analogies surrounding the excitement of new love as told by growing plants together with a new person,” she explains. “‘What Did I Expect?’ is the flipside to ‘Green’ – what happens when we don’t continue to nurture the growth and new life we have created together?”
Taking listeners from the sultry-paradise that is “Drink Me In” to the brokenhearted freedom found in “Lonely With You,” there is an underlying journey of self-discovery which Bernadette candidly presents. The album also includes Bernadette’s first Spanish-language release, “Pintaste La Ciudad,” a poignant track that explains her shift in outlook from color to black after a breakup. In summation, she says, “New Leaves explores love found, love lost and self-love rediscovered underneath it all through self-reflection.” Hoping to foster connection through her music, the singer-songwriter was intentional with the album’s thematic structure and botanical symbolism which serve to create a stronger message overall. “This album marks the beginning of me believing in myself and my emotions, and I hope it can spark the same feeling in my listeners.”
Sarah Bernadette is a New Jersey-born singer-songwriter whose music fuses pop, jazz, and R&B influences to create a unique sound. She has her master’s degree from New England Conservatory in Contemporary Improvisation (’21) and her Bachelor of Music in Songwriting and Voice Performance from Berklee College of Music (’18).
Her music is deeply personal; through her writing and her performances, she hopes to form meaningful connections with her audience and listeners. She is an expressive performer and improviser with a love for jazz voice.
Sarah has worked with Kathleen Flynn, Dominique Eade, Cristi Catt, and more recently Grammy-winner Cecile McLorin Salvant, whom she considers one of her biggest musical inspirations.
You can find Sarah Bernadette’s music on all streaming services, including her most recent releases: “in/process” and her single, “Green”. Stay tuned for her first full-length album, New Leaves, coming May 27.
