ON THE RISE
At only 11 years old, Sasha Friedman has experienced more in her life than most people do in a lifetime. The Atlanta based singer/songwriter has been battling cancer since the age of 10 and now she is using her music to inspire others to have hope and always push forward to succeed at what they love.
Friedman has been a performer in every sense of the word for as long as she can remember. She was inspired by the band Queen at a young age and had a love for acting and performing on stage. She has also learned how to play just about every instrument under the sun, with her favorite being the piano and ukulele. When she was nine years old Friedman was discovered by Cory and Julia Shuman of Bird Big Sound through social media. Most recently she released her first single titled “Free to Be Me,” which hit number seven on the iTunes Pop Charts in the within the first day of its release in June. It can currently be found on Spotify.
The lyrics to the song are uplifting and inspiring, and is backed by a catchy beat and rhythm that coincides with her zest for life. She sings, “Life shouldn’t be so hard, it’s time we had some fun,” and “nobody’s gonna stop me from being myself.” While the song was written before she was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma, she said the vibe of the tune directly relates to her journey through battling the bone cancer that had spread to her neck, arms, legs and lungs.
“I wrote it before my cancer journey and I wrote it about a kid that was nervous about fitting in, but realized it was okay to be myself and be me,” Friedman explained. “That’s where ‘Free to be Me’ came from because you should be free to be you.”
Shortly after recording the song she was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma after she experienced neck pains, and promptly started her treatment. This involved chemotherapy and a major surgery where she had three ribs removed. While the struggles of bone cancer are daunting, Friedman has remained positive throughout the journey and has a positive outlook on life and what the future holds for her. She is currently in remission and has used the battle with cancer as inspiration to continue writing uplifting, positive music that is beyond her years.
“Seeing what people have to go through and knowing how difficult things can get, I want music to help people know that they can get through it and get through difficult times in their lives,” said Friedman. “I want to make people feel that they are not alone and that you are never alone in anything, and that there are other people going through something like that. I want my songs to bring people together and make people happy.”
Friedman said that recently she surprised her best friend Emma at a school dance, as they thought she would need to miss it because of chemotherapy treatment. “Free to Be Me” was played at the dance before the single was released and she said it was an instant hit among her friends. Friedman said it was taxing for her to be there due to the cancer treatment, and she even got a little sick, but she said she wouldn’t have changed a thing because she had the time of her life.
“Everyone was dancing at the school dance and it was so fun to listen,” Friedman said, adding that people who she had never even met were coming up to her raving about the track.
She said Emma has been so excited about how successful her music has already been, and Friedman added that she has big plans on the horizon. Next year she will be singing the National Anthem at the Boston Marathon to represent Dana Farber.
She also has new songs in the works, including one that that is about AI. Friedman said she is sure that song will be a hit, as it is a trending topic in the world right now. She said the song is about a robot who falls in love with a boy. When she told the boy she was a robot, he tried to shut her out and pull the plug. Instead she kept pushing and turned into a real girl, showing him that nobody was going to shut her down and she was someone to be loved.
Friedman said she does have aspirations of fame in her future, but in no way does she want to be someone who doesn’t have a care. She wants to be an artist who can help the world become a better place.
“I am so excited for the future because I really want to be heard,” Friedman said. “I want to spread happiness and get people through hard times. I want to bring friends, family and even just strangers together to feel happy.”
Make sure to stay connected to Sasha Friedman on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts @officialsashf.
ON THE RISE
Blossoms caught up with NME to discuss competing with The Beatles and Johnny Marr for this week’s Number One album. With ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ in the running, the band also explained why making things themselves remains such an important part of their work as AI becomes more common.
The Stockport group put out their sixth album last Friday, October 2. By the midweek update, it was sitting at Number Two, between The Beatles’ expanded edition of ‘Rubber Soul’ and Johnny Marr’s latest solo album, ‘The Age Of Everything’.
“It’s mad, to be honest,” singer Tom Ogden said to NME about the chart race. “Liverpool on one side, Manchester on the other and Stockport in the middle. If you’d told us this 10 years ago, when we were releasing our debut, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I mean, we’re in good company aren’t we?”
Discussing the stories behind the album, Ogden described ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ as “about being married and all the everyday stuff that comes with it”. He married Katie Donovan, the sister of Blossoms drummer Joe, in 2021. Married life has since given him a new appreciation for what he describes as “the extraordinary ordinary”.
“Saying the wrong thing in an argument, losing your wife’s no claims bonus, crying at the Kardashians, it’s all in there,” he explained. “The album is named after Stockport Town Hall, which everyone round where we live calls the Wedding Cake, and it’s where I got married, so it couldn’t be much closer to home.
“The last album [‘Gary’, 2024] had a song about a stolen fibreglass gorilla, which everyone loved, and that gave us the confidence to bring the same playfulness to this one, just with more personal subject matter this time.”
Alongside tracks that came out of writing sessions with Declan McKenna in a hot tub, the album reflects the band’s desire to stay involved in every part of the creative process.
“It started with the recording,” Ogden explained. “We made the album with Shawn Lee, playing live straight to tape, and once you’ve done it that way you can’t really go and fake everything else. We sat down as a band and picked the colour palette, and everything visual followed from that. We had body scans taken of ourselves and cake toppers of the five of us 3D printed, put them on a real cake and photographed it. I’ve directed and edited the videos, and the sets are all built by hand, no green screen. For the pop-up shop on launch weekend, a local artist hand-painted the album cover for the sign outside.
“It’s more work, but you end up with a world that’s yours, and I think people can tell when a band’s had its hands on everything.”
With AI tools and digital effects becoming increasingly widespread, that approach feels particularly relevant. For Blossoms, though, the motivation is simple: “the fun is in the making”.
“Tape doesn’t let you cheat and neither does a real cake,” Ogden said. “If a set’s a bit wonky, it’s because one of us or our mates built it. I think the more stuff gets generated, the more people want to know a human being actually did it. We’ve been in this band together for over 10 years, five lads from Stockport, and that isn’t something you can ‘prompt’.”
Maya Jama also appeared in the video for the album’s first single, ‘Meet Me In Love’. Her appearance came shortly before the UK launch of Celebrity Traitors, where she took on the role of a traitor alongside a cast that included Richard E Grant and James Acaster.
“She was brilliant,” Ogden recalled of working with Jama. “We’d met her at the MTV EMAs in Manchester a couple of years ago, so we took a chance and sent her a DM …and she said yes. Next thing she’s in a theatre in Cheadle miming my vocals while a load of people dressed as me serenade her. She got the idea straight away and was a proper laugh about it.”
The conversation then turned to whether he thought Jama could take home the win on Celebrity Traitors.
Ogden joked: “As for Traitors, she spent a whole day pretending to sing my song and I almost believed her, so I’d say she’s got every chance.”
Fans can listen to ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ now. In November, Blossoms head out on a UK arena tour with The Royston Club. Tickets and further details are available here.
Before the tour begins, the group is also scheduled to appear on SNL UK on Saturday, October 24.
