'Don't pigeonhole me — I can do anything I want!'

Raised in a strict religious 'cult, musician Sasami has found her spiritual home among the genre-busting vanguard of female pop

- LISA WRIGHT

Raised as part of the Unification Church, a hyper-conservative religion that she’s previously described as akin to “a cult”, there is no part of Sasami Ashworth’s childhood that might have hinted at where the Los Angeles musician creatively dwells now: adorning the cover of her just-released third solo album, Blood on the Silver Screen, braless and lip bleed-ing with a defiant stare that’s equal parts feminine and rugged masculinity. “Oh, I would never have been able to own a CD that had a cover like that as a kid,” she laughs. “When I made the cover I just thought: cool cover. And now I see my tits everywhere I’m like, ‘Oh Jesus...

However, for the 34-year-old musician, change is something that’s become a constant way of life. First making inroads into the industry as part of alternative guitar outfit Cherry Glazerr before leaving to pursue a solo career, her first mononymously titled album arrived in 2019 as a “sad, introspective” record that operated firmly in the indie-sphere. On 2022's Squeeze, she switched it up entirely, releasing a collection of metal-indebted, riffy antagonism, with artwork featuring her hissing head on the body of a mythical vampiric Japanese sea serpent. Now, on her latest, she’s taken a left turn once more, going unabashedly into the pop realm, with an album all about love.

For the singer — who goes by the all-caps SASAMI — the determination not to be put in a box has been a guiding force. “Ironically it’s felt kind of punk for me to go pop because people expect me to do the opposite,” she says before parroting off her oft-written media description: “Asian-American alternative rock musician SASAMI! Like, f*** you, I'm not anything. I can do whatever I want. I really resent the idea of being pigeonholed into a genre.”