Despite Sky Ferreira's sparse output, it's impossible to forget the impact she's already had with her 2013 debut Night Time, My Time and her reemergence with the haunting 2019 single "Downhill Lullaby." Now, she's returned with another single titled "Don't Forget," which is less a reminder of her ingenuity than a reminder to her enemies that they're never far from the front of her mind. "Fire baptism," she wrote on Instagram. "This song has lived 9,000 lives(versions). This album is finally real. 9 years later. It’s real. So many things I’ve wanted to say for so long…it’s arrived & my mind is blank. Thank you for supporting my music."
"Don't Forget" expands on the gothic new wave sound Ferreira showcased on her debut album. There's thundering drums, ticking hi-hats, and serpentine guitars in addition to subtle hints of brass and orchestral strings that close out the track. Scenes of fire rage throughout the song: "Little troubled girl, you see / Burning down your house of certainty," she sings. Later, Ferreira pushes back against those who've wronged her. "I won't forget / I don't forgive," she sings during the chorus. It's sort of like Firestarter meeting club from The Hunger on the dance floor.
"Life feels a bit corseted, a lot of the time," she shared in an interview with Vulture published yesterday. "Someone’s tightening it more and more, and then eventually, you’re going to burst. That song is about that—it’s not really about revenge, it’s more like, 'I see through this.' I don’t like people to manipulate me, but also, I have a lot of doubt. I don’t have doubt in what I make, but I’ll assume I’m doing something wrong first, to the point where I allow a lot of other things to happen." Regarding the full album, she added, "I guess that’s where, originally, the Masochism title came from. It’s not like, sexual; it’s more like emotional masochism. And I’ve been trying to learn how to be less like that."
Clarifying the song's fiery imagery, she continued, "It wasn’t supposed to be apocalyptic, but in some ways it is. I did see fire, and I also saw a place between heaven and hell, that sort of vibe. But not in a biblical sense. I felt very stifled for a long time, and I still do... It’s a bit of freeing myself, but not in the most conventional way. Because I don’t feel free, necessarily. I’m not trying to throw everyone under the bus yet. Because that’s the thing: How do I say what I’ve been going through without having to become a victim to it or it becoming some narrative? Then my whole record becomes that. In my mind it’s like, You don’t get to do that to me."
Listen to "Don't Forget" below.
