Jailbird Sage showcases a collection of bittersweet reflections in his debut EP

Back in August, Eat This Music had a chat to Jailbird Sage about the release of his then-latest single ‘THE HILLS, although, what was left out of the initial interview were details on the release of Sage’s debut EP ‘just aidan‘, which is now out via digital streaming platforms.

“It’s been a long process, with me still being in high school and Drest in his first year of uni,” Jailbird Sage revealed to Eat This Music back in August, “but we’re just about done.”

Speaking to Eat This Music on what the EP is about, Jailbird Sage reveals that ‘just aidan’ is a collection of tracks full of nostalgic, bittersweet reflections on himself and his identity, what shapes that and how much control a person has over who they are what and they become. “It’s about growing up, giving up, chasing dreams and escaping demons,” Sage explains. “It’s me at my most refined so far, and sees my moving my first steps into the kind of territory I wanna grow and expand in as an artist, and be known for.”

“I felt really good for about one day, when my engineer sent me the masters for all the tracks and it kind of sunk in that it was finally done, and then the next day I started working on the next project [laughs].” — Jailbird Sage on the release of his debut EP.

“I think to get my music to the heights I want it to, I have to be like that, and I have to constantly be on the radar making cool songs and pushing it into people’s faces,” Sage continues, “I don’t mind it, coz I love what I do and I have a great little team of music mates to bounce ideas around and work with (my engineer and producer Drest, labelmates xadjolifto and Adeline to name a few), but self-promoting is a bit harder.”

Putting in the work is the easy bit for Jailbird Sage, however, shoving it in people’s faces, posting about yourself and saying “I made this, it’s amazing, listen to it”, is the harder side of being an independent artist. “I hate having to act super talented or whatever to sell myself to people,” Sage admits to Eat This Music, “I’m always scared of coming across as a dickhead or whatever for thinking I’m the best, but you gotta act a little bit like that to get your music out there, it’s pretty impossible to build a fanbase and grow as an artist with no marketing.”

Jailbird Sage assures Eat This Music that he is not scared of people thinking he is a tryhard anymore, in fact, Sage likes to think he has proved himself and his capabilities as an artist, especially with this debut EP, but he does get scared that people think he is overconfident or too confident where he is at right now. “It’s always important to be conscious of people’s perceptions of you and how a little bit of humble can go,” Sage continues. “A long way. All in all, I’m glad it’s finished and I can show the world what I’ve been telling everyone about for the last 7 months.”

“I hope they enjoy it,” Jailbird Sage replies to Eat This Music on the question of what he wants listeners to take away from his EP, “I think it’s a really cool narrative, it’s personal enough that I can be proud of what it means to me and how it represents me, but also I think it’s vague enough for a lot of people to be able to relate to it.” That aforementioned notion is what people want in music ultimately, music that means something, and something they can relate to. “I hope listeners like my sound,” Sage continues, “[and] are ready for the next instalment of the saga of JailBird Sage, which is already well underway.” As long as someone listens to Sage’s music, he will keep making more and strive to make each project better than the last.