“Leash” Let Sky Ferreira Step Forward Without Carrying Every Old Weight
Queen Sky Ferreira returned with “Leash,” her first song as an independent artist and a soundtrack cut for A24’s Babygirl, arriving after what she described as a rough year—and, really, a rough stretch of years.
The reaction was immediate. Fans, critics and fellow artists welcomed the release as more than another new single. After Sky’s acrimonious split from Capitol Records and years of public frustration over delayed music, “Leash” sounded like a small but meaningful act of creative reclamation.
Charli XCX celebrated the news before the track arrived, writing that a new Sky song attached to Babygirl had activated full stan mode. For listeners who had spent years waiting, the excitement was less about a conventional comeback campaign and more about hearing Sky move freely again.
SKY UNLEASHED
A24, Independence And One Very Sky Ferreira Return
Read the original Billboard conversation, revisit Sky’s catalog and step into the tense world of Babygirl.
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Freedom Felt Exciting—And A Little Unfamiliar
Sky admitted she was still readjusting to interviews and the machinery surrounding a new release. She was relieved that listeners responded positively because “Leash” was not designed as the safest or most conventional reintroduction.
That uncertainty makes sense. Her last full-length album, the acclaimed Night Time, My Time, arrived in 2013—before streaming fully reshaped the music business. A younger generation has since discovered the record without necessarily realizing how long Sky has been fighting to release music on her own terms.
She also spoke plainly about the industry forces that kept her stuck. Sky said misogyny remained rampant, even if artists and audiences had become more willing to recognize how labels can control careers, catalogs and access to creative work.
For years, people asked why Capitol would not simply release her from the deal. Sky’s answer was as bleak as it was logical: sometimes a company would rather keep an artist from succeeding elsewhere than admit the relationship had failed.
“Leash” Served Babygirl Without Losing Sky Ferreira
Unlike the deeply personal music she usually makes entirely for herself, “Leash” came with a specific assignment. Sky had been hired to write for Babygirl, so the song needed to serve director Halina Reijn’s film, its music supervisors and A24 without becoming an obvious plot summary.
The title connects to a dog that functions as a symbol within the film, but the song captures atmosphere rather than spelling out events. Sky wanted something memorable and emotionally aligned with the movie while still sounding like her.
That creative responsibility pushed her out of her comfort zone in a way that proved restorative. Rather than pulling from the mountain of unreleased work behind her, she started fresh because she wanted to move forward and make something without answering to old expectations.
“My self-esteem was pretty low after the last year,” she told Billboard. “I had a pretty rough year. I’ve had a pretty rough year for like five years.” Finishing “Leash” reminded her that she could still make decisions without allowing the outside world to define what she was capable of.
The Nicole Kidman Nod Came From Thirty Minutes Of Counting
One of the track’s sharpest details is the spoken countdown before the switch-up. Sky’s pop instincts naturally pull from the 1980s and 1990s, with Madonna and Janet Jackson among the artists permanently wired into her musical thinking.
She also wanted a small nod to Nicole Kidman. Sky initially considered using distorted dialogue from Eyes Wide Shut, then wisely avoided the rights headache and recorded the countdown herself.
She spent roughly 30 minutes trying to sound like Kidman and joked that the result resembled a more womanly version of herself—less West Side L.A. girl, more mysterious erotic-thriller command.
Charli XCX’s Success Felt Long Overdue To Sky
Asked about Charli XCX’s blockbuster Brat era, Sky said the only surprise was that the larger breakthrough had not happened sooner. She praised Charli’s talent, work ethic and loyal fan base, describing her as consistently kind throughout their 12 or 13 years of friendship and collaboration.
It was a fitting note in a conversation centered on artistic persistence. Charli’s success proved that an unconventional body of work could eventually force the wider culture to catch up. Sky’s path has been far more obstructed, but “Leash” showed that the story was not over.
Hear Sky Ferreira Discuss The Return Behind “Leash”
The interview clip revisits Sky’s return, her break from Capitol and the creative freedom surrounding her first independent release.
Watch Sky Ferreira’s Official “Leash” Video
Released for A24’s Babygirl, “Leash” became Sky Ferreira’s first independent single and one of her last major releases of 2024—a tense, cinematic reminder that our girl Sky was moving forward on her own terms.
Source: Billboard. This archived INYIM post was restored, updated and reformatted for readability.
