You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Rishikesh Herway.

Sarah Kinsley is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.

Her most recent release is an EP called The King, which came out in 2021.

When it came out, she was in college in New York City.

And at the moment, she still is.

But the title track on The King was written at a time when the pandemic had shut things down.

And she was back in Connecticut living with her parents.

In this episode, Sarah tells the story of demoing the song in her childhood bedroom,

and then recording it in the studio with producer Jake Aaron,

before it went on to become a hit with over 20 million streams online so far.

Also, on March 16, Sarah is performing at the Song Exploder Show at South by Southwest,

along with perfume genius, Kimbera, and more.

I hope to see you there.

Here's Sarah Kinsley on Song Exploder.

My name is Sarah Kinsley.

I had been in college for about three years, and it was exciting and riveting.

And then I went home for this uncertain amount of time.

I was at my parents' home in Connecticut.

A lot of my old books are on the shelves, you know, the same sort of a bed frame,

and my walls are kind of covered in the same things.

And nothing has changed.

...