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.

I've been thinking about grief a lot recently, because my mom passed away a couple months ago.

Just a few weeks before that happened, I recorded this interview with Sasha Sloan about her song until it happens to you.

Which, as you'll hear, is about grief, but also about the distance between those who have lost someone and those who haven't.

And when we did the interview, I was in the second category, but now I'm in the first one.

And for me, making this episode has been an interesting way for me to retrace my steps as I crossed from one side of that divide to the other.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that.

But here we go.

Sasha Sloan is a singer and songwriter, originally from Boston, but now based in Nashville.

She put out her debut album, Only Child, Last Year.

Before that, she'd written songs for artists like Katy Perry, John Legend, and Charlie XCX, and she's been a featured guest vocalist on songs by electronic artists Odessa and Khaigo.

Sasha made her album with her boyfriend, producer Henry Allen, aka King Henry, whose other production credits include songs by Beyoncé and Diplo.

So they're kind of a music power couple.

In this episode, Sasha, along with Henry, tells the story of making her song until it happens to you.

My name is Sasha Sloan.

When it comes to writing, I always start with a title.

My boyfriend and I have a close friend, and he had a cousin who was like a sister to him.

We hung out with her a lot.

She was in her early 30s, and one day she was diagnosed with leukemia and a couple months later she passed away.

Henry and I were very shaken up by it, and just sitting and talking.

You know, we were like, you'll never really know what it's like until it happens to you, because my boyfriend and I had never lost someone that close to us.

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