Blondshell, born Sabrina Teitelbaum, is one of the most exciting presences in the contemporary alternative scene. With her honest and sincere lyrics, she has managed to gain the attention of both the public and the music industry. After her self-titled debut in 2023, she returns with her second album, “If You Asked for a Picture”, which will be released on May 2, 2025.
On her new album, Blondshell dares to explore more musical nuances, escaping the bipolar approach of the first album, which moved between explosive rock songs and calm ballads.
Shortly before the album’s release, we talked with her about her transition from her Baum project to her current alter ego, her need to create honest music, the artistic influences that shaped her and the emotions that accompanied her during the creation of her second album.
With her disarming honesty, Blondshell spoke to us about her musical journey, the challenges she faced in creating her new album, and her artistic influences. From how her name came about to the emotions that accompanied this new recording phase, our conversation reveals an artist who is not afraid to take risks and explore her deepest aspects through music.
And now, let’s get to the interview!
What’s the story behind your moniker, Blondshell? What was your inspiration?
I tried to have a bunch of stage names before I came up with it. They were all pretty bad and kind of embarrassing. My sister and I just had a conversation one night over dinner, being like, “okay, what are different things about me that could make sense with a name?”. My last name’s Teitelbaum. Bombshell… Blondshell… I don’t know. We were just brainstorming at dinner and came up with it.
Although you started over as Baum then you transformed into Blondshell. How was this transition for you, both musically and personally?
I think personally, it was really exciting because when I was doing the Baum stuff, there was sort of a disconnect where I felt like I was making this type of music that wasn’t really similar to what I listened to. It wasn’t really coming out how I wanted it to. I felt kind of lost with that project and so I was really excited in a personal sense when I was like, “oh, I’m gonna just do this thing that I’ve been wanting to do for so long and make rock music”.
Musically, it was also just kind of easy because it was sort of natural for me. It feels like I’m just making music that’s similar to the music that I like.
Recently, you released your new singles “T&A” and “Two Times”. What is your perspective on these songs?
For me, “T&A” sort of feels fun. It feels exciting, which is why we wanted to put it out first. It makes sense that it would be the first song on the album campaign.
“Two Times” feels a little bit brave for me to put out. I was kind of proud of myself for putting that one out as a single because I think it’s easy to kind of hide behind a ton of guitars, drums and crazy instruments. You can hear everything in this song which is just relying on my voice and on the lyrics. I felt excited about putting that one out too.
Your new album «If You Asked for a Picture» is due out on May 2, 2025. What can we expect from it?
I think you can expect more types of songs than were on the first album. The first album was really sort of black and white, like there were two types of songs, a big rock song or a ballad. I felt more comfortable taking more risks on this album and sort of having more nuance in the instrumentation and in the lyrics. It’s a longer album. The first one was kind of short. It was nine songs and this one was 12 songs. I think I just felt more ambitious with it. It’s like showing different sides of myself as a musician that I didn’t show on the first album.
What were the biggest challenges that you had to face while creating this album?
Well, I had only done it once before. There was some doubt in my mind that was sort of like, “can I do it again?”. I think if you’ve made three or four albums, you know that you can do it and you know the process. But having only done it once in my whole life, there were some moments where I was like, “am I going to be able to finish this? Am I going to be inspired in the same way? Is it going to be good?”. There are just some questions that came up that didn’t come up so much on the first time around.
How did your family background influence you to pursue music in the first place?
I didn’t have any artists in my family. There’s nobody who works in art, not just music, in my family at all. It was kind of nice in a way, because I had that as my sort of secret special thing that I could just create on my own. It was so not familiar to other people.
I was saying to somebody this week, it’s kind of nice as a musician to be in a relationship with somebody who’s not a musician, because they see it as really magical. If you’re surrounded by other musicians, it’s just an everyday thing, and so in a way, I think not having musicians in my family was kind of nice. My family also loved music. They celebrated it a lot. I listened to a lot of music around the house growing up and that partially made me fall in love with it.
Your music has a strong alternative rock and grunge character. How did you develop the style?
I think just by listening to a lot of different alternative albums from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Υou just pick out pieces of songs and records that you love and then you start to put it together. I like the guitar tone in this album or the bass tone in that album and you piece it together that way. It takes a really long time but I think that’s part of it. Another part of it, is having a really good partnership with the producer that I work with. We’ve been working together since 2019, when I met him. We both really understand each other’s taste and we developed something together as well.
Your lyrics are often raw and honest. How important is it for you to express true emotions in your music?
That’s everything for me. That’s the whole reason why I make music. Not even in the sense that it’s for other people. Sometimes I don’t want to talk about stuff in my everyday life and that’s the place where I get to talk about all of it, where I get to show really big, massive emotions about everyday life. You can’t complain about everything but you can be honest about things being difficult in your music. The music feeling is always honest in that way and that’s the whole point to me.
Who are the artists or bands that inspire you the most during this period while doing this album, for example?
There are a lot of songwriters, especially women from the last 40 years that just really inspire me. I’ve been listening to a lot to Bonnie Raitt recently. I think she has one of the best voices ever and just listening to it makes me feel really inspired. I’m always listening to Fiona Apple a lot. I think she’s one of the best songwriters ever. I listened to a lot of rock from the 2000s when we made this for the tones. We were listening a lot to Queens of the Stone Age, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers etc. I sort of got inspiration for the album in different ways from different genres.
I always felt like there’s something about Fiona Apple there. I am saying it in a good way. It was like Blondhell is the new Fiona Apple or something like that.
That’s the biggest compliment ever! That’s so nice! Thank you.
Your music often has a strong cinematic feel. Have you ever considered writing music for films or series or something like that?
I think that would be so fun. I would love to do it. Not really in a composing way just because it’s not my background, but I would love to write songs for movies. I think it would be so fun. I love coming of age teen movies, like A24. I feel like it’d be fun to write music for that. It would be amazing.
With the release of the album, are you planning any tours or special appearances?
Yeah, so many. We are going to tour in the US in June for the whole month. Then we’re going to do a couple festivals and after that we’re going to tour in Europe in September.
Is Greece is in your European plans?
Unfortunately we’re not going to Greece. I really want to come there but it’s just really far. I’m hoping that one day we can. I’ve been to Greece before. I’ve been to Athens, when I was a kid.
Do you have any memories of Athens?
I have memories of visiting a lot of historical places like Acropolis. We weren’t there that long, but I remember seeing a lot of stuff when I was in Athens. I also remember it was so hot. It was like blazing heat when I was there. It was in the summer. I’d like to go back as an adult and play a show.
What’s your motto in life?
Interview: Theodore Kolliopoulos
