Finding a Little of Myself in Sasha Alex Sloan’s And The Crowd Goes Mild
Written by: Manisha Rekhi
ARTIST: Sasha Alex Sloan
ALBUM: And The Crowd Goes Mild (2026)
GENRE: Singer-Songwriter
RATING: 9/10
I first started hearing Sasha Alex Sloan’s music around 2018–2019, when her debut EP, sad girl, came out. ‘Faking It’, from her second EP, Loser, and ‘Dancing With Your Ghost’, later included on Self Portrait, became songs I’ve kept returning to. That history makes listening to And The Crowd Goes Mild feel personal: I’m coming to it as someone who has already found a lot to connect with in her music.
Sloan’s fourth studio album follows Me Again, released in 2024. The album includes ten tracks with production credited to King Henry and Chad Copelin. She explained that writing ‘Glitter’ helped renew her interest in making another album.
‘Glitter’ reminds me of the stripped-back emotion of ‘Older’ and the haunting quality of ‘Dancing With Your Ghost’. Its focus on the memories that linger after a loved one leaves feels familiar within Sloan’s music. From there, ‘Still Be Me’ offers a different perspective. I hear its upbeat ballad approach as a reflection on staying together without losing the qualities that make each person who they are.
That idea of holding on to yourself becomes more complicated in ‘Empty’. To me, the song captures the weight of a codependent relationship, where caring for someone and carrying their burdens can start to feel inseparable. ‘What it isn’t’ explores a related kind of exhaustion: being in a relationship that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere in the long run. Together, these songs make room for feelings that aren’t easy to resolve.
‘Keeping score’ is my favourite track on the album. What stands out to me is that the poetic imagery connects heartbreak with a physical response. The lyrics, “I hear you’re your name and my stomach drops through the floor. I start to shake like an earthquake right at my door”. The message behind the song makes the emotional pain feel immediate rather than distant, and that’s what gives the song its impact for me.
As much as I love ‘Keeping score’, ‘2018’ and ‘Fun’ are the songs I connect with most personally. ‘2018’ brings together the nostalgia of a past relationship and struggles with body image. I recognise something of my younger self in that combination, especially the self-consciousness I used to feel about my body. ‘Fun’ reaches me differently, through its realistic take on growing up, social anxiety and burnout. I’ve felt anxious in social situations too, so these songs give me more than something to appreciate from a distance; they give me something familiar.
‘ED’ adds another layer to that honesty by personifying Sloan’s toxic relationship with an eating disorder. Alongside ‘2018’ and ‘Fun’, it helps explain why I find the album so relatable: these songs make space for difficult experiences without pretending they’re simple. ‘Delusional optimism’ takes that tension beyond relationships and self-image, exploring the effort of staying positive when the reality around you makes that hope feel hard to sustain.
The closing title track, ‘And The Crowd Goes Mild’ reflects on being an authentic singer and breaking free of expectations within the pop industry. After the vulnerability of the earlier songs, this single feels like a perfect placement to complete the album.
What stays with me is the bittersweet view of Sloan’s career and the personal connection I find in these songs. ‘Keeping score’ is my standout, but ‘2018’, ‘Fun’ and ‘ED’ give the album much of its emotional weight. Having followed her music since those early EPs, I value the honesty here most of all. And The Crowd Goes Mild leaves me with plenty to return to, and for me, it earns a 9/10.
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