Lovestarrs

Sazzie (formerly known as The Good Natured and Lovestarrs) is an English synthpop solo act, consisting of Sarah McIntosh (born January 1991[1] in Highclere, Hampshire)[2] on vocals and keyboards, and formerly her brother Hamish McIntosh on bass and George Hinton (with whom Sarah became acquainted at university)[3] on drums.

Sazzie
Sazzie with Lovestarrs in 2014
Sazzie with Lovestarrs in 2014
Background information
OriginHighclere, Hampshire, England
GenresSynthpop
Years active2008–present
LabelsRegal, Parlophone, Astralwerks
MembersSarah McIntosh
Past membersHamish McIntosh
George Hinton
Websitewww.sazziexo.com

Career

2008–2011: Career beginnings, Warriors and Your Body Is A Machine

Sarah began playing the violin as a child, but felt it was not the right instrument for her, so she turned towards playing the drums.[4][5] She also sang in a choir when she was a child.[6] At the age of 14 she salvaged an old Yamaha keyboard while spring cleaning her grandmother's house.[4][5] She taught herself to play the keys and at age 15 began to write her first own songs and founded a band with her brother Hamish.[7] Later she went to university to study music, but found that both studying and pursuing her musical career was unmanageable. She therefore decided to drop out from university and concentrate on her own music.[8]

After attracting thousands of listeners with their first song, "Our Very Last", The Good Natured self-released their debut EP Warriors on 7 July 2008.[9][10] The EP received a lot of press coverage, especially for the lyrics. Their second EP Your Body Is a Machine was released independently as well on 13 September 2009.[6][11]

2011–2012: Parlophone, Skeleton and 5-HT

In March 2011, The Good Natured signed a deal with Regal Recordings and Parlophone, under which they released their EP Skeleton on 20 June 2011.[12][13] The lead track, "Skeleton" peaked at No. 68 on the German singles top 100.[14] They also signed to Astralwerks in the United States, where they made their debut with the release of Skeleton on 11 October 2011.[15] On 9 December 2012, The Good Natured released their debut single, 5-HT with an accompanying music video.[16] The song failed to make an impact on any major charts. Also in 2012, The Good Natured and Vince Clarke released the song Ghost Train as a free download.[17]

On 28 March 2013, the band announced that their debut album would be titled Prism.[18] However, on 25 July 2013, the group announced via their Facebook account that they had been dropped from their label a few months earlier, and had spent the ensuing time in an unsuccessful effort to get the masters back so that they could self-release the album. They also stated that the band's final show would be at the Temple of Boom stage at the Secret Garden Party that same month.[19][20]

2014–2017: Lovestarrs, Get Your Sexy On, Supernova, new EPs, and a debut album

On 4 December 2013, they announced on their Facebook page that they will return in 2014 "in a new shape and form".[21] In January 2014, they announced via their Facebook page that they had changed their name to Lovestarrs.

On 31 March 2014, Lovestarrs released their debut single, "Get Your Sexy On".[22] The single received very positive reviews, especially from The Guardian [23] who described the song as "excellent". In September 2014 under their new name, Lovestarrs self-released their first EP, Supernova. In support of this, they played shows in England and Sweden.[24]

On 12 October 2015, Lovestarrs began a Kickstarter campaign to fund production costs of two upcoming EPs and an album, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, and Planet Lovestarr, respectively, all set for release in 2016. Sarah stated that this was being done so as to retain ownership of their music and enable them to license and release it through DEFDISCO, the label they recently signed to, to avoid the issues that they had with Parlophone/EMI. The campaign was successful with 107% of their goal reached.[25]

The Planet Lovestarr album was released 17 March 2017.[26] Soon thereafter, the label folded and released all artists from their contracts.[27]

2017 – present: Sazzie

On 3 July 2017, Sarah posted on Facebook announcing a rebranding of Lovestarrs, becoming a solo act.[28] On 22 July 2017, Sarah announced her new name to be "Sazzie".[28] That month, she released her first song as Sazzie to YouTube: a cover of Kesha's song "Praying".[29] This was followed by "Hot Stuff" and several songs from the Planet Lovestarr album, including a lyrically reworked version of "WTF".

Influences

The Good Natured was compared to La Roux,[30][31] Ladytron,[2][4] Lily Allen[2][10] and Kate Nash.[2][30] Sarah herself described The Good Natured as "dark electronic pop"[6] as well as "electronic pop with heart",[5] citing bands such as Tears for Fears, Japan, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Vince Clarke (from Depeche Mode, Yazoo & Erasure) as influences.[31]

Sarah stated that she is influenced by Katy Perry, Maroon 5 and Gwen Stefani when it comes to Lovestarrs.[32]

Discography

Albums
  • Prism (as The Good Natured) (unreleased)
  • Planet Lovestarr (2017)

Extended plays
  • Warriors (2008)
  • Your Body Is a Machine (2009)
  • Skeleton (2011)
  • Supernova (2014)
  • Get Your Sexy On (2016)
  • Somebody Like You (2016)

Singles
  • Be My Animal (2010)
  • Skeleton (2011)
  • Video Voyeur (2011)
  • Christmas Wrapping (with Colette Carr) (2012)[33]
  • 5-HT (2013)[34]
  • Lovers (2013)
  • Get Your Sexy On (2014)
  • Stupid Cupid (2014)
  • Ex Lover (2014)
  • Do You Work Out? (feat. Mix Master Mike) (2018)

References
  1. Haim, Daniel (3 February 2011). "UK Sensation The Good Natured Set to Release Be My Animal in the US". Bloginity.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011. ... Sarah McIntosh was just 19 years old (she turned 20 last week).
  2. Lester, Paul (25 February 2009). "New band of the day – No 493: The Good Natured". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  3. Voerding, Brian (28 February 2011). "The Good Natured Drop Out to Tune In – Top 100 Acts at SXSW 2011". Spinner. AOL. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  4. Strange, Francesca (4 May 2010). "The Good Natured : Interview". For The Record. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  5. Von Pip, Andy (2 June 2010). "Fire And Ice-The Good Natured Interview". The Von Pip Musical Express. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  6. Harrison, Suzy (2010). "Push to Fire Interview: The Good Natured". Push to Fire. Archived from the original on 28 November 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  7. Cypherle, Jacob (7 February 2011). "Interview with The Good Natured and OOTD". Chromatist. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  8. Hollywood Q (15 October 2010). "Maroon Cafe Exclusive….. Interview with The Good Natured". The Maroon Cafe. Archived from the original on 12 May 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  9. "Warriors – EP by The Good Natured". iTunes Store UK. Apple. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  10. Aarong, David (13 May 2010). "The Good Natured – Your Body is a Machine". Audio Drums. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  11. "Your Body Is a Machine – EP by The Good Natured". iTunes Store UK. Apple. 13 September 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  12. "THE GOOD NATURED – SKELETON EP". Parlophone. 27 April 2012. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  13. "Some good news (and a good song) from The Good Natured". Popjustice. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  14. "Skeleton by The Good Natured - Music Charts". Acharts.co.
  15. "Introducing The Good Natured". Astralwerks. 31 August 2011. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  16. "The Good Natured - 5-HT [Official Music Video]". YouTube.
  17. "Listen to 'Ghost Train', Vince Clarke's collaboration with the Good Natured, and download their mixtape… « Vince Clarke Music – Latest News". Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  18. O'Mance, Brad (28 March 2013). "The Good Natured's debut album now has a title". Popjustice. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  19. The Good Natured (25 July 2013). "Timeline Photos". Facebook. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  20. "Secret Garden Party Announces Line-up Additions Plus Headliner Regina Spektor For 25th – 28th July 2013". Contactmusic.com. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  21. "Coming back stronger than ever next year in a... – The Good Natured". Facebook.
  22. "Get Your Sexy on - Single by Sazzie". iTunes. 2 June 2020.
  23. Cragg, Michael (6 February 2014). "Lovestarrs – Get Your Sexy On: New music". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  24. "Log In or Sign Up to View". Facebook.com.
  25. "Lovestarrs - 2 EPs + Debut Album". Kickstarter.
  26. Allen, Tony (17 March 2017). "Strength of their Nature: Lovestarrs, Planet Lovestarr – Review". Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  27. Raggio, Eva (25 May 2017). "Record Label DefDisco Dissolves, Leaving the Dallas Artists It Signed Stranded". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  28. "Sazzie". Facebook.com.
  29. "YouTube". Youtube.com.
  30. Butcher, Simon (12 October 2010). "The Good Natured – Be My Animal". Q. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  31. Preece, Rachel (27 June 2010). "The Good Natured : Interview". Matchless Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  32. "An Interview With The British Pop Group, Lovestarrs, Whose Motto, "Follow Your Heart And Aim For The Stars", Keeps Them Motivated and Inspired!". Music.allaccess.com. 28 October 2014.
  33. "Christmas Wrapping – Single by The Good Natured & Colette Carr". iTunes Store US. Apple. January 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  34. "5-Ht – Ep by The Good Natured". iTunes Store UK. Apple. 8 March 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
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