Album Review: Sacha, We Did

We Did is the second EP by Canada's next breakout country star, Warkworth newcomer Sacha. Following 2020's The Best Thing, We Did is country fundamentals done well and put on full pop blast.

The title track bursts with youthful reminiscence and invincible naivety. “If I Wanted Wine” wallops as hard as a vino hangover that would knock Bacchus dizzy. On the extremely polished “Pretty Please,” slide guitar paints an openness as expansive as the half-risen (or half-set) sky that graces the album cover. Sacha bundles her three new songs with “What the Truck,” her record-breaking collaboration with North Dumfries country duo the Reklaws.

We Did doesn't transform the genre or push it anywhere new—it sounds more country than The Best Thing, in fact, and she even revisits imagery like stargazing while lying on a truck. And though the stories Sacha tells here are familiar to any country fan, she calls the songs the most personal ones she's written yet. Listeners will just have to take her word for it, especially because a song like “If I Wanted Wine” is too vague to know what falling out it centres around. But at the very least, she's doing right by staying true to herself. Maybe the self-affirmation and joy of freedom she finds on We Did are the roots of the EP's exuberance. That'd be enough to call We Did a victory.

We Did was released February 4, 2022 on Starseed Records.
Listen to it here.