Sky Ferreira confirms indie status, airs out Capitol Records in Vogue

“I only had two and a half weeks to make this song, which is fucking crazy because I take forever to do anything.”

• On her removal from Capitol Records’ artist roster last November: “They waited until the 10-year anniversary of Night Time, My Time to drop me via an automated message that got forwarded to me. And it was a weekend! After months of not hearing back from them! It was pretty—I’m still trying to figure out the words I can use to talk about it that won’t get me in trouble. But I also don’t really care about getting in trouble, because what else can they really do to me at this point? My relationship with them was obviously a bit fraught, and it’s never been very simple to explain. But to let me know I’ve been dropped from the label in such an impersonal way was clearly so personal.

“It was their way of saying: ‘You can have fans write Free Sky in the clouds with an airplane, but we still own you.’ They kept me from putting out new music for 10 years as a way of making me look like I’m incapable of it, like it was my fault that I don’t technically own anything I record. I was already dreading the 10-year anniversary of my album because it’s sad. I should be able to celebrate something like that because as long as this album has been around, people still care about it… but it shouldn’t have to remind me of another year of being trapped in a mess that I didn’t create. They want me to look responsible by dragging it out and blocking me from releasing music even after already being blocked from so many other opportunities because of them.”

• On releasing Masochism, her long-delayed sophomore album: “I can’t right now, even though I was the one who paid for all of my studio sessions. I’m working to try and get some of those songs back, but I’m not getting every single one. It’s such a complicated process and I have to figure out how to do all this shit by myself now. People keep telling me I should just re-record the songs and it’s like, yeah, Taylor Swift can do that because she’s a billionaire, but I basically put all the money I’ve ever made as an artist back into making music. I think most musicians I know generally pay to work.”

• On label sabotage: “It’s a way to make it look like I’m a lost cause so that by the time I was free, no one would want to work with me. And in some ways it’s worked. There’s a narrative around me that’s just not true. But I’m also not gonna just sit here and correct people. I’ve had to accept that I’m not getting those 10 years of my life back.”

• On auditioning for the scrapped Madonna biopic: “I am not a dancer, so I rehearsed with a choreographer for 11 hours a day before I even went in to audition. I felt like I was possessed, it was some real Black Swan shit. I did feel a little silly sometimes, like I was Ja’mie: Private School Girl when she tried modern dance. But I just really went for it because Madonna is so naturally confident and I wanted to project that.

“I spent two months working on it, between the auditions and dance rehearsals. I don’t usually get starstruck, but it was just so surreal to be with Madonna at her house. I sat in one of her guest rooms to read the script, then she took me downstairs into her bedroom and did my makeup and put her clothes on me.”