Blasko was first heard in the mid-1990s fronting Sydney band, Acquiesce, after an initial tour of France with founding members Dave Hemmings, Paul Camilleri, and her sister Kate Halcrow. With material written by Blasko and Camilleri, they recorded a single and an EP with producer Hugh Wilson, receiving some local attention.
In 2002, Sarah decided to go solo. Material for the Prelusive EP - a result of initial explorative collaborations with Wilson but fully realised with Nick Schneider and Steve Francis - was originally recorded as demos. However, after becoming disillusioned with the indecisiveness and lack of solid commitment from the labels she met with, Blasko decided to release and promote the material independently. With the financial assistance of then-manager Craig New, she also produced a music video for the leading track, "Your Way".
The track was picked up by local community stations such as 2SER, as well as the national youth broadcaster, Triple J – who also gave light rotation to two other EP tracks, "Will You Ever Know" & "Be Tonight". "Your Way" was also featured on the test loop of fledgling Sydney community radio station 2FBi, when the station began to broadcast full-time.
After this initial success, Sarah was approached by and eventually signed to Brisbane-based label, Dew Process, who repackaged and re-released the EP. There are minor variations to the packaging of the major label release, which make the independent release slightly more valuable to collectors.
In late 2004, Blasko released her debut album, The Overture & the Underscore, recorded in Hollywood at the studio of engineer Wally Gagel. She co-produced the album with Gagel and fellow songwriter, Robert F Cranny.
The album was met with critical acclaim and received gold accreditation in Australia, despite limited commercial radio play. In 2005 Blasko was rewarded for her work with four ARIA nominations. Of particular note was her nomination for Album of the Year.
Sarah spent most of April 2006 recording her second album in Auckland, New Zealand at Roundhead Studio, the studio of Crowded House frontman Neil Finn.
Sarah produced the album with Robert F Cranny , and "Flame Trees" collaborator and Midnight Oil guitarist and keyboard player, Jim Moginie . The recording session was engineered by Paul McKercher, who has worked with numerous Australian bands including Glide, The Cruel Sea , You Am I and more recently Augie March.
The final addition to this all-Australian team was New York-based producer/engineer, Victor Van Vugt, who mixed the record. Van Vugt has worked on a number of Beth Orton records and has a long association with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds , mixing a number of their albums as well as some Mick Harvey solo work and production efforts such as PJ Harvey’s Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea.
The album was nominated for the 2006 J Award, and debuted at number 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It led to her first ARIA win for Best Pop Release at the 2007 ARIA awards and a nomination for Sarah for Best Female Artist.
After some posts detailing on her blog that Sarah would be soon releasing new material on a third album, on July 10, 2009 she released 'As Day Follows Night'. Produced by Bjorn Yttling of Peter, Bjorn & John and recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, the album was performed with a band of local Swedish musicians with comparatively little electronic production in contrast to her previous works. The end result was an album retaining Sarah's signature style of pop and trip hop, while adding some jazz influences to the mix. This release, along with her extensive touring across Australia resulted in her receiving the ARIA award for Best Female Artist and being nominated in two other categories.
Diverging from previous efforts, Sarah made a conscious effort on her third album to make her songs more intimate, closing the distance between herself and the listener. In an interview to The Brag magazine by Mike Gee, she states 'Generally the songs are more open and I didn't want to obscure them too much... I wanted the songs to be straight to the point. I wanted them to be like classic old pop songs in that they had that structure.'
In 2011, Sarah collaborated with two other artists, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby, to form a group named Seeker Lover Keeper. They released a namesake album in June of that year and promoted the record by touring churches around Australia.
October 2012 saw the return of Sarah's solo work in which she released her fourth independent record, 'I Awake'. In an effort to explore her family's heritage, she recorded the songs with the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. However, she was aware that recording such an album was risky. Sarah stated in an interview that she did not want the album to be 'watered down' or 'unnecessary'.
She is currently promoting the record by touring Australian cities in which she invited their respective orchestras to provide backing music. Most recently, she performed live in the Sydney Opera House where the concert was streamed live via Youtube. Soon, Sarah will embark on a European tour to promote her album overseas.
Lost & Defeated
Sarah Blasko Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like a rush of blood to my weary head
No longer sad
The emotional tide has turned and I see red
Heard you clap your hands
'Cause I'm joyfully and most bitter mad
I hope your heart is glad
'Cause that's what you wanted
That's what you wanted
All along
That's what you wanted
That's what you wanted
All along
And though you wish I had
Not fallen in love with you so fast
But don't make it bad
Don't turn it into something that I regret
'Cause that's what you wanted
That's what you wanted
All along
It's just what you wanted
It's just what you wanted
All along
All along
All along
All along
All?
It's just what you needed
It's just what you needed
All along
To feel lost and defeated
Lost and defeated
It's just what you needed
It's just what you needed
To feel lost and defeated
Lost and defeated
Aaah uuuh
Till you finally say goodbye
The lyrics to Sarah Blasko's song Lost & Defeated portray the transformation of the singer's emotional state from being sad and defeated to being mad and empowered. The lyrics suggest that the person she sings about intentionally hurt her and wanted her to feel lost and defeated. However, the singer has turned her feelings of sadness into anger and empowerment. She points out that the person may have wanted her to fall in love slowly, but they cannot make it bad or turn it into something that she regrets. The repetition of the line "That's what you wanted, all along" suggests that the person had a hidden agenda in their actions towards the singer. The lyrics end with the singer acknowledging that she needs to say goodbye to the person who has caused her pain, and it is just what they needed to feel lost and defeated.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm finally mad
I am finally angry with you
Like a rush of blood to my weary head
I feel like my head just got hit by a wave of strong emotions
No longer sad
I am not sad anymore
The emotional tide has turned and I see red
My emotions have changed and I am now seeing red (angry)
Heard you clap your hands
I am aware that you're amused by the situation
'Cause I'm joyfully and most bitter mad
My anger towards you is both bitter and joyous at the same time
I hope your heart is glad
I hope you are happy with what you've caused
Oh sweet relief that you've always longed to have
I finally gave you the relief that you always wanted
'Cause that's what you wanted
You wanted me to feel this way
All along
All this time
And though you wish I had
Even though you wish I had not
Not fallen in love with you so fast
Not fallen in love with you as quickly as I did
But don't make it bad
But don't make it worse than it already is
Don't turn it into something that I regret
Don't make me regret my feelings for you
It's just what you needed
This is what you wanted
To feel lost and defeated
To feel like you've lost and you're defeated
Lost and defeated
Feeling like a loser
Aaah uuuh
Background music for the song
Till you finally say goodbye
Until you finally leave me
Contributed by Grayson O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
bertielis
What great vocals and lyrics. Interesting"twist' towards the end.Sarah-one of Australia's singing treasures!!
Laura
Stunning lyrics. I love it.
MIMI
This is jut amazin! That's what you wanted!
She is beautiful and has the right lyrics to everything!
ursus1966
Listening diff music, but this son is amazing, LIVE SOUL IN VOICE.
nowords
genialna Sarah !
Karolina Łachmacka
Great thanks to Sarah from Poland. ;-)
Murdoku
this is like the best thing to happen to me today
Sato IV
@hraith her voice
Marlene Sammito
@beersoffire wtf
MIMI
Sorry i just german an so illiterate k! Forgive me!