- Source: Sarah Cothran
Sarah Jessica Cothran (born (2002-06-11)June 11, 2002) is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in Mississippi and based in Nashville, Cothran gained popularity on social media platform TikTok with a series of song covers in a minor key. She gained recognition for her cover of Matt Maltese's song "As the World Caves In" in 2021, earning 400 million streams and a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. She subsequently signed with Republic Records and released two singles in 2022 before her first extended play, i hope you're happy, in September. She toured as a supporting act for Alec Benjamin in 2022, and released several singles in 2023 and 2024 before splitting from Republic and going independent.
Career
Sarah Jessica Cothran was born on June 11, 2002, in Seminary, Mississippi. She began writing and playing music in junior high school at the age of thirteen. Cothran began posting music on YouTube in 2017, and launched a TikTok account after graduating high school in 2020, having moved to Nashville, Tennessee. She gained popularity on TikTok with her series of videos singing covers of songs in a minor key. She considered social media an effective opportunity to share music and connect with her supporters. In January 2018, Cothran released a cover of Avenged Sevenfold's "So Far Away" featuring her sister Michaila, which received more than one million views.
Cothran gained recognition for her cover of Matt Maltese's song "As the World Caves In", originally released with three short videos on TikTok before receiving a full release on streaming platforms on May 12, 2021. It ranked tenth among the most viral songs worldwide on July 14, according to Spotify. The single earned 400 million global streams, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on September 16, 2022. It was featured in the first episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty in June 2022, and an episode of The Morning Show in October 2023. Maltese's original song saw a resurgence after Cothran's cover. Cothran considered it important to co-produce her own music to maintain her creativity and to "level out the huge gap" regarding the lack of female producers.
Following the song's success, Cothran signed with Republic Records in August 2021, represented by Sara Bollwinkel of Wasserman Music, and legally by Doug Mark. Cothran's first single with Republic, "Baby Why", was released on July 29, 2022. The song is about constant fighting in a toxic relationship. Cothran was inspired by vintage sounds but wanted to add a "modern twist". The single gained over one million global streams in ten days. The music video was released on August 11, with visuals inspired by the 1950s. Her next single, "Funeral", was released on August 26; co-written with Maltese over several days in a studio in Nashville, the song is about attending one's own funeral. The music video was released on December 2.
Cothran's debut EP, i hope you're happy, was released on September 30. She wrote and produced most of the songs late at night in her bedroom. Consequence's Mary Siroky named one of the EP's songs, "I'm Here", a runner-up for Song of the Week, writing that it "unspools like a diary entry ... the knowledge that life could have been different can be haunting, and Cothran tries to close the chapter on her own terms with this poignant brush of her pen". The music video for "I'm Here" was released on December 17, filmed by the Nashville Drone Company at Harpeth Valley Farm in Kingston Springs, Tennessee. Cothran was one of Alec Benjamin's supporting acts on his tour in September 2022. She released a single, "Stronger Than Me", on September 8, 2023, followed by "Me Myself & I" on October 6.
In 2023, Cothran partnered with Bristol Myers Squibb for an awareness campaign about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, with which her mother was diagnosed in 2018. Cothran released a cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter" on January 26, 2024, and was featured on a new version of "Solas" by Jamie Duffy on March 15. She released a single, "Gutter", on April 26, followed by "Lead Me On" on June 28, when she revealed she had recently split from Republic to become an independent artist, wanting to make music without external pressures.