The title track to Running Wild, New York singer Sari Schorr‘s new album, is out now as her second single from the forthcoming Provogue Records/Artone Label Group release.
Talking about the single, Schorr said, “‘Running Wild’ is about the tension between desire and control: wanting someone intensely without trying to contain them. Passion needs freedom to stay alive; hold it too tightly, and you risk suffocating the very thing that drew you in. The song asks how much compromise love can survive before we lose the very thing that makes it exciting in the first place.”
“The first version of the ‘Running Wild’ video never made it out of the gate. For the second shoot, I worked with Kee Koo, a fabulous videographer, and we approached it completely differently,” she explained. “Instead of trying to tell the story too literally, we wanted to capture the feeling of ‘Running Wild’: desire, freedom, danger and that irresistible pull towards someone you know you may never be able to hold on to. We chased the atmosphere more than perfection. A lot of what happened on camera wasn’t overly planned. We played with movement, looks, little moments, light and instinct. Some of my favourite shots came from just letting the camera roll and seeing what happened.”
“I was in an intensely prolific period when we began writing the album,” she says. “‘Running Wild’ was the first song we wrote, and it struck the match for everything that followed. There was an electricity in the studio, a sense that we had opened a door and had to follow wherever it led. I’m incredibly proud of what we created and deeply fortunate to have made it with musicians who brought such passion and imagination to every song.”
Running Wild channels a restless momentum into Schorr‘s most personal and defiant record yet. “There’s a moment when you stop trying to fit the shape the world has made for you and start listening to the person you’ve been becoming all along,” she says. “I’ve reached a deeper understanding of who I am as an artist. I’m still searching and learning, but I trust my instincts more now and worry less about whether a song is behaving itself. I follow it wherever its emotional truth leads. These songs are about self-discovery, defiance, resilience and transformation. I hope they leave people feeling freer, lifted above the weight of everyday life, and bold enough to believe that something better is possible.”
Sari Schorr‘s roots stretch across oceans and generations. Her great-grandfather grew up in Kyiv, then part of the Russian Empire, where he struggled to feed his family before leaving for America in search of a better life. Her parents became first-generation New Yorkers: her mother a model and school friend of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and her father an air force fighter pilot. Raised with love and encouragement, Schorr dreamed of becoming a musician, but alongside that ambition grew a powerful instinct to help others. She volunteered at New York’s Sagamore Psychiatric Center for Children and Adolescents and at the now-closed Birchwood Home for the Blind and Deaf, and later served as a 9/11 first responder, early experiences that would shape her lifelong humanitarian work.
Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Schorr was invited by a United Nations representative to help distribute aid across the country. Later, she returned to the UN to help raise funds for Soda, a village in India, and remains closely connected to the community. “I would have stayed in Haiti, and I would have stayed in India,” she reflected. “It was incredibly hard to leave because I felt I was doing something that mattered. But music was the path I had chosen, and I came to believe that through it I could reach more people and perhaps make an even greater impact.”
That belief has shaped much of what followed. She sang on Amnesty International’s 2012 anthem ‘Toast to Freedom’, personally bringing Marianne Faithfull, Jane Birkin, Carly Simon and Christine And The Queens into the project. Beyond music, she has run marathons and, on two occasions, completed the 540-mile bike ride in support of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Whether through music, advocacy or sheer endurance, the impulse is the same: to turn empathy into action.
When she uses her voice beyond the stage, the response is sometimes the familiar refrain: “Shut up and sing.” But silence has never been in her nature. “If you’re fortunate enough to have a platform, I think there’s a responsibility to use it with purpose,” she said. “Music gave me a voice, and I don’t believe that voice should disappear when the song ends. If I can shine a little more light on something that matters to me, then I’m going to.”
With the completion of Running Wild, she allows herself a moment to recognise one of the proudest achievements of her career. “Running Wild is the album I’ve dreamt of making all my life. It feels like a defining moment for me, and I don’t say that lightly. This record gave me more than I expected, and I hope it gives something meaningful back to the people who hear it.”
She will also support the album with an extensive European tour encompassing 46 appearances, commencing at The Lexington in London on 29th September.
Check out the video for ‘Running Wild’ below.
Read more about Sari Schorr on RAMzine.
