Sasami Ashworth (born June 23, 1990), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

as Sasami (stylized as SASAMI), is an American musician who records music in a variety of styles, from singer-songwriter ballads to heavy metal and industrial. She began her career as a member of

Cherry Glazerr Cherry Glazerr is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 2013. The current lineup consists of guitarist and lead vocalist Clementine Creevy, bassist Sami Perez and drummer Tabor Allen. The band's sound has transitioned from lo-fi and ...

but went solo in 2018. Her most recent album, ''Blood on the Silver Screen'', was released on March 7, 2025. Throughout 2023 and 2024, Sasami toured as a member of

ambient pop Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

artist

Yeule Yeule ( ; stylised in lower case as yeule) is the musical project of Nat Ćmiel, a Singaporean songwriter and producer. Formed in 2012, they incorporate elements of ambient, glitch and Asian post-pop. Their name is derived from ''Final Fantasy'' ...

's backing band.

Career

Early life

Born in

Bronxville Bronxville is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the Adminis ...

, New York, Sasami Ashworth comes from a

Zainichi () are ethnic Koreans who immigrated to Japan before 1945 and are citizens or permanent residents of Japan, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South Korean nationals who have immigrated to Japan since t ...

family. Her father is of German descent and her mother was a Korean born in Japan during the

Japanese occupation of Korea From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

. Ashworth spoke Korean and Japanese growing up and was part of the

Unification Church The Unification Church () is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists or sometimes informally Moonies. It was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon in Seoul, South Korea, as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unificatio ...

. She learned the

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

in middle school and attended the

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA, ) is a visual and performing arts high school located on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is a public school, ...

alongside members of

Haim Haim can be a first name or surname originating in Hebrew or derived from the Old German name Haimo. Etymology Hebrew Chayyim ( ', Classical Hebrew: , Israeli Hebrew: ), also transcribed ''Haim, Hayim, Chayim'', or ''Chaim'' (English pronunciat ...

. After she graduated from the

Eastman School of Music The Eastman School of Music is the music school of the University of Rochester, a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1921 by celebrated industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman, it was the ...

in 2012, she scored and made orchestral arrangements for films, commercials and studio albums, and worked as a music teacher in Los Angeles, where she is currently based. In 2015, she joined the American rock band

with whom she played synths and toured for two and a half years before announcing her departure in January 2018 to pursue her solo musical career.

Solo career

In April 2018, Sasami shared her first solo track "Callous" on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

, which ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' awarded with their "Best New Track" label. Later that year

Domino Recording Company Domino Recording Company, or simply Domino, is a British independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in Brooklyn, New York that handles releases in the United States, as well as a German division called ...

announced that Sasami had signed to their label, and released the songs "Callous" and "Not the Time". ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'' called Sasami "rock's next big thing." Sasami stated, "I wrote both of these songs on tour on a guitar on my iPad with

GarageBand GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...

plugins and Moog 15 app sounds and then re-recorded them in the studio onto tape with really great tones. So it's kind of like emotionally scribbling a letter on a tear and snot-stained napkin and then re-writing it on fancy papyrus paper to make it look like you have your shit together." The songs were released on a

7" vinyl In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

in October 2018. Throughout 2018, Sasami toured with various musicians, including Baths,

No Joy No Joy are a Canadian shoegaze band from Montreal formed in late 2009 by Jasamine White-Gluz and former member Laura Lloyd. Biography No Joy's first show was with Grant Hart of Hüsker Dü on December 15, 2009. The band continued to play locall ...

King Tuff Kyle Thomas, known professionally as King Tuff, is an American musician recording on Sub Pop Records. King Tuff and his band have released several music videos and have continually toured across the United States, Australia and Europe since 201 ...

Mitski Mitsuki Laycock (born September 27, 1990), also known as Mitski Miyawaki, and known professionally as Mitski, is an American singer-songwriter. She Self-publishing, self-released her first two albums, ''Lush (Mitski album), Lush'' (2012), and '' ...

Soccer Mommy Sophia Regina Allison (born May 27, 1997), better known by her stage name Soccer Mommy, is an American singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. She has four studio albums to her name; her latest album, ''Evergreen'', was released on October ...

Snail Mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...

and Menace Beach. In early 2019, Sasami announced her eponymous debut studio album, ''

Sasami Sasami Ashworth (born June 23, 1990), known mononymously as Sasami (stylized as SASAMI), is an American musician who records music in a variety of styles, from singer-songwriter ballads to heavy metal and industrial. She began her career as a ...

'', and released two more singles. The album was released in March of that year. In February 2022 Sasami released her second album, '' Squeeze'', on Domino. The album received many positive reviews and was named as one of the best albums of the year by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''. In 2023, Sasami toured in support of

as a solo performer and guitarist in Yeule’s band.

Personal life

Sasami identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

. As a child, her family brought her up in the

, which she would later refer to as a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Credits

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1990 births 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women singers American feminist musicians American indie rock musicians American LGBTQ people of Asian descent 21st-century American multi-instrumentalists American musicians of Korean descent American people of German descent American people of South Korean descent American queer musicians American queer women American women bass guitarists American women guitarists American women singer-songwriters Domino Recording Company artists Eastman School of Music alumni Guitarists from California LGBTQ people from California LGBTQ people from New York (state) Living people Los Angeles County High School for the Arts alumni Musicians from Los Angeles People from Bronxville, New York Queer singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from California Zainichi Korean musicians