Sidney Shares New EP 'What If It Ends?'
The question arrives quietly, then refuses to leave. What if it ends?
It's the kind of thought that can sound like panic or possibility, depending on the day. Sometimes both at once. For Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Sidney, it became the axis point of her new EP " a record that doesn't rush to answer anything, but instead lingers in the tension between fear and freedom, hope and hesitation, devotion and doubt.
Due for release February 27 [via Nettwerk], what if it ends? is built around that exact emotional in-between. Written largely in the year leading up to a major personal shift, the EP captures a period where life looked stable on the surface " engaged, working steadily, ticking off milestones " while underneath, the questions were getting louder. Sidney found herself fixating on making the "right" choice: in love, in career, in who she was supposed to be by now. The songs exist in that suspended space, where you're still holding on even as you sense something slipping.
"I've asked that question in so many different contexts," Sidney says. "Over coffee with friends, crying into my mum's arms, journalling about an exciting new chapter. As an anxious over thinker, 'what if' questions are always pretty dangerous. Thoughts as a WHOLE can be dangerous...We put so much pressure on making the "right" choice, but I don't even know if that exists. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to ask the question - usually that's enough to get you where you need to go."
An anxious overthinker by her own admission, Sidney has always been drawn to the power of what if questions. On what if it ends?, they're everywhere: what if this relationship doesn't last, what if it should end, what if ending is actually where something better begins. The record doesn't frame endings as failure, but as thresholds " moments where grief and relief exist side by side.
The EP opens at the tipping point. sliding doors borrows its name from the film, imagining parallel futures running simultaneously: the version where you stay, and the version where you leave. Written just a week before Sidney ended her engagement, the song clings to hope even as doubt creeps in.
That push and pull continues through long haul, written earlier in the relationship, when belief was still winning. At the time, Sidney was travelling constantly for work, building momentum she loved, while grappling with guilt about being away. The song plays like a promise – to a partner, to herself – that she was in it for the long run. Sonically driven and emotionally steady, it captures one of the EP's central tensions: loving someone deeply while also loving the life you're building, and realising those two things don't always move at the same pace.
Sidney resists neat emotional arcs. Instead, what if it ends? moves through denial, devotion, burnout, and acceptance without pretending those stages are linear. anything lands at the point of emotional exhaustion – where second-guessing has worn everything thin. Vocals feel breathless and unravelled, mirroring the spiral behind the lyrics. "I'd give anything to go back to your driveway, couple weeks in," she sings, longing not just for a person, but for the simplicity of the beginning – before love became something to manage.
The title track, what if it ends?, reframes the question entirely. Originally written after opening for one of Sidney's childhood heroes, the song came from an unexpected panic: what if this is the peak? What if nothing tops this? As her life shifted, the song took on new meaning, becoming about the fear of starting over, even when everything looks perfect from the outside.
There are quieter moments too. in flight entertainment, a short instrumental interlude acts as a breath mid-journey. And then there's the difference, the only song on the EP not centred on romantic love, but no less connected. Written about Sidney's father, and learning later in life that he'd been living with depression, the song reframes understanding, inheritance, and silence. Recorded during a writing camp at her parents' house, the vocal you hear is the original demo " raw, intimate, and left untouched. "If I had've known that we shared a mind, not just a name," she sings.
"Songwriting has always been my safe space to feel things fully, especially when I didn't have answers yet," Sidney says. "This project allowed me to hold space for two truths at once " to love someone and still not be happy, to feel proud and terrified at the same time. It's the most emotionally honest thing I've created, and I hope it gives other people that same permission: to not know, to ask scary questions, to feel everything before deciding what comes next."
That emotional honesty has long been central to Sidney's work. Known for her poignant storytelling and bittersweet melodies, she's built a reputation for songs that linger. Her 2023 EP Sore Loser (featuring fan favourites Cool Girl and Bad Light) earned widespread acclaim, support across Spotify and Apple Music, triple j Unearthed's Track of the Day, and culminated in a sold-out Melbourne headline show. Her debut EP Imposter laid early groundwork, amassing over 700,000 streams and introducing her introspective, emotionally literate voice.
Her stripped-back covers of Truly Madly Deeply, Simply the Best, and Adore U have collectively amassed over 13 million views across TikTok and Instagram, becoming wedding soundtracks across the world. Live, that same sincerity has made her a sought-after support act, sharing stages with Tiny Habits, Angus & Julia Stone, The Rubens, Gretta Ray, Mia Wray, Harrison Storm, Ben Abraham and more.
It's the kind of thought that can sound like panic or possibility, depending on the day. Sometimes both at once. For Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Sidney, it became the axis point of her new EP " a record that doesn't rush to answer anything, but instead lingers in the tension between fear and freedom, hope and hesitation, devotion and doubt.
Due for release February 27 [via Nettwerk], what if it ends? is built around that exact emotional in-between. Written largely in the year leading up to a major personal shift, the EP captures a period where life looked stable on the surface " engaged, working steadily, ticking off milestones " while underneath, the questions were getting louder. Sidney found herself fixating on making the "right" choice: in love, in career, in who she was supposed to be by now. The songs exist in that suspended space, where you're still holding on even as you sense something slipping.
"I've asked that question in so many different contexts," Sidney says. "Over coffee with friends, crying into my mum's arms, journalling about an exciting new chapter. As an anxious over thinker, 'what if' questions are always pretty dangerous. Thoughts as a WHOLE can be dangerous...We put so much pressure on making the "right" choice, but I don't even know if that exists. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to ask the question - usually that's enough to get you where you need to go."
An anxious overthinker by her own admission, Sidney has always been drawn to the power of what if questions. On what if it ends?, they're everywhere: what if this relationship doesn't last, what if it should end, what if ending is actually where something better begins. The record doesn't frame endings as failure, but as thresholds " moments where grief and relief exist side by side.
The EP opens at the tipping point. sliding doors borrows its name from the film, imagining parallel futures running simultaneously: the version where you stay, and the version where you leave. Written just a week before Sidney ended her engagement, the song clings to hope even as doubt creeps in.
That push and pull continues through long haul, written earlier in the relationship, when belief was still winning. At the time, Sidney was travelling constantly for work, building momentum she loved, while grappling with guilt about being away. The song plays like a promise – to a partner, to herself – that she was in it for the long run. Sonically driven and emotionally steady, it captures one of the EP's central tensions: loving someone deeply while also loving the life you're building, and realising those two things don't always move at the same pace.
Sidney resists neat emotional arcs. Instead, what if it ends? moves through denial, devotion, burnout, and acceptance without pretending those stages are linear. anything lands at the point of emotional exhaustion – where second-guessing has worn everything thin. Vocals feel breathless and unravelled, mirroring the spiral behind the lyrics. "I'd give anything to go back to your driveway, couple weeks in," she sings, longing not just for a person, but for the simplicity of the beginning – before love became something to manage.
The title track, what if it ends?, reframes the question entirely. Originally written after opening for one of Sidney's childhood heroes, the song came from an unexpected panic: what if this is the peak? What if nothing tops this? As her life shifted, the song took on new meaning, becoming about the fear of starting over, even when everything looks perfect from the outside.
There are quieter moments too. in flight entertainment, a short instrumental interlude acts as a breath mid-journey. And then there's the difference, the only song on the EP not centred on romantic love, but no less connected. Written about Sidney's father, and learning later in life that he'd been living with depression, the song reframes understanding, inheritance, and silence. Recorded during a writing camp at her parents' house, the vocal you hear is the original demo " raw, intimate, and left untouched. "If I had've known that we shared a mind, not just a name," she sings.
"Songwriting has always been my safe space to feel things fully, especially when I didn't have answers yet," Sidney says. "This project allowed me to hold space for two truths at once " to love someone and still not be happy, to feel proud and terrified at the same time. It's the most emotionally honest thing I've created, and I hope it gives other people that same permission: to not know, to ask scary questions, to feel everything before deciding what comes next."
That emotional honesty has long been central to Sidney's work. Known for her poignant storytelling and bittersweet melodies, she's built a reputation for songs that linger. Her 2023 EP Sore Loser (featuring fan favourites Cool Girl and Bad Light) earned widespread acclaim, support across Spotify and Apple Music, triple j Unearthed's Track of the Day, and culminated in a sold-out Melbourne headline show. Her debut EP Imposter laid early groundwork, amassing over 700,000 streams and introducing her introspective, emotionally literate voice.
Her stripped-back covers of Truly Madly Deeply, Simply the Best, and Adore U have collectively amassed over 13 million views across TikTok and Instagram, becoming wedding soundtracks across the world. Live, that same sincerity has made her a sought-after support act, sharing stages with Tiny Habits, Angus & Julia Stone, The Rubens, Gretta Ray, Mia Wray, Harrison Storm, Ben Abraham and more.
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