When TikTok star (and beloved boyfriend to Adore Delano) Sasha Allen first posted a snippet of his song “When I Forgive You” back in January, it immediately took over the app. Trans and cis folks alike celebrated its core message, that regardless of gender, “we’re not too different after all,” as Allen sang at the end of the video.
That initial post garnered 4.8 million views and nearly 970,000 likes. Now, two months later, the song is finally coming to streaming platforms: Allen announced that it will release this Saturday, March 29, and is currently available to pre-save. The studio version includes a voicemail from Allen’s real-life grandmother who inspired the song’s first verse.
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“I felt like a weird, gross, cut-open, circus freak, wounded human being that had my guts spilling out,” Allen shared in a new TikTok.
In a follow-up video, Allen explained why the song took so long to come out — and, he added, why he’s never officially released any music, despite having risen to online fame back in 2021 after reaching semifinals on The Voice.
“Less than a week ago, I was dropped from the biggest record label on earth,” Allen said, referring to Republic Records, which Allen signed with in 2022. “I was with them for three years, and I have no f*cking music out. And for three years, all it was is, ‘You’re not good enough. Your songs aren’t good enough. You’re not pop enough. We want you to be Shawn Mendes. And we’re going to delay absolutely everything when it comes to you trying to put out music,” he explained.
Allen shared how being signed to that label kept from capitalizing on a different viral hit two years ago, called “Bones,” which they also revealed in a comment will be coming out eventually.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god. Can I put it out as a single? Can I do this?’” Allen recalled asking his label. “The response was, ‘No. We don’t want to lock you into that genre.’ ‘Cause it wasn’t f*cking pop enough!”
“I was f*cking devastated. The tears I have shed being signed to this f*cking label is insane,” he concluded — but of course, the story has a happy ending: “I’m out of it,” Allen said. “And on March 29 I will be releasing my first song ever, that I wrote, recorded, produced, promoted, and did the artwork for by my-f*cking-self.”
You can pre-save “When I Forgive You” on Spotify and iTunes here.
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