Savoir Faire just diagnosed the nation’s essential workers with a critical case of burnout. “How is it supposed to feel, to constantly rise to the occasion of putting everyone else’s needs before your own?” the Boston crooner (real name: Sarah Fard) shared on Instagram, posting about her similarly-titled new song “How’s It Supposed To Feel.” It’s a rhetorical question, but we all know the answer: It feels pretty damn lousy.
Fard advocates for the occupations society tends to abuse the most, yet acknowledge the least, with her new single, out today (January 18). “How’s It Supposed to Feel” forces listeners to walk a mile in someone else’s scrubs — or apron, or uniform — and consider the toll of endless, thankless service with a smile.
“‘How’s It Supposed To Feel’ is a reflection on the unsustainable system that undervalues the people who keep our societies running: nurses, teachers, childcare workers, food service, etc,” says Fard. “We saw in Covid that we cannot function without them, and yet, our system continues to exploit people in these (traditionally female-occupied) fields.”
“I’m so used to scrapes and scabs that I forgot to heal,” she sings on the chorus with a sobering warble, melting into the song’s downtempo hybrid of jazz and rock. If “How’s It Supposed To Feel” is a diagnosis of collective apathy, then it’s also an antidote, counteracting the numbness of our “new normal” with the most thought-provoking lounge music you’ve ever heard.
Press play on Fard’s new tune below, and catch her performing this Saturday (January 21) with Wyn Doran at The Burren in Somerville.