Cape Town’s Sarah Pearson Turns Heartbreak Into Art With “Tainted Heart”

With a piano and a heavy heart, emerging singer-songwriter Sarah Pearson introduces herself to the world with “Tainted Heart,” the debut single from her upcoming album FAUXstalgia, due out in late 2025. Out now on all platforms, the track offers a raw, emotionally intimate entry into Pearson’s sonic world — a place where ’80s influence meets diary-style honesty.

Written in the wake of a difficult emotional period, “Tainted Heart” unspools like a confessional voice memo turned anthemic piano ballad. ‘The song is about staying close to someone, even when you know they’re the one hurting you,’ Pearson explains. ‘It felt more like journaling than writing — it just poured out.’ Within 30 minutes, she had the song. The next morning, she was in her father’s home studio with producer David Jones, shaping its lush, emotional core.

Lines like ‘You tell me that I’m young and I can’t be without your love / now I live with a tainted heart’ strike a balance between youth and self-awareness, unflinching in their vulnerability. It’s the kind of lyric that feels soft-spoken and soul-scorching simultaneously — an emotional truth wrapped in melody. The production keeps it close: simple piano, ghostly tension, and a haunting momentum reflecting the lyrics’ panic and longing.

The accompanying music video, filmed overnight in a rented Airbnb in Pearson’s hometown of Cape Town, captures this same confessional intimacy. ‘I wanted it to feel super-natural and chill — like you’re stepping into someone’s world,’ she says. The DIY process mirrors the authenticity of the song, grounding her dreamy, faux-retro aesthetic in lived experience.

Pearson describes her debut album, FAUXstalgia, as ‘a nostalgic dreamscape of a time I never lived in.’ It’s a record inspired by the sonic glow and emotional melodrama of the 1980s — an era she feels spiritually connected to. ‘The word ‘fauxstalgia’ means nostalgia for something you’ve never experienced,’ she says. ‘For me, that’s the ‘80s. So, this album is my take on what that era might’ve felt and sounded like if I had lived through it.’

But make no mistake — Pearson isn’t playing dress-up in synthwave tropes. She’s channelling her memories, real and imagined, through a vivid pop lens. Her musical upbringing (her parents owned a music college) gave her fluency in piano, drums, and vocal performance from an early age. Childhood performances, backyard concerts, Barbie pop star roleplay, and self-made Instagram fan fiction laid the groundwork for an artist born to connect.

I’d do anything to erase the things you said I know you called me stupid but why would you say that will I ever break this feeling

Now armed with a diploma in music and a debut project that’s equal parts escapist and emotionally grounded, Pearson is building a new lane in alt-pop — a blend of retro romanticism and Gen Z intimacy. ‘Music has always been my safe space,’ she says. ‘It’s where I feel most like myself — important, free, and understood.’

“Tainted Heart” is the first of several singles to come before FAUXstalgia’s release later this year. It’s a bold first step, steeped in the kind of emotional truth and musical clarity that makes it easy to root for her — and hard to forget her. As Pearson sings on the chorus, “I miss my unbroken heart” — but in breaking it open, she’s created something beautiful.