Sad13 – 1331
Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz – one of the most prolific songwriters and critically lauded guitarists of her time – releases 1331 today, her first project in 5+ years under her electropop moniker and alter ego Sad13. 1331, a 13-track mixtape of “1 minute long-ish songs,” is out now via Exploding In Sound Records, the label that released Speedy Ortiz’s Sports EP in 2012.
Rooted in her home base of Philly, Dupuis made 1331 totally DIY, the sole performer and recording engineer on one of her projects for the first time in fifteen years. Most of 1331’s writing came in spring 2024, a patch Dupuis calls a “mini nervous breakdown.” Speedy Ortiz records are often personal-as-political, but 2023’s Rabbit Rabbit dealt with childhood abuse. Promoting it felt brutal, and she realized she needed further processing, distinct from songwriting. “Making music is magic, a hurts-so-bad-it’s-good potion,” she says. “But therapy is different, and I didn’t wanna mine it for more art.” She made it a goal to write daily songs around a minute long, a rewarding game to relieve challenges posed in counseling, and trained her lens and lyrical subject matter on her community in Philadelphia rather than her own biography. The Sad13 tracking process stalled, however, after a bicycle accident shattered Dupuis’ elbow in June 2024, requiring reconstructive surgeries and a year of rehab. After twenty-plus years of playing, Rolling Stone had recently included Dupuis in their Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was displaying her guitar. Suddenly, doctors warned she might never play again. Grueling training put her back on tour three months later, but nerve damage kept her off the computer, postponing Sad13 recording. “My body didn’t have the juice,” she recalls. “But tracking in little bursts over more time gave me broader influences.”
The resulting and hard-won mixtape is 1331, which melds mindsets and melodies across time: whimsical fun amid noisy fury, sophisticated balance shaping wild catharsis. It’s concise, delightfully weird music, a catchy rush that’s distinctly Sad13.
To celebrate the mixtape’s release, Sad13 shares a video for the album’s focus track “Six Ways.” Dupuis plays villains, monstrifying ego with the fizzy bop “Six Ways,” and the video by Matthew John Lawrence (Uncle Peckerhead, Bloody Axe Wound) is out now.
Sadie Dupuis explains of the song and video: “My self-image is laughably dysmorphic, so on one hand, this song is a LARP at gifting myself appreciation I more easily conjure for others. But the song’s dual meaning pokes fun at the narcissism of obsessing over looks, whether you like what you see or not. I was ecstatic to team up with one of my favorite contemporary monster movie directors, Matthew John Lawrence, who I befriended after I moderated a panel for a Philly screening of his film Uncle Peckerhead. He and his crew make the best horror comedies with heart, and this creepy send-up of pop star-playing-pop star music videos (with makeup by my longtime collaborator and friend Paige Campbell) gave me a totally transformed understanding of “Six Ways.” It’s a rare and exciting gift when a video can do that for a songwriter.”
Sad13 On Tour
7/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s w/ Hurry, Dina Hashem
7/11 – Malden, MA @ FACES w/ New Idea Society, Real Beaut
7/17 – virtual @ Blue Stoop – Verse Chorus Voice, a lyrics & songwriting masterclass
7/24 – Somerville, MA @ NICE, a fest w/ Krill, Downtown Boys, Dari Bay, Mal Devisa
08/22-23 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Meadows (Bazooka Fest) w/ Times New Viking, Cloud Nothings, Kiwi Jr, & more
#sad13