Kevin Bronson on May 29th, 2021

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Saro’s intricately produced “noir & B” has always been informed by varying degrees of the homonym from which he draws his artist name, sorrow. He channels the tragedies he witnesses; he digs deep to expose the roots of his own melancholy. All make for grand, sad theater.

After releasing EPs in 2016, ’17 and ’19, the singer-songwriter spent the quarantine working on a full-length with longtime collaborator Dave Burris. Arriving just in time for Pride Month, his first solo single in two years is “Daddy I Love Him,” his own coming-out anthem.

“Growing up, I always walked the line between ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine,’” Saro says of his upbringing in the San Fernando Valley. “I remember stealing my sister’s tutus to perform on the living room table — I was also way better than her at strutting around in my mom’s heels — and my tomboy best friend and I spent our time reenacting Britney Spears music videos. I was scrawny and hated sports. Kids would tease me for having a high voice and for being ‘soft.’”

“Don’t let our love keep you up at night,” Saro sings on the new single, pleading for acceptance.

“A lot of my early work was lyrically and melodically dark, but during the pandemic I needed an outlet for light,” Saro says. “I think this song shows a more carefree side of me. ‘Daddy I Love Him’ is a nod to my coming-out story. At a certain point, I realized that if someone didn’t accept me for my true self, they didn’t deserve me in their life. Luckily my dad was accepting, and our relationship has grown in closeness after my coming out.”

Saro will perform on Night 1 of the Pride Month kickoff festival Outloud: Raising Voices, June 4-6 at the L.A. Coliseum. His album is tentatively due to arrive this fall.

||| Stream: “Daddy I Love Him”

||| Previously: “Please,” “Sky Doesn’t Blue” video, “Vapor,” “Sky Doesn’t Blue,” “Floro,” Day Old Bread: Saro’s playlist, “Test”

||| Live: Saro performs on the first night of Outloud: Raising Voices at the L.A. Coliseum on June 4. Tickets.