Sydney Pop artist Salty has seriously been turning heads since her return in July with “See U In 3”. That song and video was a mix of sensuality, sass and energy that few were prepared for and saw her step over a threshold and step up into the commencement of “Salty’s new era”. The highly anticipated apex of that journey is her debut EP ‘the other side’. Proving that she has the richest visual aesthetic of any current Australian Pop artist is the dance focused new video for “Cut U Off”. She has also announced a run of shows to launch the EP, including her first interstate date.
To Salty, this first ever collection of her songs, is so much more than just an EP. It’s a musical evocation of a stage of life. "The Other Side” is a musical diary of the last 5 years of my life. It captures the essence of feeling things for the FIRST TIME. Falling in love, dealing with feelings of anxiety, my hatred for drunk men at bars, wanting to move out of home and the ever-changing types of people coming in and out of my life. I describe it as finding myself on the ‘other side of my twenties’.”
Proving that “See U In 3” was no fluke Salty (known to her family as Kirsten Tsoltoudis) quickly followed it up with “hollywood baby”, a love letter to LA released while she was there for a very productive writing trip. Shortly after that came the confessional “i wanna feel better”, where she opens up about her ways of coping, both the positive and the guilt inducing. The two new songs on the EP are her fiercest yet. “BOY BYE!” is a fingersnap in the face of belligerent drunk men while Salty describes “Cut U Off” as “my sign to you to CUT the people out who no longer have your best interest at heart.”
The path to ‘the other side’ faced the challenges that are familiar to so many independent artists. “It feels incredibly surreal to be putting this project out” Salty reflects. “At the start of the year I had no clue on how I was going to make this work independently. It’s been a tough journey, with more challenges than wins at times, but every step has been worth it. I have been performing, listening, dreaming about these songs for the past 4 years and to have spent this year piecing everything together creatively has been so satisfying.”
The four different producers that contributed to ‘the other side’ come from Sydney and LA, yet the EP fits together as its own musical entity. The tracks with Jordan Sherman (One Republic, Aloe Blacc) and Nydge (Bishop Briggs, Snow Wife) originated from Salty’s LA writing trips. Sydney’s own Oscar Sharah (Sycco, Winston Surfshirt, Mel Blue) and Cyrus Villanueva (GO-JO, MAY-A, Charley, Will Hyde, Oliver Cronin) contribute to three of the five tracks.
The world outside of Australia is very much starting to pay attention to Salty. BBC Radio 1’s Future Pop With Ellie King, one of the leading global showcases for new Pop Music, reached out and gave “See U In 3” and “hollywood baby” airplay over consecutive weeks in August. While in LA this past September she was invited to perform at legendary new talent showcase We Found New Music which has been one of the first discovery points for artists such as Billie Eilish, Arlo Parks, Dermot Kennedy, Kim Petras, Sam Fender, The 1975, Bishop Briggs, The Marias, Sigrid and many more.
Once again putting dance at the centre of her visuals, the video for “Cut U Off” is a hypercolour collision of Moulin Rouge and Funhouse era Pink. The clip was directed and edited by Salty along with Zara Dimmock, who also put together the explosive choreography. Staking her claim as the most exciting artist in Australian Pop, “Cut U Off” again shows off Salty’s skills as a trained dancer alongside undoubtable songwriting, performance prowess and a sharp visual sense.
The themes of “Cut U Off” again touch on the life lessons learned that run through the EP. “I had recently walked away from a professional relationship and found myself feeling a massive weight off my shoulders” Salty recalls.” I think part of getting older is realising you outgrow people and things. Learning how to navigate that can be extremely difficult and you can feel like your world is ending. That’s how it felt for me, until I was on the other side, where I felt empowered and confident about my decisions. Realising who you want to be surrounded by is one of the many lessons I have learnt over the past few years.”
Salty is thrilled to be taking her dynamic live show on the road to launch ‘the other side’ in February and March. Every show she does has dance at its core, so expect Salty and her dancers to raise rooves wherever they play. 2025 promises to be a busy year for Salty with a stack of songs written during her last writing trip to LA scheduled to be released throughout the year.
In the space of a few short years Salty has risen through a crowded Australian music landscape to become a name on the lips of the increasing number of people who take Pop Music seriously. She has been driven to perform as long as she can remember. She was a dancer before she was a singer, and it will always be core to her identity. Always a theatre kid at heart, she trained at the world famous (and competitive) Brent Street Performing Arts School and worked in top level musical theatre, landing understudy roles such as the Sydney Capitol Theatre production of Annie.
Salty was always interested in singing and started releasing music while still in her teens. Singles like “Lucy”, “Limbo”, “Je Ne Sais Quoi” and “Why Don’t We” started to get attention and airplay on Triple J as well as being added to important playlists in Australia and globally. She has built up an ever-growing social media following with over 2.6 million likes on TikTok and has been invited to share stages with many of Australia’s top artists, such as MAY-A, Thomas Headon, Budjerah, GO-JO, Carla Wehbe and Charley. Salty has also been featured in national campaigns for the likes of Menulog, Puma, JD, Platypus, Adidas, Timbaland and Sony headphones.
In a time when today’s increasingly atomised and fractured music industry has given us seemingly endless subgenres of Pop, Salty makes us remember a time before streaming and social media, when the world was in thrall to just a handful of huge Pop names. Not because her music is a throwback or nostalgic, but because it does what Pop stars with true longevity have always done so well: give us undeniably infectious Pop songs delivered with charisma and energy that doesn’t need to be adorned, draped or dressed up with anything unnecessary. What has changed for the better since those times is the artistic freedom that Pop performers now have, as well as the ability to find a fanbase through those same seismic changes in technology. She unapologetically draws inspiration from the Pop greats such as Lily Allen, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga. That’s why the only way to truly describe Salty’s music is to call it “Pure Pop”. And after hearing and watching the other side it’s hard to deny that’s exactly what it is.