Thaïs Sala Takes Us Inside the World of Wilde Street
The Moroccan singer-songwriter on her sophomore EP, the stories we carry, and finding a more personal voice through music.
There’s a certain feeling that comes with walking through a crowded city, surrounded by strangers whose lives you’ll never know. For Moroccan singer-songwriter Thaïs Sala, that feeling became the foundation of Wilde Street, her second EP, released October 7 via Levantine Music.
Moving between soul, R&B, electronic production, and Afrobeats, the project unfolds like a collection of memories. Some are intimate, others feel strangely familiar, but each belongs to a larger world Thaïs has been building since her 2024 debut, Echo Museum.
“These songs are rooted in memories of mine, yet I kept hearing how they echoed the past and present of others,” Thaïs tells Everyday Jams.
A City Full of Stories
At the center of Wilde Street is a mysterious woman standing still amid the movement of a busy city, observing the lives unfolding around her. It's a character Thaïs created, but one that reflects her own tendency to absorb the details of the world around her.
“Although I am an unapologetic chatterbox I do listen carefully and observe my surroundings with deep focus,” she explains.
The concept reaches beyond this release. Thaïs sees Wilde Street as part of a connected anthology, with each EP expanding the world established by the previous one. Echo Museum exists within Wilde Street, and the next project will pull the perspective back even further.
It's an approach informed by her background in film production, where every detail contributes to a larger story.
Somewhere Between Soul and Something New
The record opens with “Waist,” a hazy, synth-driven introduction that Thaïs describes as almost aquatic. Produced by longtime collaborator Moses Belanger, the track explores two souls reconnecting after meeting in a past life.
From there, Wilde Street moves freely between sounds. “Victim of Circumstance” pairs layered soul harmonies with Afrobeats percussion, while “Wandering Eyes” leans into funkier territory with driving guitars. “Sweetest Storm” brings retro-pop textures into the mix, capturing the romanticism of looking back.
Much of that sonic exploration came from allowing her collaborators to take the music somewhere unexpected.
“My intention overall was definitely to expand my sound, but in which direction, I left that up to fate.”
That willingness to experiment gives Wilde Street its character. Rather than settling into one genre, Thaïs lets each song find its own direction.
Finding Home in Different Places
Raised between Morocco and the UK and now based in Montréal, Thaïs worked on Wilde Street across several cities, including Dublin, London, Berlin, and Marrakech.
Each has shaped her approach to music, particularly the sense of community that comes from creating alongside other people.
Her relationship with language is equally important. Having grown up singing in English, French, Arabic, and Spanish, Thaïs pays close attention to the way words sound, not just what they mean.
“Feeling transcends vocabulary,” she says, reflecting on music's ability to communicate emotion beyond language.
For Thaïs, those different cultural influences aren't separate pieces of her identity. They're all part of the same creative instinct.
Learning to Let the Music Speak
The EP closes with “Another Sunset,” a stripped-back recording built around Thaïs's voice and David Vandervort's guitar. After exploring so many different textures throughout the record, the simplicity feels intentional.
An attempt to rework the track ultimately convinced her that its original intimacy was exactly what it needed.
“I realised then that the song didn’t want to be changed,” she recalls.
That instinct reflects a larger shift in Thaïs's songwriting. Where Echo Museum leaned heavily on metaphor and club-oriented production, Wilde Street brings her personal experiences closer to the surface.
“When I started sketching what would become Wilde Street, I wanted to be more direct.”
The result is a record that feels both expansive and personal. Its songs move through different cities, sounds, and versions of the past, but the thread connecting them is simple: even our most private experiences can feel familiar to someone else.
With Wilde Street, Thaïs isn't just telling her own stories. She's leaving room for listeners to recognize themselves in them.
Stream Wilde Street, out now on all streaming platforms.
Photography: Michael 謙 Stewart
