After stepping away from music for the past two years, Hailee Steinfeld is making a comeback with a brand new song, titled “Dangerous.”
The newly unveiled track was exclusively revealed by Billboard to be included in the soundtrack of Ryan Coogler’s upcoming original film Sinners, which Steinfeld also stars in. “Dangerous,” which was penned by Sarah Aarons and the singer-actress herself, sees the Academy Award nominee singing over a tribal drumbeat that accompanies the otherworldly production by renowned composer and producer Ludwig Goransson.
“We were all so tuned into the vision, and because I was both inside the story as an actor, and helping shape it through music, it created this really fluid creative loop,” Steinfeld mentioned to Billboard of the process in which the team birthed the song. “Blending music and acting like this feels like the fullest expression of who I am,” she noted. “It’s rare to have a project that lets you show up completely — and Sinners gave me that.”
“Lyrically, I wanted to tap into Mary’s deep desire to be with Stack and (maybe selfishly) not always acknowledging what a dangerous position that puts them in. That sort of unrequited love. There’s a vulnerability in these characters that I really connected with, and I wanted my voice to reflect that,” she added.
Check out the preview of the song below:
“Dangerous” marks Steinfeld’s highly-anticipated return to the world of music, following her 2022 singles “SunKissing” and “Coast” featuring Anderson Paak. While she’s received acclaim and recognition for her career as an actress, she’s also known and beloved by many for her string of hit singles in the 2010s, which include “Starving” and the chart-topping “Love Myself,” which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 30. Yet despite her fame as a recording artist, she still manages to marry her two passions in crafting original songs to the soundtracks of her recent projects, such as Bumblebee and Dickinson.
“Two years might not seem long, but for me, it turned out to be the exact amount of time I needed — to grow, live a little, and step back to reconnect with why I make music in the first place. I didn’t want to come back just to fill space. I wanted it to mean something,” she says of her return to music. “There was something so raw and emotional about Sinners that pushed me creatively and personally,” she adds. “The music became an extension of that. It felt honest and it felt like me again. I wouldn’t call this a comeback — it’s about returning to the truth, and I’m so grateful to Ryan and Sinners for giving me the opportunity to do that.”
Sinners hits Philippine cinemas this April 19 (Saturday), and stars Hailee Steinfeld alongside actor Michael B. Jordan, who plays twins Smoke and Stack, who return to their hometown post-WWI to find that a great evil is waiting for them there. The Ryan Coogler-helmed film features an original score from constant collaborator Goransson, and a soundtrack that also includes original songs by James Blake, Brittany Howard, Don Toliver, and newcomer Miles Caton.
As we anticipate the release of both Sinners and Hailee Steinfeld’s “Dangerous,” listen to her most recent collaboration single “Coast” with Anderson .Paak below: