After the Fire: Leonie Sherif’s "SUNBURN" and the Art of Endurance

February 22, 2026

After the Fire: Leonie Sherif’s "SUNBURN" and the Art of Endurance

When Leonie Sherif does put out new music, it does not exist in a isolation. Her new single, SUNBURN, does not exist alone, but rather as part of a broader world of senses and experiences that are all connected to her fragrance house, SENSE'N by SHERIF. While some of her music exists as the emotional core of her scents, the two are not mutually exclusive, and her work as a multidisciplinary artist continues to push boundaries between the different media she uses.

Written and produced in her home studio in September 2024, just a short time after her previous single, NGMB (Never Get Me Back), SUNBURN presents a new emotional landscape. While the previous single was a rollercoaster of emotions, from the betrayal and anger of discovering that something was beyond repair, to the shock and reality of the situation, SUNBURN presents a new reality, one where the fire of the situation has burned out, and the work of picking up the pieces and moving on begins.

Sonically, the song sits somewhere between electronic R&B textures and stripped rhythmic flow, with a busy Jersey Club beat that slightly alters every few bars. The beat is kept in a state of tension, contracting and relaxing in a pattern similar to how the body readjusts to shock. The production is dynamic, rather than loop-based, with drums having a clunky, punchy quality before receding, and the arrangement moves through waves of tension, numbness, and release.

Essentially, SUNBURN is an extension of Sherif’s larger philosophy of endurance. Dealing with pain, as well as being an advocate for those in the women’s health sphere, has given her a sense of what it means to be resilient: some pain is not optional, it’s something you carry with you as you move forward. This defiant attitude, unapologetic and unhidden, is present in the track. Available in both explicit and clean versions, the track maintains its emotional impact as part of a larger world that Sherif continues to create.