Beach season is soon upon us, and Vancouver-based pop artist Sarah Tolle has a new body-positive anthem titled “Like It Or Not” at the ready. Available now, the song’s message? Acceptance. “Like it or not/This is how I look naked.”
The track begins with that lapel-gripping line, followed by a driving, danceable disco beat. Tolle then takes us on a relatable journey of both liking and loathing her body — and trying to accept the body she inhabits on both good and bad days.
The idea came to her by accident, she shares.
“I’m an actor, and one day while I was getting dressed after a shower, I started overthinking, ‘What if I’m on set one day, and I’m doing a naked scene, and a whole crew of people are all up close in my junk…?’” Tolle recalls. “Then this voice in my head said, ‘Well, Sarah, like it or not, this is how you look naked. They’re gonna see what’s there. The rest of it is all a story in your head.’”
Another attention-grabbing line in “Like It Or Not” is about wanting a beach body: “And if you wanted/ A beach body/ Listen up/ Step one: take your body to the beach/ That is all you have to do.” The idea for that one came from Tolle’s sister Anna and her approach to body acceptance on social media.
“I remember she posted this photo of herself in a swimsuit on the beach and, let’s just say the photo was not chosen for being the most flattering,” Tolle says. “And she wrote something like, ‘Here’s how to get a beach body: (1) Have a body (2) Take your body to the beach.’
“I like that no-nonsense sentiment.”
In creating the cover art and teaser video for the song, Tolle purposely went without makeup and didn’t comb her hair after her shower. “It was important for the integrity of this song’s message that I show up unadulterated and walk the talk,” she says. “‘Being confident’ in your body doesn’t mean you’re free of insecurities and shame… It means you experience all those things, and you also make room for celebration, nurturing, and gratitude.
“If you like some parts of your body but haven’t accepted other parts, well, that’s life. You’re on the journey.”
Sarah Tolle is a singer-songwriter based in Vancouver, BC, whose warm, energetic music is an exploration of radiant self-expression and a loving invitation to sing and dance. Her music is marked by a trusting openness, delivering pieces that are simple and accessible, yet empowering and fiercely immersive. You’ll hear themes of encouragement, acceptance, tolerance, and peace in her eclectic pop compositions that blend house beats, sweeping orchestral sounds, old-time banjo folk, and more.
Tolle grew up on a beautiful old farm in Wisconsin in a family that practiced music for fun and supported artists. In this space where the lines blurred between work and play, creativity wasn’t so much taught as it was simply practiced. Her mission with music is to revitalize and heal; to help people love themselves and the beings around them.
