Artist Of The Week #255 - SOFY
This week’s Artist of the Week is the forever evolving alt-pop artist Sofy - who has just released her new mixtape ‘Chaos & Commotion’.
In this body of work, SOFY takes us on a compelling journey, spanning from the heights of love to the deep depths of despair, from peaks of self-assuredness to valleys of introspection. Reflecting on the project, SOFY describes it as a time capsule. Her ever-shifting headspace is vividly portrayed, with no two songs on this record sounding alike.
She took a moment to talk to us about how the mixtape came together.
Hey there SOFY - how are you? So your mixtape is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
It’s crazy, this project has lived inside my head for so long, I’ve been sitting on some of these tracks for almost 2 years! So yeah it feels super surreal to have them now out in the world, especially having the project on vinyl as well. Having something tangible that I can hold and be like ‘I MADE THIS!!’. Feels great.
It is called ‘Chaos & Commotion’ - what is the meaning behind that?
‘Chaos & Commotion’ is a bit of a time capsule of the last year and a half of my life. I’ve experienced quite a lot of change and transience -my headspace has been changing constantly, so no two songs sound the same! Chaos & Commotion was actually the title of a song we wrote a couple of years ago that we didn’t end up putting on the record, but the name really stuck with me and it felt right for the project.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
It was recorded all over the shop, which probably also adds to the feeling of it being quite an eclectic mix of tracks. I find I’m most creative if I’m writing in lots of different places rather than just being confined to one space. ‘socks’ was actually written on Zoom because Robb (from producer duo Gold Spectacles) was ill and I think we had a show coming up and he didn’t wanna give me whatever he had, and then we recorded it in their beautiful studio on a farm in Somerset. ‘Breathing Exercises’ I made up in Bollington with the Cassia boys. WET PAINT, supermarket, He’s Not You and No Drama were written and recorded in London at Scott’s studio, and Ashley Cole at Mack Jamieson’s house. Me and Ed actually just made Yoyo and Timothee Chalamet in his old bedroom haha. The project feels like a bit of a time capsule in that way - Scott and Ed have both moved to new places now, so whenever I listen to these songs it makes me feel super nostalgic.
What are the key themes and influences on the mixtape?
This project definitely feels more confident and more experimental than anything I’ve ever done before, it pulls from a lot of different influences - Yoyo feels straight out of Fifa 98 and is quite heavy and thrashy, and then there’s straight up indie bangers like socks and Breathing Exercises, whereas No Drama, WET PAINT and Ashley Cole Type Beat are a bit of a blend of 90s hip hop and indie-pop. I was listening to a huge variety of music at the time and feeling constantly inspired so I didn’t wanna put anything in a box or worry too much about genre, and I really enjoyed the freedom of just making whatever I felt like making. I do feel like they all feel very ‘SOFY’ though - each song expresses a different part of me and the rollercoaster period of time that this record represents; falling in love one moment and out of love the next, going from feeling like I’m on top of the world to feeling like the world is moving without me, frustration and hope and anger and humour.
If the mixtape could be the soundtrack to any film - which one would it be and why?
I have no idea haha - my film knowledge is terrible because I have the attention span of a spoon so I can rarely sit through them, unless it’s the exact same comfort film on repeat (Lost In Translation) - but that doesn’t feel very Chaos & Commotion haha. I would say if it was gonna soundtrack a TV series though, maybe The End of The F*cking World - that’s one of my favourite shows and I think it encompasses such a spectrum of feelings and emotions, just like the mixtape does.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the mixtape - if so, which one and why?
I couldn’t pick one that’s like choosing a favourite child! I like ‘killing me softly in slow-mo, hole in my heart like a spearmint polo’ from Yoyo. ‘I can’t help but stop and stare, your world still turns without me there’ in supermarket hits me in the feels. And of course my proudest flex is getting David Gray and Doritos into one verse in WET PAINT. And the whole of the Timothee Chalamet second verse is one big innuendo - hilarious that they play that on Radio 1 without any editing haha.
Now the mixtape is out there - what next?
Touring!!! I’m so excited to go on tour, we’ve never played headline shows outside of London before and we’ve been itching to get in the van and go visit all these different cities and play the mixtape for everyone, it’s gonna be beautiful. And I’ve been doing a lot of writing recently behind the scenes that I’m feeling really excited about. Not sure what form it will take just yet. You’ll have to wait and see.
