At just 16 years old, Sophie Powers is the unfiltered and uncompromising voice of a new generation. She understands the unique pressures of modern girlhood and uses her experience to write unfiltered, devil-may-care anthems about the ups and downs of being yourself. One minute she’s confident and cool, with the sneering attitude of a punk rock frontwoman, and the next she’s vulnerable and raw, channeling the loneliness of contemporary life in a stirring ballad. Combining the crunchy sound of punk with today’s hip-hop and pop, Powers is the sound of the future.
We recently caught up with Sophie and asked her a few things.
Please take a moment and give us some background info about becoming an artist?
I can’t remember a time where I didn’t want to pursue music. When I was 5 I told everyone I knew I was going to be the next Hannah Montana and I wrote my first song when I was 8. I grew up attending music camp and acting in local/school musicals. It wasn’t until summer 2019 that I actually took myself seriously with music though. I performed for a few of my friends at a campfire end of August, and I had performed for a crowd of people earlier on in July, and June. But in August after that performance I said to my parents, I want to do this everyday of my life. So I started online in grade 10, spent 4 months writing demo songs, and sent them off to music agencies. My parents were really supportive of me which I’m grateful for. I sent my demos to Toronto agencies with my parents help and Adam Gill from 2plus2management decided to take me on in February 2020. I was 15 when I met Adam, an since then I’ve found my sound, voice, and the message I want to convey. I’m glad things worked out the way they did.
Tell us a bit about your musical direction.
I always tell people that if my music had a formula, the ingredients to that formula would be pop, punk, hiphop and rock. Every time the formula is mixed, the ingredients are mixed in a different way, resulting in different variations of the same formula. Some of my songs have more hiphop, some have more rock, some have more pop. But ultimately every song consists of a different formula of my sound, making each song unique but still palatable.
Tell us about the recording process behind “Lonely Army”
Lonely Army was recorded in LA, November 2020. LA was experiencing a lockdown and I had been living without seeing my family or friends in Toronto for a while (since sept). I felt very alone, only being able to connect with the people I loved through technology. I had forgotten the difference between face to face connections and FaceTime calls, as with covid/social media, the world, (especially my generation) seemed to have forgotten that difference as well. I spoke to friends and family, saw conversations online, and allowed my thoughts to dwell the day before going into studio with everyone. Because I took that time to understand myself, it was easy to be open with everyone in studio. The rough draft of the song lyrically and melodically only took a few full day writing sessions, say 2 or 3. But recording and getting the vocals right was much more difficult than the writing process. The track is very raw, being just guitar, so I really had to focus on my timing and delivery to powerfully convey the songs message. It’s an anthemic song, and every vocal decision I made had to be sung with that anthemic sense of confidence.
Who helped out making this single.
I co-wrote this single with songwriter Shelby Kemper, Producer Mike Gonek, and DJ GG Magree. Everyone helped bring my vision to life and writing this song was actually really easy, all I had to be was open. I shared my lyrical ideas and song references and “storyline” with everyone, and Mike came up with a great guitar riff. Shelby and GG helped me out lyrically and melodically. It was a collaborative effort and everyone did a great job of interpreting my emotions.
Are any Shows/LiveStreams upcoming to showcase your talent?
It’s super hard to do a virtual show right now given covid and lockdown but I might do an acoustic live performance of my song for my Instagram followers. I’m also doing a cover to one of one of my favourite Nirvana songs super soon!
What is it about music that makes you feel passionate?
I’ve always been passionate about the arts because they are a form of self expression. But music for me is both a way to express myself, and escape myself. I struggle with anxiety, and music has become an outlet for me to escape to. By “escape”, I mean: I’m overthinking/anxious constantly and the train in my brain is always running on 8 different tracks at once. Music allows me to focus on one track, and allow my train to run on that, which feels like a comforting escape. By focusing my anxious energy/emotions towards music, through playing guitar, singing, songwriting, co-producing, I can express myself comfortably. That’s why I’m constantly listening to music, because it’s an emotional outlet. If I can be that escape for someone else with music, just like how it was an escape for me, I’ll be doing this forever.
Describe your favourite and least favourite part about being a musician
My favourite part about being a musician is knowing that my music can help those struggling in the same way music helped me when I was struggling. Knowing that is what makes being a musician worth it. My least favourite part about being a musician is social media. Social media is very useful and great don’t get me wrong, but If I weren’t doing music I honestly don’t think I would post on social media. I would barely even use it and probably have like 2 posts on instagram. It brings me so much anxiety and I’m a dry texter so both of those things do not make using social media for me enjoyable lol.
What is the biggest struggle for you as a musician at the moment?
Currently I’m trying to improve my guitar skills. I’m good at guitar but I want to go further than learning basic chord structures and learn riffs that can improve my knowledge of scales. I want to get to the point where I can write songs solely using the guitar and don’t need to rely on Logic Pro X. When Bruce Springsteen or Taylor Swift wrote songs, it was just them, maybe a co-writer and their guitar. I want to get to that skill level. So I guess I’m also improving my songwriting by strengthening my guitar abilities.
How have you been keeping creative during the Pandemic?
Well I went to LA from the end of September to mid January to record music and ended up with 8 songs. But a lot of that time was spent finding my sound and style. If I wasn’t in the studio I would be designing outfits and researching fashion trends of each decade. Creating is the only thing that has prevented me from going completely insane during the pandemic.
What are your plans for the rest of 2021?
I’m releasing two other singles before July, and plan to return to California by latest end of July to make more music. Depending on the pandemic and how the singles go, I’m possibly releasing an EP but that wouldn’t be till towards the end of 2021.
Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of music?
Outside of music I act; I actually began acting because of music doing theatre and broadway, then I started commercial and television acting with an agent. I also love designing clothing, and design most of the clothing I wear on my Instagram are my own designs. I love watching anime, and reading superhero comic books also, those are probably my top two hobbies right now.
When you kick back who are some of the artists you listen to?
You guys should not have asked me this question. I could go on forever. But lately I’ve been listening to a lot of The Current Joys, Avril Lavinge, Chase Atlantic, Doja Cat, Nirvana, Tame Impala and Lil Peep. And honourable mention: Weezer.
