Have you heard of SOFY? If you haven’t, then we’re afraid to say that you’ve been slacking.
SOFY hasn’t been making music for very long, but she’s already achieved a great deal of success, having played at Glastonbury Festival and had ‘Big Talk’ feature on FIFA 23. The Leicester-born artist is certainly one to watch – and after seeing her live show, it’s clear to see why.
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Still, do you know what’s even better than seeing a live show?
That’s right, dear reader – it’s delving into the mind of some of our favourite artists. And that’s precisely why we were so thrilled when SOFY invited us to sit down with her ahead of one of her headline shows to chat her new record, touring, and much more.
You’ve just released your mixtape, ‘Chaos & Commotion’ – why did you call it that?
‘Well, it’s a funny story actually, because Chaos & Commotion is the name of a song that we wrote a couple of years ago. It didn’t make it onto the record, but we really liked the name. When we wrote the song, we knew we were gonna do this mixtape and it felt like it fit the project and the headspace I was in at the time – but yeah, the actual song has gotten binned off by the time we finished this project.’
There’s a real mix of songs on the mixtape. Does it feel like you’re still carving out a sound?
‘I think for the next project I want it to be more refined. When I started writing for this one, it was just after a year of only ever writing songs. When you’re in that stage you’re always fiddling around thinking about what you do or don’t like making. The evolution of my project has definitely come from playing live, because my old stuff was a lot more lofi and a bit more chill – but as soon as I started playing live, I was like fuck this, I wanna make indie music.’
‘I like the eclecticness of the Chaos & Commotion project, but that’s probably the last project from me with that mix of genres. I want a new challenge next and to have something that feels a bit more like a coherent project.’
All of this success has happened pretty quickly. Has much changed?
‘I’m not working anymore, so that’s good – not that I’m making enough money to not be working, I just didn’t have time to do both anymore. We’ll see how long I can keep that going: I’ve got to pay rent. It’s difficult because as soon as you hit a goal, the goalposts move – and with music you can’t really reach an endpoint.’
You’ve said before that you’re inspired by the likes of Blur, The Stone Roses, and Loyle Carner. Have your influences changed much in the past couple of years?
‘I’m listening to much less hiphop these days. For the older stuff I made, I was in a proper 90s Hiphop resurgence. I still love it, but I’ve been having a real indie revival recently. You can definitely hear it on Chaos & Commotion, and that’s probably where it will continue to go in the future, just because they’re the most fun to play live.’
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Are there any artists that are criminally underrated at the moment?
‘There’s a guy called Master Peace who I’m really into.’
You’re signed to Chess Club, which is such a cool label – how did that come about?
‘Yeah, they’re great. I’ve always liked them and been a fan of what they do. They’ve broken so many of my favourite artists and they’re proper tastemakers in the industry so I’ve always sort of known about them. I think the conversation started when they followed me on TikTok, so I shot them a DM asking if they wanted to hear some music, then they came to our show at Lafayette in March.’
You’re a Leicester fan – do you play for a team?
‘I used to, back in the day. I played for a local club, but they didn’t have a girls team past a certain age and we couldn’t play with the boys after the age of 11, so I had to give it up – which is a shame. I love watching the Lionesses because I actually think that if there were more opportunities to play, I definitely would’ve carried it on and probably gotten really good too.’
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You’ve said before that your mum’s got the best vinyl collection; do you have your own?
‘She does! I do, but it’s not very big. I don’t really buy any old stuff though, I’ll mainly buy a vinyl of an artist I like when they put one out to support them.’
How long could you survive on the run and how far could you get?
‘Okay, so I think I’d take one other person with me because otherwise I’d get too in my head about it, but they’d have to be really calm. I’d steal a car… No, I wouldn’t steal a car, because it would get reported. I’d buy a car in cash and wear a disguise – like a hat or something. Then I’d steal someone’s credit card. I don’t know whose credit card I’d choose for that, though. I’d go and hang out somewhere with evil people and take one of theirs. Then, I’d probably go and hide somewhere. I reckon I could last like 4 days…’
