Folk-inspired, London-based singer/songwriter Sophia Alexa will make your heart exhale—a whispered sigh to graze the rhythm of her ethereal sounds that hold a gentle haunting introspection. Her newest single “Emily” delves into the weight of time passing, the fear of failure and the thought of aging that trails behind us silently on the daily. She urges us, through this one, to embrace the aspirations we've long yearned to pursue but hesitated to grasp. Sophia Alexa generously sits to converse with us around themes explored in this release.
Miriam Boulos: Sophia, how are you feeling today?
Sophia Alexa: I feel good, I’ve been trying to write. It’s one of those days you don’t feel like time passing, you’re kinda moseying about doing nothing, yeah that was kinda my day. Nothing significant but just been practicing and stuff…
MB: Speaking of time passing, you wrote your latest single “Emily” about the anxiety of time passing and the fear of failure which is a common mixture of feelings for anyone following their dreams to the fullest. Can you share more about “Emily”, and that moment, how did you start writing this one?
SA: Ever since I started music, I think I have this fear of it not working out. I think the pressures within music of making it by a certain age and being successful by a certain age are extremely intense and unrealistic, and the societal pressures are so strong, that I think I was not just speaking for myself. I feel there is so much pressure to reach that point at a certain age. I think part of that was that I wanted to express that feeling. I also always wanted to imagine what I’d be like at a certain age. I’d like to picture what I’d be like at 70 or 80. My biggest fear is that I don't want to be a salty person that is kinda sad that they never… You know those people that you can tell are kinda salty because they never got to do what they wanted to do and they kinda take it out on other people because they see younger people achieving or going for their dreams? I go home to certain older family members, they’re so ”Why are you doing this?”. It's this kind of angry but also envious attitude. Just because you didn't get to do what you wanted to do and were maybe too afraid to go for it doesn’t mean I can’t. But it's also a two-sided coin because in the back of your head you’re like “maybe they’re right, maybe I shouldn’t be doing it because it’s not this security 9 to 5 job.“ I could be getting a steady paycheck. So, a part of me is not wanting to feel like you regret things but then also at the same time you are kinda living with this fear of it not working out.
Part of the song is also about this bad dream I had about being really old and performing to a crowd and there was no one there - literally singing in an old empty bar. I remember waking up and thinking “shit”. It's probably some deeply ingrained fear that manifested in my dreams. This is what most of our dreams are. I woke up from that dream and I was like “I have to write this down”. I've had that feeling for a while, I've always been afraid of aging in this industry.
I'm obviously still very young but aging in this industry, you feel like you are getting older. The standards, for female artists especially, of where you should be by a certain age are insane. They fetishize being young and it’s so weird to me. Whereas male artists don't have that pressure as much. It's such a frustrating thing. I hate that.
Why is someone considered so much better if they're younger, why does that matter? They’re talented regardless.
MB: It is a very ageist industry and that is led by younger talent. Hungry for younger constantly. I really think things should change.
SA: I totally agree. I think the idea of the song, too, was like even if I was 50 or 60, you feel like your time is up. It’s that idea where I don’t think your time should ever be up, I think you should perform and be able to create at whatever age.
MB: How do you personally combat the fear of time slipping away, and do you have any advice for others who may be facing similar anxieties in their creative pursuits?
SA: There is a positive angle in what I was trying to say. There is a line just saying, “At least I tried”. The idea is that: it doesn’t matter when I’d start, I'd rather start at 60 than never attempting to even do something creative my whole life. Imagine your whole life and you never picked up a guitar, but you were dying to. I'd much rather say I did it and I tried it out even if I was old. That’s a depressing thought but I wouldn't like to die knowing I haven't written a song. That would make me so upset, it's what I live for. It's easier said than done but it's just ignoring what other people are saying, blocking out everything and focusing on your craft and getting better at it for yourself. You are not doing it for anyone else anyways.
MB: Honestly, your sounds and songs are a testament to that, to self-discovery and reflection, or at least this is how I feel when I listen to you and when I listen to “Emily”… What do you aim to convey to your listeners through this one in particular ?
SA: It's the idea that it's never too late to do anything. Part of it is like “Oh no did I miss my chance?”, “Oh no people are judging me!” all these things that come up! But at the end of it, at least I did it, at least I’m not all the other people who were too afraid to do it, at least I attempted it. Even if it doesn’t 100% work out how I imagined it or I'm not as successful as I dreamed to be, at least I write, and at least I went for it. I'd rather that than sitting in an office and hating my life. This industry, it's not perfect, music is hard, but I'd rather be struggling in this than hating every second at a 9 to 5 job.
MB: I’m also curious to ask, was the title “Emily” inspired by “Emily I’m sorry” by Boygenius?
SA: Not at all, I even wrote that before this song had come out so it was unrelated. Then I heard that song and I was like, “Wow! I love that ‘Emily song’ related to mine”.
But it was not at all related though, I wish. I’m a Boygenius fan for sure, I think they’re amazing. Someone else asked me that, I just like the name Emily, and it rhymes with something, and it sounds pretty. People tell me that names that end in “Y” sound nice and sing really well. I was looking for a “Y”-ending name too.
MB: You also mention “leaving this world unsatisfied”. To you, what does it mean to leave this world fully satisfied? or at least satisfied to some extent?
SA: I feel like I think about this everyday which is probably not normal. Okay this is so morbid I was passing a church today and there was this funeral going on, and I saw a dead person in a casket, and I was like “omg “. It shocked me because isn't it weird that we all end up in this box? It blows my mind. It's so weird because we all end up in the same place, and we all make different choices and live different lives, we all end up there. I always say this, I wanna be 70 or 80 and still be sitting with my guitar and be so happy writing songs. You know what, I hate writing music because I let the music industry turn it into something I despise. I want it to be something that is so pure and only mine and not have music taken away from me. So, my answer is, still having so much passion for what I do and writing songs and lyrics and also, not just down to music. Having the most important people around me too, my family is so important to me, my friends are so important to me. I do crave simplicity in my life, and I don’t think I want a lot. I want to be satisfied with the things that I love, you know.
MB: You mention simplicity here, even your sound hails that. “Emily” has a captivating simplicity, with the stripped-back, mellow acoustic guitar . How did you approach the composition and arrangement to complement the depth of the lyrics, and were there any specific musical influences that played a role in shaping the sound of this song?
SA: I wrote it when I was in Nashville. I went to a few bars in Nashville and had seen this one performer who was amazing but there was no one there and that was crazy to me. There were all these amazing musicians but not a lot of people watching them which made me sad. I love the sound especially at the end of the song where it’s just stripped back, it's like this empty room with someone singing, it's echo-y and I wanted to incorporate that feeling at the end of the song. The producer I work with a lot, we wanted to keep it simple and add to it more towards the last chorus and bridge just building it up with super subtle harmonies and more layers of guitars and atmospheric sounds. Didn’t go too heavy on production, it’s definitely more swift.
MB: I love it. The simplicity of it and the lyrics mends together so magically. What strikes me the most about your music and songwriting is how raw and honest you are. I was wondering what it is like being that honest and vulnerable?
SA: It’s weird but I don’t really think about it. I don’t really think about how people perceive me when they listen to my music. I would never be that open to someone if I was in a conversation, but I could say the most exposing things in a song and I don’t think I would care if they heard it. There is this divide between ME saying it and my songs.
It’s also not me singing the song. It feels like a person, it's also very me, very authentic. But I feel like I have this mask because there's music with it, it's a whole song, it's not like I'm speaking this out into the open. Also, I think there is a lot of relatability that I want other people to hear. I think a lot of people go through similar shit and sometimes it's very affirming. I feel less crazy when other people message me and say “OH MY GOD I feel this” and I’m like “Okay it's not just me and my mind”. It’s almost like a tester asking, “Is it just me? Or…?”.
MB: It is super powerful to turn a personal story into a song that anyone can relate to. What's the most powerful part of doing so and why do you think it could be empowering to relate to someone’s music or lyrics?
SA: I was listening to Searows. There’s this song that he wrote “I Have More Than Enough”, this song hit so deeply with me. I think when something is so emotional and you feel so emotionally attached to, it can make you feel that feeling all over again and maybe even take you to a specific memory. I think that’s the coolest thing in a song to me. Anyone can listen to a song and take their own experience into it.
If that happens for anyone when they listen to my music, I'd be so happy. I just want people to feel like they can place their own selves in that situation. That’s the cool thing, we can perceive our songs and other people’s songs in any way we want. We all attach our own meanings that’s why they hit so deeply. It’s not about the artist and what they have experienced, it's what you’ve experienced.
MB: What can we anticipate next from you? Is there anything you are excited about at this stage?
SA: I am working on putting out a full project that will be out in the new year. It will be out with the few songs I've released. I'm also writing some stuff. I'm working on new things and figuring out if I want to change my sounds, taking more inspiration from things i used to listen to while growing up and leaning more into live feeling production which I really love. I've been listening to a lot of 70s music. I think I've been thinking more about expanding my sounds a little more and taking risks, so that will be the project after this one. I have two people I love to work with, I feel like I've grown a lot with them. It's really cool to have people you consistently work with and they can help you bring your sound’s weight more. I wanna continue in that space. I just love that I can create music and that I continue, and I hope people continue listening.
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