'Emily' by Sophia Alexa // Listen here
The latest single to come from London based singer-songwriter Sophia Alexa is the beautifully melodic ‘Emily’. As her third single of the year, following the brilliant ‘Stones’ and ‘Hall Pass’, Sophia continues to build great momentum in the folk-pop scene, delivering sweet-sounding and emotionally intricate songs directly from the heart.
Give ‘Emily’ a spin below
https://ffm.to/sophiaalexa_emily
Sophia shares where the inspiration for Emily came from, expressing that; “I wrote Emily about the fear of failure. In the song I imagined myself being older and standing on stage performing to an empty room feeling as if time is running out. I think it’s a common feeling when pursuing your dreams. There is a voice in the back of your head wondering if it will ever work out. At the same time I wanted to say that having regrets and not trying to go for your dreams is way worse.”
The stripped-back, acoustic quality of ‘Emily’ is a demonstration of simplicity at its very best, with Sophia’s vocals being the focal point of the song alongside the light strumming of an acoustic guitar. ‘Emily’ is the ideal track for your autumn playlist, being comforting and warming in all its mellowness and the lovely delicacy embedded deep into it.
Stemming from the idea of feeling like you’re not enough, but having to trust the process and yourself along the way, ‘Emily’ is carried by the tender lyricism that Sophia always has a way of weaving into the hearts of her listeners, and today’s new track is no different.
More on Sophia Alexa…
“Music isn’t about fixing things,” explains Sophia Alexa, whose vulnerable indie-folk anthems never shy away from uncomfortable truths.
“A lot of what I do is self-discovery,” Sophia continues, with songwriting a way for her to figure out the hows and whys of what she’s going through. “It’s me trying to process how I’m feeling, and figure out my place in the world,” she adds. “I hope I’m able to put into words what other people are going through as well.”
Sophia has been singing for as long as she can remember and started writing her own songs aged twelve, but she used to keep it all a secret. “I didn’t want to be noticed for it,” she explains, refusing to take part in school productions and never announcing upcoming performances at the various open-mic nights that she used to cut her teeth as a teenager. Instead, music was her “safe space”. Sophia moved from California to Amsterdam as a baby, and her family relocated to London when she was 12. “Music was the one consistent thing throughout all of that,” she says. The changes left Sophia feeling isolated and without any sort of community around her, with songwriting her way of trying to understand those big, daunting emotions. “For the longest time, I didn’t feel like I had a place where I belonged,” she explains. “but over the past two years, that’s changed completely.”
Sophia Alexa released her first proper single, the rumbling indie folk of ‘House Of Cards’, in 2021 with EPs ‘Groundwork’ and ‘Before I Go’ following in 2022. These releases helped Sophia find her voice and she’s entering this next chapter with a newfound sense of confidence. “I feel like I’m carving out a space for myself that feels a bit more unique,” she says, with each track a step beyond what’s come before. “I’m not afraid to create music that feels a bit different.”
Connecting with others, either via her recorded music or at gigs, has pushed Sophia to really chase that honesty in her music. “It doesn’t feel as scary when you know other people have been through it as well. You can feel insane writing these really sad, depressing songs but when other people tell you they’ve felt the exact same way, you realise you’re not alone in it,” she says with a grin. “It’s just human nature.”
