Q&A: Move With Me, If You Dare: Sophie Powers on Entering a New Era and Embracing Growth
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY LARA ZOE SCHMIDT ☆
Photo By Hannah De Vries
SOPHIE POWERS ISN’T HERE TO PLAY IT SAFE - Known for her bold and colorful aesthetic, the 20 year-old musician is taking a step away from bubblegum pink in favor of something darker. “I'm changing in my real life – It needs to reflect in my music.” she says, and with her most recent single “move with me,” she’s opening the door to a new era that taps into the unfiltered chaos of growing up, mental health struggles and self-destructive tendencies.
“move with me” isn’t just what Sophie describes as a “subtle love song” – it’s her reaching out, taking the listener's hand, and diving headfirst into a new chapter. The addictively fast/paced hyper-pop beat pulls you in from the first second and doesn't let go until the song ends (or until you’ve had it on loop for an hour). There’s no better way to kick off her new era than with this sonic burst of adrenaline – one that could easily soundtrack both a dark, gritty basement rave or the cockpit of a futuristic spaceship. Her sound, a seamless blend of futuristic elements with a neon dash of 2000s nostalgia, continues to refuse to be confined to any box.
We caught up with Sophie to talk all about the retro-futuristic dystopian universe surrounding her new era, her relationship to posting on TikTok and the unexpected link between her upcoming single and Gossip Girl.
Photo By Hannah De Vries
LUNA: Your music has always been honest, but this new era feels even more personal and raw. With “move with me” marking a shift both aesthetically and sonically, what inspired you to explore this darker, more nihilistic direction?
SOPHIE: I think a lot has changed for me considering I'm not a 17 year-old girl anymore. Those three years from 17 to 20 are all very different and really have shaped me a lot as a person. I have gone through a lot of hardships and been screwed over in this industry, and I want to talk about that. It's fun to make party music and I'm not saying I won't do that – I think if I can marry the two more, that rawness and that new direction with my old sounds, it’ll put me in a place that I've never gone to. I'm changing in my real life – It needs to reflect in my music.
LUNA: “move with me” has such an addicting and energizing quality to it. How did the production and sound of it come together?
SOPHIE: I'm so melodically and musically driven. I find it hard at times to develop the lyrical identity for a song before those other two components. The beat actually was used in an Apple commercial – my producer made it before I came into the studio. I heard it when he was making the ad and I was like “I want to use that. Don't give that to Apple.”
LUNA: You often talk about experiencing synesthesia in connection to your music. What does this song feel or look like to you?
SOPHIE: This one is definitely blue, beige, brown and some grays – you'll see that in the music video.
LUNA: Hypothetically, in what scenario do you see “move with me” getting played? Could be fictional or not.
SOPHIE: In a new apartment that you're paying $400 a month for, on a mattress on the floor, and all you have is you and the person you're with.
Actually, this reminds me of that scene in Gossip Girl with Serena and Dan, when they're in that room with the projector. It’s just them on that mattress on the floor and it's like wintertime. That's what it reminds me of. The Gossip Girl fans will get it.
LUNA: In “move with me,” you capture the struggle of balancing ambitions with the need for intimacy. Was this written from personal experience?
SOPHIE: I think intimacy is so scary. Even just holding hands, hugging someone or hugging fans. Having to do that every show, literally is why I'm okay with people touching me now. I could not stand it when people touched me before I started touring.
I'm in my first serious relationship now – [the song] is about that perspective of being a young girl coming into womanhood and experiencing physical touch in a way that isn't frightening, and in a way that's actually exciting.
And moving on from one thing to the next, with my artistry, it made the most sense for that to be the first release, because we're moving on from the old Glitch era into my new era. New things are happening, it's more raw, and I'm leaving it all on the table.
LUNA: Would it be right to call it a love song?
SOPHIE: I think a lot of people would hear the song and not think that. It doesn't scream love song. But it is in my heart a love song.
LUNA: Your music has always bent genres, not really fitting into one specific box. If you had to make up a name for your own genre for “move with me,” what would you call it?
SOPHIE: I'd say Digi-Core – It's very digital, somewhat nostalgic, but also messy and chaotic. I use a lot of influence from the artists I grew up listening to in the early 2000s like Avril Lavigne and Lady Gaga. In terms of the actual genre it's Hyper-Pop/Paramore-Pop. It's literally Hayley Williams if they asked her to write a Lady Gaga song.
LUNA: I want to talk a bit about your style, since you’ve always had such a strong visual identity and are active in the fashion industry as well. This era marks a pretty drastic shift in your aesthetic. What inspired the new look?
SOPHIE: I've been in a single EP rollout for over two years, from 18 until 20. That was all one aesthetic that was very colorful, crazy outfits, somewhat cosplay inspired. Not to say I'm not still going to do that, but you just get bored and want to try something new. You also want to keep it exciting for fans and continue to evolve as an artist – and personally, I want to grow, always.
I sometimes treat my art a little bit too much like I'm running a toothpaste company. How can we grow in this market? How can we reach this demographic? It just helps my brain conceptualize what I want to do and how I'm going to do it.
I literally had hour-long conversations with ChatGPT on this, analyzing the internet, and how I can do something unique and different while putting my personal taste in, and something that people haven't seen yet from me that would allow me to tap into other markets and people who might not have liked my old aesthetic.
LUNA: TikTok has been a huge part of how you share your music and connect with fans. Going forward into this new era, how do you see your approach to social media changing?
SOPHIE: I think I want to speak less and say more. Because a lack of presence is a presence in itself. I've been very accessible to my fans for the entirety of my career.
I'm just curious what would happen if I were to put those curtains up, instead of having them pulled back 24/7, and let them come to their own conclusions, while creating strong visuals and storytelling, rather than just yapping online. I will still be chronically online, but in different ways than before. And I want to post less also for my own mental health.
LUNA: What other kinds of sounds and vibes can we expect from this new era of your music?
SOPHIE: I think a term that I focus on when choosing those sounds is world-building.
We've developed a whole storyline behind this next project:
The year is 2050, 2030 at this rate, and we've destroyed the planet. Global warming didn't go away and the rich have colonized Mars and their underground fancy bunkers, while the rest of us are left to our own devices on Earth, To replace that population we have a lot of mannequins everywhere, sitting in restaurants, propped up serving people at countertops, even though there's no one there. It’s a very retro futuristic dystopian world. Those mannequins talk about self connection and loneliness and signify a lot of the bad habits that I've had, with eating disorders, depression or anxiety and things that we as people have a hard time breaking out of and changing…
LUNA: That sounds really cool – I love when there's a storyline behind music. Let’s talk a little about your creative process: Since your debut in 2022, how has your approach to making music evolved, and is there anything you’d do differently along the way, knowing everything you know now?
SOPHIE: My approach to making music has evolved because I've grown as a songwriter and as a person. And life experience in my line of work contributes to what tools I'm able to pull from and can help with my creativity. I would also say I've become a lot less stubborn and more collaborative. I'll never let anyone tell me against my vision – I still stand on that – But I also think listening is powerful.
Also, I’m independent for the first time in my career since 2022, so it’s been three years since I feel like I've had full creative control, and with that also comes power. I'd say those are the main two things that have changed the way I approach making music. I'm still musically-driven – working on the lyricism part. I've grown on it though, and I'm excited for fans to see that growth on this next project.
LUNA: I read that you’d love to collaborate on a song with two other women – who would be in your dream trio?
SOPHIE: I would love to collaborate with 070 Shake, she’s so fire…also Rina Sawayama is a dope artist. And I think that me and Raye's voices would also go well together. But yeah, those three women are all women I'd love to collaborate with. Really any woman [laughs].
LUNA: You once talked about always listening to “Poker Face” before performing – do you have a post-show wind-down song?
SOPHIE: No, because right after my set I always just go to the merch booth. I don't have any time to listen to a song or calm down. I really should though, because then I'm meeting fans for like an hour or two. That’s definitely something to think about.
LUNA: And last but not least, I’d like to know what you and your fans have to look forward to for the rest of the year – music, fashion, live shows?
SOPHIE: Lots of music! First song, obviously, April 4. And either a mini album or an EP sometime this year in the fall.
LUNA: Sounds exciting! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to LUNA.
