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Videos by American Songwriter
We had the pleasure of interviewing Anna Sofia over Zoom video!
Through a pure perspective only an insider could possess, Anna Sofia chronicles these moments and so much more in her music. The 16-year-old Toronto singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist threads together narrative pop with the scope of a classic nineties teen flick and the unpredictability of 21st century genre-bending. Streamed over 2 million times independently as of 2019 and acclaimed by Ones To Watch, Lyrical Lemonade, and Complex who dubbed her, “a prodigious new talent,” she places listeners in the front row of her world on the introductory 2020 EP, Self Aware Bitch [Electric Feel/Republic Records], and her forthcoming full-length debut.
“I write about what’s really happening to me,” she explains. “It’s girl drama, my friends liking guys, something that happened with me and a boy, house parties, and trying to just be myself. I didn’t hear a lot of other artists speaking this way about high school and growing up, so I wanted to tell my story.”
She began working towards telling this story as a child. The budding songstress went from competitive dancing since three-years-old to singing at community events, in plays, and around the sleepy ski resort town of Blue Mountain she calls home. At the age of four, she started piano lessons before eventually picking up ukulele and guitar. Inspired by everyone from Queen and Elton John to Tyler, the Creator, Rex Orange County, and Mac DeMarco, she carefully crafted a signature style of her own rooted in traditional instrumentation a la guitar, drums, and bass.
“Not all of the songs are love songs,” she says. “I’m writing about school life in a really personal way with authentic-sounding instruments.”
In 2019, she began turning heads with the indie releases “Meaner Girl” and “I Try” before landing a deal with Republic Records. Now, she introduces Self Aware Bitch with the single “No Fun.” A shuffling beat and shimmery keys collide with an irresistible chant—“No fun, that’s the only fun I know”—backed by quirky, boisterous horns.
“I went to a party, and the song pretty much explains everything that happened that night,” she goes on. “There were kids breaking windows and all of this crazy stuff going down. The story shifts to the next day when you just want to chill at home all super tired.”
Meanwhile, “Self Aware Bitch” coasts along on hummable guitar punctuated by nostalgic vignettes of “people kissing in the stairwell,” “texting my momma,” and “lunch line down the block.”
It culminates on the chant, “Just call me a self aware bitch, sorry, at least I’m being honest, surrounded by the gossip, at least I say it loud.”
“I’m breaking with the trends,” she asserts. “There are so many people who want to change you. I’m not going to change for anyone. It’s about standing by who you are.”
In the end, Anna’s story will relate, because she actually lives this…
“I hope when people listen to me, they can get confidence in themselves,” she leaves off. “That’s why I’m writing the way I am. It makes me feel confident, and I want to share that.”
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