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SODY speaks candidly on re-discovering the joy of writing alone, how music aids her mental health, dream collaborations, and plans for future releases.

19-year-old singer-songwriter SODY’s introspective, sincere pop songs show that there’s real power in raw honesty and open vulnerability.

 

SODY has been releasing music for four years now, and in that time, she’s built up a loyal fanbase that hangs on to her every word. Artfully channeling the difficult experiences she endured growing up into beautiful, empowering music has not only helped herself but helped others too.

“It is my therapy. It’s completely a way for me to express myself and to talk about things that are really heavy”, she said. “My songs come from personal experiences pretty much 99.9% of the time”.

“What I really want is to help people and for my music to reach more people in the hope they feel inspired and know that they’re not alone”.

 

Being bullied at school deeply affected SODY’s mental health. Despite her obvious talent, she was told she would never make it as a musician, but yet she persevered, finding solace in the act of making music. “If I’m ever in a bad space with my mental health, music helps me get out of that space”, SODY told.

 

Now, standing tall with almost 100 millions streams on a number of successful singles and 2 EPs, a Glastonbury performance, tour with Tom Walker, and her own headline shows, SODY’s stuck two fingers up at her bullies and disbelievers and continues to shine.

 

We spoke candidly about how lockdown helped SODY to tap back into her independent creativity, using music as a form of therapy, creating songs to uplift and empower others, and what we can expect from her next. Dive in!

You’ve said before that songwriting is like therapy to you. Over the past couple of months, have you found solace in music?

Yeah, I think it’s definitely brought me back to my roots. When you start being an artist, you suddenly get thrown into writing sessions and working with people you don’t know. When I was really young, I was working with all these people and it was difficult because I didn’t really know who I was. In lockdown, I found the love of writing by myself again by just sitting down at the piano and actually forcing myself. It forced me to be creative again completely on my own which is I guess how we all started. I quite enjoyed it actually because I really took care of myself. I learned a lot about myself [in lockdown] that would have taken me longer, I think.

Your writing is so raw and personal. Is it difficult to share so much of yourself with the world when you release songs? Or do you feel a release?

It feels cathartic and natural. Previously, I felt like I couldn’t talk about certain topics or I didn’t have the guts to do it. And then suddenly, I realised that once I actually went into a writing session and opened up and spoke about it, it lifted this massive weight off my shoulders. It is my therapy. It’s completely a way for me to express myself and to talk about things that are really heavy. I’m just lucky that I’ve got a way to put it into music. And I’m grateful for that because it definitely takes the strain and the pain away. Once I actually release the songs, to see other people relating to them…they comment on YouTube and say, ‘I don’t feel so alone anymore’. They don’t realise that actually, I don’t feel so alone ‘cos I’m like, wow, these people actually have experienced it too. So as much as they say that I mean a lot to them, they mean so much to me.
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After experiences of bullying growing up, you’ve channelled a lot of that into your songwriting and have created tracks that have uplifting, empowering messages. Do you set out with a goal to help others with your work?

 100%. I think that now I’ve seen that reaction, it’s made me want to be as open and real as possible and be true to myself. My songs come from personal experiences pretty much 99.9% of the time. I think forever I just want to make sure that I release music I love and that has meaning. I find it really difficult to write fictionally. I tried a few times in lockdown to write some songs that I hadn’t experienced but I was like, I actually can’t do it. Once I sit down and I’m having a bad day or an amazing day, it just comes out naturally. Sometimes I am a bit too open – I do say anything and everything, but it’s something that I’ve kind of realised I want to do within my music and show people that I’m human and I feel things too.

When you go around your day-to-day life are you always aware of how you are processing emotions or experiencing situations, from a creative songwriting perspective?

Over the last few months, I felt really inspired. At the beginning of lockdown, I didn’t feel that inspired, and that’s why it did force me to look within. But I do always take inspiration from the people around me – my family, my friends. And even the commutes. I’ve moved to Lincoln now, so coming down on the train, two hours to London for work, it’s actually really nice to just absorb everything around me. Obviously, there are not as many people on the train [laughs] but I’m still constantly consuming everything.
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You recently collaborated with Cavetown on the single “is your bedroom ceiling bored?” How did that partnership come together?

Robbie heard the song and liked it so connected we from there.  He laid down some vocals and then we met! He’s such a nice guy, like, really lovely and we got on really well. He’s just got such a vulnerability to his voice that I latched onto – especially on the song, he did an amazing job and brought out another element to it, to the original “Bedroom Ceiling” version. Actually, I remember when I wrote it with my friend Lauren, we thought that it could be a duet because the way that it says, “I stay up late and I talk to the moon” and then the next line is, “I get up early and talk to the sun”.  So it was such an organic process and I’m really glad he wanted to do it because I think it’s added something special.

Is there anyone else on your bucket list?

Julia Michaels. I’m a huge fan. October 2018, she posted one of my songs on her [Instagram] story. I managed to actually meet her the next year at her Shepherd’s Bush Empire show. So the goal would be to actually collaborate with her because I take a lot of inspiration from her music. And then also Dermot Kennedy. I love his album and I think he just seems like such a nice person. I’ve never met him but I take a lot of inspiration from him as well and I’d love to do something with him too.
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You released the EP ‘I’m Sorry, I’m Not Sorry’ in December 2019. How do you feel about the record now, nine months on?

Those songs were super, super personal. I was really nervous to release those. Some of the songs on there were really tough to write. It was hard. I found it really difficult to talk about because they were all so raw. But that was a period of my life that I have moved on from. I’m just excited to release more music and I want to keep doing that. It is cathartic. It’s just such a beautiful thing, music, and it’s saved my life. If I’m ever in a bad space with my mental health, music helps me get out of that space. Definitely, with those songs, it helped me a lot. And so now I’m in such a better place and really looking forward to the next stage of music.

What can we expect next?

So I’m working on my next EP. They’re all new songs so nobody has heard any of them. I’m not sure how many yet but I’ve got a few definites. They’re songs that I really, really like and mean something. I am nervous, I’m always nervous to put music out when it’s so personal to me. I think they’re a bit different but I’m really excited to see what people think. I hope in the next few months to release something.

What are your hopes and dreams for Sody?

What I really want is to help people and for my music to reach more people in the hope they feel inspired and know that they’re not alone. That’s kind of why I do it as well. I want to be that advocate for people to be whoever they want to be and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I was told I could never do music. My absolute dream goal would be to win a BRIT Award or something. That would be an insane opportunity. But I think as long as I just keep releasing music that’s good enough for me. I want to keep being honest and real.
I guess I want to be someone that people can look up to. I went around schools last year and spoke to people about my experiences of bullying at school. I want people to realise that there is light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not forever because I didn’t have many friends at school and now I’m doing something that I love every single day and feel so much happier.

Listen to Sody on the Breakthrough UK playlist on Amazon Music below:

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