Not as good as it gets for sophie meiers

sophie’s young age and velvety voice mask a more punk-femme and sometimes surreal beauty aesthetic, a style which she says will catch up to her music once her next album drops this summer. office sat down virtually (pandemic, ugh!) with sophie to chat about her creative process, what it was like to grow up on the SoundCloud scene, and the insane willpower it took to get her where she is today.

How are you holding up in isolation? 

It’s been pretty crazy. I think the whole world is kind of going through it right now. But I’ve just been trying to stay busy, upkeep my normal routines, even though we are in lockdown, and you know, just stay consistent. Otherwise I feel like it’s easy to spiral and get uninspired and unmotivated. But I’ve been holding up pretty well.

Your latest song is sooo good. 

Thank you so much, I’m really happy about that. That song means so much to me, so I’m glad it’s being received well.

Is there a special significance attached to it? 

Definitely. That song is about always fighting to be happy, and the feeling of unattainable stability and happiness. I think it sounds really sweet on the surface, but it’s one of the saddest songs I ever wrote. [laughs] I don’t know.

But on the positive side, there’s just kind of taking things as they come, and enjoying whatever little bit of happiness that you do get whenever that happens. So I feel like it can be taken in a couple different ways. That about sums it up.

That’s a good lesson for right now, especially. A lot of your music feels double-edged, though—so does your style in some ways. 

That’s funny you bring that up, because I feel like that kind of sums me up in a nutshell. The combination of the dark and morbid with the sweet and soft—a lot of my music on the surface sounds really comforting, and warm, or sweet, or relaxing, but the lyrical content is usually pretty dark. I think that’s a repeating pattern in my life: the duality of light and darkness, if I had to sum it up like that.

One of my favorite parts of what you do is how gracefully you span genres. Do you consider your music to have one specific sound?

Definitely not. I struggle with that a lot, trying to describe the type of music that I like to make. When anyone asks me without the context of listening to my music, I probably list off 10 different genres, and we both end up more confused than before. [laughs]

I just really like being able to make whatever I want in any given moment, so I try not to box it in. But—if I had to—no, actually, I feel like I shouldn’t even attempt—well, I started out as a jazz vocalist, and listened to a bunch of punk growing up. Then I got really into hip hop, so there’s a bunch of different genres spanning r&b, and jazz, and then a lot of my unreleased stuff is kind of alternative, band/instrumental based. So it’s a combination of a lot of different things.

What’s it been like having started with SoundCloud? What’s the shift been like for you?

It’s been really interesting. I really miss the early SoundCloud days where I was just recording myself on the piano with my voice memos and throwing it up online. Then I eventually got into a community of producers who I made friends with, and someone one day was like, “Hey, I made this for you to sing over, would you want to do something?” And I like, freaked out, was so excited. Then I just went into a whirlwind of just spending all my free time writing and recording on a shitty little USB microphone and sending files back and forth.

It just escalated. I really didn’t expect it to go anywhere. But I think all the collaboration I’ve done has resulted in a lot of different audiences and fan bases, so I feel like I do have the freedom to do whatever I want.

Now it’s a lot different, and I’m really really happy about where I am. I’ve moved out to LA, I’ve got my own apartment, and I do music full time, and so that all feels so good—to like, actually do this as a living. But there are some downsides: a little less freedom, from just being able to throw up whatever I want, whenever I want. But I also do value taking my time with projects and putting a lot of love and thought into what I’m doing. If that takes a little longer, so be it I guess.

How do you see the relationship between your personal style and your music?

I’ve heard some people say, you know, “I never expected you to look like this based off of your music,” and I get that a lot. I feel like it makes sense with what I do and how I express myself. One common saying that I like to hold myself to is that I like to be completely unapologetic and expressive no matter what that may look like on any given day. 

There’s a huge crossover with the music and with my personal style. I just think I haven’t really been putting out as much music for the past two years, so my visual evolution has been public while the sound evolution has been behind the scenes. Just putting out new stuff and the unreleased is going to tie it together and everything will make a lot more sense.

You also seem like such a prolific writer and producer—does all that come naturally to you, or do you ever have blocks? 

I really really like so many different types of creating. I started writing poetry before I ever wrote songs, and I was a huge reader as a little kid, and I love photography, and modeling, and makeup art, and fashion, design, and I did a bunch of freelance graphic design when I was making ends meet when I first started with music. 

One thing that allows me to stay in that creative zone is to switch off between creative outlets, because if you get caught up in one cycle of doing things a certain way all the time, you’re going to run into roadblocks or writing blocks.

Usually when I do have writer’s block, like everyone has, I try to put that expression into a different format, and that creates a bunch of new ideas and new perspectives to bring me back to whatever I was trying to do initially.

How does collaboration factor into your creative process?

I would never be able to be where I am today without collaboration. It’s stretched my talent and processes so much, and put me in a lot of situations that I would not be able to put myself in without being around other people and other ideas. Collaboration is such a huge part of the process—to be able to make something with someone and the way that process unfolds is just really special to me. 

Are you working on anything right now or laying low?

I’ve been working on music nonstop for so long. It’s been a little harder to stay inspired, just because I think like, the space I use—I have a little home studio which also doubles as a game room where I watch TV, and it gets pretty messy. I feel like I get holed up in a certain space and it gets stagnant for me. So it’s been more difficult getting into those creative mindsets lately.

But I still have been making music. I try to make something every day, whether it’s just a little 10 minute idea or if it’s a Zoom session with other artists who are working remotely.

Are your most successful songs your personal favorites?

I feel like everybody hates their biggest song. I don’t hate my biggest song. [laughs]

I don’t know if my biggest songs are my favorite. It’s always interesting seeing what people are drawn to versus the ones that are really special to you. I have a connection and appreciation to the ones that are the biggest, just because they mean a lot to me. But a lot of times they take on a different life after you put them out, so it’s interesting to see how people react to it. 

I’ve heard other artists say similar things. Some people end up feeling like some of their best songs eventually drive them nuts.

Yeah, definitely. And I don’t know, I’m the kind of person who used to just make songs in 15 minutes, and then record some vocals, listen to the mix once, throw it online and never listen to it again. So I think because they get so popular that plays into it, because you’re just fucking tired of it.

What are some milestones you’re really happy about?

I’m just really happy to be where I am today and be able to live and do what I love. I’m really proud of myself for going against what everybody told me about how it was unrealistic, and to give up my hobby, blah blah blah blah blah. I have some willpower to be able to go after it no matter what. 

I mean, I hit a ton of amazing milestones, which I could talk about, but I think statistics and those sorts of things don’t really matter much. I’m just really happy that I’m doing what I love, able to express myself freely, trying to be genuine and creating whatever I want at any given moment.