Interviews Reviews

An interview with rising singer songwriter SOLA

An interview with rising singer songwriter SOLA

Originally from California, SOLA now based in Liverpool is a talented singer songwriter who recently released her electrifying debut single ‘Closure’. We got an opportunity to chat to her about who inspired her and what else she has planned for the future.

Hello, How are you? 

I’m alright, thanks! Just trying to stay sane and remember what day it is haha.

At what point did you realize that you wanted to pursue your music career? 

I’ve definitely always wanted to pursue music in some capacity, and I’ve known that since elementary school. I was always singing and performing at school and in my community, and I just knew that it was right for me. When I went off to college though, I knew I had to commit or quit, and since then, it’s been a process of just figuring out what that means for me.

Which artists really inspired you ? 

Bring Me The Horizon, From Indian Lakes, BANKS, Lido, Flume, Emilie Nicolas, SZA, SG Lewis, Grades… I could go on, but I’ve always been really inspired by alternative music of all kinds and my contemporaries who are just fucking with genre.

What have been your biggest achievements thus far ? 

A couple years ago, I worked on one of my songs with Sir Paul McCartney in a one-on-one songwriting session, which was obviously an amazing experience. Since then, I won War Child’s Songs of War songwriting competition, was selected as one of the Liverpool International Music Festival’s Top 20 LIMF Academy artists, and been to some incredible professional songwriting camps and opportunities here and abroad. 

What would you say are your biggest challenges at this stage? 

Honestly, mental health is a big challenge for me. Intrusive, negative thoughts get in my own way a lot, but we are all works in progress, and I am definitely working every day on it. Also, this lockdown isn’t doing the music industry any favours. 

Do you ever feel pressured to conform to what everyone else is doing? 

Yes and no. I think there’s a lot of pressure to be, look, behave in certain ways, from yourself, loved ones, society. Everyone has an opinion on what you should or shouldn’t be doing and how you should be doing something. I try my best to ignore the noise, and it can be challenging at times, but I don’t let that get in the way of moving forward.

Name the five tracks that you are loving right now? 

Oooh, some recent releases I’m loving:

“Simmer” by Hayley Williams

“The Difference” by Flume,

Toro y Moi “Who’s Gonna Love You” by Emilie Nicolas

“Boss Bitch” by Doja Cat “

Did We Change” by From Indian Lakes

Do you have any music/ projects out right now that you would like to share? 

My first single “Closure” is still out on all streaming platforms, yay! So please check it out, would love to hear what people think! Plus, a song I co-wrote out called “Sugar Honey Spice” by Wilhelmina, who is an amazing Swedish pop artist based in Oslo, Norway, came out a month ago. Give her and the track some love!

What is the record about? 

“Closure” is about the end of the relationship with my first love. It’s about that time right as a relationship is ending where you’re in the middle of all of those intense emotions: lingering love, sadness, confusion, anger. All of which can be really difficult to verbalise so when you lose the words, you talk through your bodies instead, so to speak haha

During self- Isolation, what are the things that you will be doing that you haven’t had a chance to do? 

Honestly, I don’t know! I think there’s a lot of pressure to “make use” of this time, but it’s a crazy time of incredible stress, high emotions, and panic, which isn’t really creativity-friendly, and I think it’s ok to just breathe during this. Still, I’m going to keep working on collaborating, songwriting, and creating online. I have a podcast company I’m starting so working on all that too. Currently working season 2 of our series American Idiots Abroad, which will hopefully be out on all platforms sooner than later!

What was the best piece of advice you have ever received? 

People have told me this countless times, and it’s that self-belief is probably the most important thing we can learn in this life. Without it, nothing else really matters or works. 

What are your future plans? 

I’m getting ready to release a series of new singles throughout this year. Hopefully things go back to normal soon so I can actually perform again, but for now, creating and collaborating is the focus!

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