Prague-born, New York-based singer-songwriter Sophie So does a lot of walking softly but carrying a big artistic stick on her debut single "Brave Thing." The track doesn't imply potential, but it churns with it. With that debut EP due out in April 2025, "Brave Thing" is a strong step forward for an artist who knows where she's headed, even if she's not scared to poke around in some dark corners for now.
"Brave Thing" is a love letter to being a risk-taker, for that is what Rozi Plain is in her lyrics and her sonic choices. You feel it right away, in the intimacy of that opening verse, when Sophie's vocals sound so close, you'd say she was whispering in your ear. It's not just her voice, which draws you in, but the way she uses her voice, full of nuance and emotion, as if daring herself not just to keep singing but to keep it together.
The production grows slowly, like a blossoming in slow motion, or a secret. Whispers of Björk and Lorde remain in the experimental DNA of the track, but make no mistake, Sophie So isn't mimicking anyone. She's building her universe, lacing shimmering textures over off-kilter rhythms that are at once alien and grounded in raw human emotion. What begins as a whisper swells into a triumphant sound. Harmonies swirl. There's a swelling of sonority that feels like courage in audible form. It's not kwul-traditionally loud, but it bangs a muffled revelation you didn't know you needed.
There is poetry, and I mean not just metaphorically: in Sophie's lyrics but also her arrangement, in the way tension and vulnerability turn into boldness and beauty. She nails the very Thing that the song's about, entering the unknown with shaky hands and a whole heart. Sophie So is new to these pages, and she won't be a stranger for long after this one.
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