Sophie Simmons: On joining the family business while following her own musical path

PHOTOS: Heather Koepp

STYLING: Madeleine Zöller

GROOMING: Keon Cruz

WORDS: Jessy Morgan

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Jasmine Perrier

With a flurry of experience within multiple industries, young musician Sophie Simmons has recently surged into stardom with her first single, Black Mirror. The intensity driven track features a concoction of heavy bass complimenting a fluid drum beat and harmonics pulled together creating an infectious listen, with fluctuating vocals stimulating brain receptors with a sense of intensity. “The concept came from my own personal experience,” Sophie says. “It’s a mix of a love story and self-reflection. I wanted to explore the relationship we have with technology instead of each other.”

I avoided being part of the family business for a long time

With chill vibes, Black Mirror is definitely a rising favorite, reaching as high as 500.000 streams on applications such as YouTube and Spotify since its release. “I don’t feel like I chose my sound, I feel that it’s what naturally comes out of me when I write music,” Sophie comments. “I don’t think I have one set writing process. Sometimes the melody comes first, sometimes the lyrics, and sometimes they come together. I think my favorite way to write songs is to sit in my car, sing into the silence and record it on my phone and then listen back to all the ideas that came out when I wasn’t really thinking about it.

There’ s nothing that can substitute for hard work and time spend on a project

Prior to her musical breakout, Sophie’s grasp on the industry was firm and knowledgeable. “I’ve seen a lot of different sides of the music industry and I think that’s benefited me. I feel as though maybe I’m more prepared for the rejection that comes with being an artist, and that’s something a lot of unknowing new artists are not prepared for,” she starts. “99% of what we create no one gets to see but then there’s that 1% that finally makes it through and it makes us want to go through the whole process all over again.”