Photos by Andrew Maclean ; Written by Andrew Maclean

Sophie Powers is an artist who grew up in Toronto and moved to LA and kicked off her career as a singer song writer. With big influences from grunge artists like Nirvana, and the pop influences of Lady Gaga and Kesha, Sophie Powers created a genre of music that is uniquely her own. A star on the rise, I was lucky enough to sit down and speak with her before the final show of her tour in Toronto. 

Are there any other artists that you are inspired by or look up to? 

I’m definitely inspired by my Canadian queen, Avril Lavigne. Kurt Cobain from Nirvana. Yeah. As well as, you know, Debbie Harris. There are some cultural icons who I look up to like Brigitte Bardot. Just their charisma has really inspired my like on stage presence and persona. I think the Descendants and the Prodigy as well.

“Glitch Level 1” has been out for over a month, what feelings are you having now that the body of work has been out now? What have you taken in from how fans have processed it? Have you had more ideas pop up related to Glitch?

It’s funny you say that because there will be a Glitch Level Two. I’m taking into account all of the feedback from “Glitch Level One”. So that on “Level Two”, I know more what people like. It’s been kind of like a guinea pig for Level Two where I’m like, okay, these are the songs I know everyone is going to like, and I’m so happy with all of the love that “Glitch Level One” has received.

What process do you have for creating music? Do you put time aside to go into a writing mode, or do you write down notes as inspiration comes to you? 

It’s funny, I have a note folder on my phone of writing topics and things I want to write about and I don’t think I’ve used it for a single one of my songs. All of my songs happen in the studio on the fly. Just spur of the moment kind of thing. I freestyle the words and, you know, I work with one main producer, Mike Gonick, and another writer, Cam Hunter. And it’s normally just the three of us. I freestyle melodies and Cam helps me fill it in with lyrics. He’s a rapper, and a lyricist. He’s in a group called Down With Webster. You might have heard of them. It’s just the three of us. Mike Gonick was a DJ, so he gets electronic music, which I also love, but he also is from the nineties, but yeah, just the three of us will go in. I’ll freestyle. But it’s not this strenuous, extremely thought-out process. 

Growing up in Toronto, then moving to LA, how would you say that has influenced yourself as a musician? 

Well, Toronto is a very culturally diverse city. I think obviously there’s culture shock wherever you move, especially in a different country. LA is diverse too, don’t get me wrong, but, growing up here really gave me a good understanding of different cultural movements. In LA, like it’s, you hear pop radio, but then you got to drive all the way down to like Koreatown if you want to hear K-pop, not just, you know, what they’re playing in Beverly Hills. In Toronto, I think one block you could be in Koreatown, the next block you’re in the equivalent of Beverly Hills, Yorkville, the next block you’re in like the beaches where they got reggae and like folk, like, it’s just, it’s a lot more condensed. So it’s a lot more music closer and that really opened my ears to  so many possibilities.

Would you say the ability to create, and grow is different in once city than the other? 

Toronto has such a separation from that heart that the ability to be creative in a session and work with other, you know, professionals from all across Canada who haven’t been run through this certain LA system often delivers really interesting and unique results that I don’t get with a lot of LA artists who are writing for the same writing camps and the same labels and the same teams continuously.

This is the final night of the tour, isn’t it? what are you feeling? Are you excited? 

I’m not nervous at all. Actually, I don’t think I get nervous before shows anymore. I was a theater kid growing up. I did like, like some Broadway stuff when I was younger. I would be more nervous right now if I was walking into a room of five people, but because it’s sold out, I am ready to go. I’m so excited. It’s like a hype kind of thing. It almost motivates me.

What was the most memorable part of creating this tour? 

I had a lot of fun on this tour. With the choreography, I spent two months just rehearsing choreography. I had backup dancers for two of the shows. Developing the set list and creating the set design, the stage myself and I designed most of the outfits for these shows. That’s awesome. I’m very particular about the visual, so seeing that all come to life has been so rewarding.  I’m so grateful for everyone, even people like you.

Are there any rituals you have that you do before going out on stage? 

I have to do my vocal warmups. And then, we do like a team, one, two, three. I also listen to “Poker Face” every night before I go on stage.

So far within your music career, what is your most memorable moment? A time that you will always cherish forever. 

Either tonight or my sold out LA show that I did a few days ago and the after party that I had, I never thought I would have a team or fans or people like that, who would support me. It makes me emotional to think about that. I think tonight’s going to be memorable as well. Cause my family’s here and I’m from here, but that (LA) sold out show.

And finally, if you could choose 3 artists to collaborate with right now, who would they be and why? 

Well, I would say Melanie Martinez, or Bring Me The Horizon. And I would say, yeah, Kesha or Lady Gaga.

Sophie Powers continued onto her show in Toronto at the Drake Underground later that night with support from Novul and Zoe Koe who delivered intense performances hyping up the crowd for Sophie Powers main set. 

Sophie Powers displayed an array of energy and interactions with her video game/ arcade themed performance, bringing a fan up to “serenade” as she performed her hyper-pop cover of Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams”, as well not to mention her electrifying style during songs from Glitch Level 1, such as “Obsessed”, “Better on Mute” and “Blueprint”. Sophie Powers is a force not to underestimate, and is an artist I respectfully believe should be on everyone’s radar, as this is just her beginning and I imagine bigger things are about to happen for her on the near horizon.