Sofia D'Angelo: “Sometimes, the stupid idea is what you’re trying to make”

Sofia D’Angelo finds time for this interview the day before she leaves on tour with her band, MICHELLE, as the opening act for Still Woozy. I first discovered Sofia through Subway Takes, a talk show that interviews New Yorkers on the subway, asking them what their “take” is. In her video, Sofia stated that telling people “You can come if you want” should be “illegal”. She values honesty and vulnerability, and her music is no exception.

Over a video call in July (where both our Wi-Fi connections had a personal vendetta), she describes herself and her sound for those who don’t know her yet. “I would say I’m Sofia D’Angelo, a singer, songwriter and DJ born and raised in New York City. I would describe my sound as…”. She takes some time to craft her answer. “What I normally tell people is ‘Fiona Apple if she played guitar meets Fleetwood Mac, all with a love of dance music’.”

Before her singles “Take It Back” and “Jane Goodall” came out in April, it’d been five years since Sofia’s last solo project. I wonder why this felt like the right time. “I had just come out of a year of writing in L.A. for the first time. I’d been wanting to go out there for a while, just to have a change of pace,” she explains, as she’s only ever lived in New York.

She was excited to work with new people, too. “It felt like for the first time since college, or honestly since I had joined MICHELLE, the songs and how they were produced felt like who I was in that moment. And I was like, ‘This is who I am right now and I need people to know this. This is the version of Sofia I want people to get to know.” After all, she was a teenager in her previous projects, and then she was in her early twenties, which she accurately defines as “teenager-ish”. “This is me as a young adult, as a twenty-something. And I think this will be who I am until the next time I’m able to release music.” I believe anyone in their early twenties can agree that we need more music about that experience.

Though I’ve never been to New York, I feel like I have when I listen to “Jane Goodall”. I’m curious to hear about what inspired the title. “My therapist had mentioned Jane Goodall to me way before I even wrote the song,” she recalls. “If you watch videos of her and how she behaves with monkeys, she’s so patient. She just observes them and lets them come to her. That’s kind of how I felt in certain times at parties,” she unveils. “Rather than trying to force a night to happen, I would just sit back and watch it all unfold in front of me.”

Sofia’s still in touch with her advisor at NYU, a very important mentor to her. He agrees that you can really unpack the song and what it says about nightlife. “I think my dream is to have a student anywhere write an essay or do a project dissecting my work. I think that’s when I’ll know I’ve made it,” she tells me as she laughs.

“Take It Back” is a female rage anthem. We both raise a fist at the lines “I’m bound to bend, to break / I can’t make a mistake”. Sofia only has kind words for her producer Gabe Goodman, who she worked with on this track. “I just felt so safe, to let all these weird ideas fly that I had been too scared to listen to.”

She’d also been holding on to a lot of anger before writing the song. Eventually, she channelled those feelings we often feel the need to conceal as women. “Sometimes, the stupid idea, or the thing that you fear, is what you’re trying to make. My songwriting teacher was telling me ‘You can’t create and criticize at the same time’.”

While “Take It Back” was finished in two days, “Jane Goodall” was trickier. Sofia had found the perfect hook, yet she couldn’t figure out what to do with the rest. She came up with the idea of talking, which she’d never done before. “I’m not a rapper, I don’t talk!” she chuckles. Evidently, writing sessions do not always look the same. “Sometimes they’re fun sessions where you just end up hanging out, and maybe you don’t even make a song, but you make a new friend.” She also cherishes those where everyone acts as a vessel, helping her connect her ideas to the song. “I guess the ideal session is the one where I leave feeling amazing, with an amazing thing to share.”

I can’t help but ask about some of her unreleased tracks, “Reality” and “Lily”, which she plays at her live shows. The latter was a joint effort with her friends Emma Botti and Sabrina Song: “I had a huge Notes App of “lyrics” for this song I wanted to write about my ex-boyfriend’s friends, who I used to love hanging out with and can’t hang out with anymore.” Botti and Song helped her carve it away, and it has become one of her favourite songs to sing live. The experience she talks about is so specific that it almost makes it universal.

“Exaaactly, that’s what I’m saying! I feel like a lot of songwriters right now are leaning into that. I would say the Noah Kahan, Jensen McRae thing is all about the hyper specificity that’s somehow also universal.” In a jokingly academic tone, she adds “I guess you could argue it kick-started with Phoebe Bridgers. Maybe even Taylor Swift, you know? It’s just kind of ironic how that works. How the more specific you get, the more people you connect with.”

“Sometimes, the stupid idea, or the thing that you fear, is what you’re trying to make.”

“It’s kind of ironic how the more specific you get, the more people you connect with.”

Sofia started her own rock ‘n’ roll band at 14 (bear in mind, they performed around New York City, too!). She’s been doing this for over a decade, so naturally, creative blocks have knocked on her door. I want to know how she overcomes them. “I can’t believe you’re asking me this question right now, I’m so honoured. I’m actually just getting out of one,” she reveals, which had been following her around since the start of 2024. This time allowed her to figure out her style for her live shows, and how to bring the songs to life in performances. “I’m really lucky that I picked up DJ’ing,” she adds, “because sometimes I’ll forget how much I love music and it really rekindles my relationship with it, in a very life-affirming way. So that is super helpful in a creative rut.”

Most of all, she has learned to give herself some grace. “It’s a lot of learning to be nice to myself during it and understanding that even if I’m not actively creating, I am still a songwriter, I am still an artist. The frequency of how much I work does not determine my title.”

Putting herself out there at 14 led to meeting the members of her band MICHELLE (if you haven’t heard their latest single, “Oontz”, you need to). When asked about their upcoming album “Songs About You Specifically”, she replies: “I am really excited about this album, I’m really proud of the work that I did on it, and I’m really looking forward to the responses from fans and hopefully new fans.”

Finally, I ask her what music she’s been loving lately. “I’m really into Fcukers. I just discovered the song “Drugs In The Bathroom” by xJermsx. I play it in my DJ sets now.” She’s also been listening to Charli xcx’s “BRAT”, (“obviously”), Four Tet, and A Tribe Called Quest. “And then also my friend ROREY. She’s one of my best friends and an incredible songwriter, she has a gorgeous voice. I would listen to her music even if I wasn’t friends with her, you know what I mean? I feel like that’s enough, let me hang up,” she jokes, and I burst out laughing.

Sofia is falling back in love with music right now. “Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy it. I’m like ‘I just wanna listen to a podcast, I just wanna watch TV’,” which we both agree is valid. She has a self-proclaimed obsession with Kitchen Nightmares at the minute, and if that’s part of her process, we’ll take it.

Listen to Sofia D’Angelo here:

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Images: Nikole Naloy

Words: Adriana Agudetse

“Even if I’m not actively creating, I am still an artist.”