SOMA Reflects On New Single ‘Say It’
Bold, slick and laden with modern hip hop hues, Sydney-based artist SOMA has unveiled her new single Say It, conjured alongside the legendary Danny Duke (Lizzo, Sampa the Great), and also accompanied by a cosmic music video ahead of the release of her debut mix tape COBRA, out now.
A sultry slice of alternative hip hop merged with futuristic soul, Say It collides SOMA’s seamless artistry alongside nods to the fearless storytelling and creativity of SZA, FKA twigs, and Outkast. Also expanding her experimental approach to music via inspiration courtesy of Björk and Missy Elliott, Soma ultimately captures edgy celestial vibes with her own unique twist in her latest masterpiece.
It sounds like it’s all happening for yourself at the moment?
Yes, it is. It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind, but it’s all very positive and exciting stuff that’s happening.
Can you believe how much work goes into just one song alone?
I know it’s crazy. One song alone, I think it’s not as easy as it used to be of just being like, oh cool, you’ve got a good voice and your talented, just put a little song out, there you go. So much work goes into it.
What’s the story behind the single?
Well, um, so it’s, it’s more of a fun one, I think. I was working with Danny Daniel Duke in the studio and we created the entire mix tape in three days. “Say It: is the second single off the mix tape and is a bit more of a light hearted fun song. A lot of the mix tape is quite deep, personal and emotional about some ups and downs in my life. But “Say It” is just a fun song about a fallen alien who’s fallen to Earth and fallen in love with a human.
The idea of a mix tape is really cool and takes me back to when we used to swap cassettes and things like that with friends. Was the idea of doing a mix tape to not necessarily stick to one style of music?
Definitely, for sure. Not only just to have a body of work finally, but I do kind of sway between genres often. I listen to such an eclectic style of music, so it was nice to put that out as a mix tape exactly as you said it. It gives me the option of putting in samples, different sounds and different styles and it still all seems to be flowing together nicely. My voice keeps it together, I guess. It’s a bit of a change up a mix tape. I haven’t heard of one for a little while.
Does anything in particular influence your style of music?
I listen to so many different styles of music, and of course it’s all going influence you in some way or another, isn’t it? Our brain is such a delicate little thing. I have been making what I like to make. I’m constantly writing down ideas throughout the day of sounds that I hear or lyrics that come to mind, little rhymes and things, but it’s very different each time I create. There’s a different formula each time, depending on the day.
Who are some of your musical superheroes that you look to for inspiration?
It’s a difficult question. I need to get better at this one because I grew up with the greats of the greats like The Doors to Radiohead, to Michael Jackson, to Aretha Franklin, then the more modern kind of style music that I’ve been listening such as nineties hip hop. It’s a huge list honestly and each day is a different mood of what music I listen to.
How would you describe your music?
I think that it’s alternative hip hop, electronic, future soul. A bit of house there, a mixture of all those I think and with some crossing over sometimes.
How cool is it to have a long form film to go with the release as well? What was the background behind that?
I just wanted to have a visual story to tell with the music, the director Frederick McHenry, he’s another incredible creative, somehow manifested in my life. We’ve worked together in the past and we’ve made some music videos in the past as well. So yeah, we’ve wanted to work together again for a long time. He was super down to do this project with me, it was a big job. I had to fly out to Melbourne to do it. I very much commend him and the whole team because it was like twelve different videos in three days in Melbourne. That was pretty crazy, but we got it done and yeah, it’s really beautiful and I can’t wait to share it with the world.
Interview By Rob Lyon
SOMA’s COBRA mixtape and accompanying long-form film is out now via Mandatory Music.
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