Almost a year ago, Tatler interviewed the winners of Lakeside’s inaugural Battle of the Bands, Sophie and the Wicks. Since then, the band has expanded its lineup, with current members Amber P. ’27, Aziel L.-V. ’27, Kameirah J. ’26, Owen S. ’27, Christina L. ’26, and Maia F. ’27. Amid busy schedules, the group returned to Battle of the Bands this year, securing their second win in a row. Sophie also continues to develop her own songwriting career on Spotify (under the name “Sophie Emerson”), where her new single,
“Growing Pains”, was released on April 23 to accompany her first single, “Puzzle Pieces”. In this Q&A, Sophie reflects on the past year of performing and songwriting, all while balancing her musical pursuits with the demands of junior year.

You mentioned that you created a Spotify profile, where you’ve released one song, “Puzzle Pieces”. Before we get into your new song, I was wondering if you could give us some background behind the meaning of Puzzle Pieces or the songwriting process behind it.

I don’t think I’ll delve as much into the meaning; I think my songs are written from a deeper place, but when I write them, I’m not thinking about specific experiences usually. So, most things I write are not exactly true to my experiences. It’s kind of just what comes out. But I think most things I write are from deeper feelings. As far as the writing process goes, most songs I write only take me a couple days because I only really continue with a song if it clicks from the beginning and if it’s something I think is worth pursuing. I have a lot of ideas, and I write a lot of parts of songs, but for me, generally, I know that it will connect with me most if it was something that flowed from the beginning. Production is the harder part and takes more of my time. I think I only end up writing songs I really like over periods like breaks where I have a day where I write the song, and the next day just spend the whole day finishing and tweaking it. I can be most in that creative state when I have no other stress to worry about.

It depends on how much free time you have and how much of that time you can devote to songs you’re working on or band practice. How has that balance been as we near the end of Junior year?

I really wish I had more time to write and sing. So much of my time is consumed by extracurriculars, and I am glad for that because most of what I do are creative things, like doing the musical, where I get to sing. But it’s definitely different from having the time to write on my own, and so I’m really excited for the summer because I think I’ll spend a lot of time trying to further my career — I don’t really want to call it that because I make, like, nothing — but what could turn into a career. Right now is honestly the first time in high school where I don’t have a big extracurricular. I’m doing Circus!, but I’m not directing like I did last year, so I do feel like I have more time, except for the fact that it’s junior year so there’s a lot of other things on my plate. But I really do want to try to write a lot more over the summer because I feel like it’s one of the last times where I’ll have that free time before I actually go into a career, probably like computer science. What I’ll do in college is likely not music, so I need to be doing that on my own time.

By the time this interview is published, I think your new single, “Growing Pains”, will already be released (I’ve heard it’s releasing April 23). Now that you have a second song coming out, is there anything that you would like to share about it, like an inspiration or something you’re really excited for people to hear once it’s out?

I do think it’s a lot better than my last song, and I have definitely gotten a lot better at using things like GarageBand, which sounds like really bad software, but honestly, you can make things a lot better once you get more accustomed to using GarageBand. I’m a lot prouder of this song than my last — not to say that I’m not proud of my last, but I think my new song is getting closer to the sound I want to have. It’s more the kind of song that represents me, where I’m not inhibited by not having the skills to make the song the way I want. 

How would you describe the sound that you want to create with your music?

There’s so many different artists that I would love to be like. I wish I could experiment with every genre. On one hand, I would love to make Stevie Wonder and Amy Winehouse, but on another, I really connect with a lot of ’70s soft rock or folk like Joni Mitchell. I think there’s so many possibilities for what I’d love to do, and that would come with having a band to write music with me, since, right now, I feel pretty limited with just a guitar and my voice. Big Thief is my favorite band, and my biggest inspiration is Adrianne Lenker, who I actually have a songwriting course from that I got as a Christmas gift. The most important thing to me is having music that connects with other people in the same way that I feel connected with so much other music. I want to make music I am proud of and would want to listen to myself.

I’m sure there are many other people at school who want to get started with performing or making their own music. If you were talking with someone who was interested in getting into this field, what advice would you have for them?

As far as putting out music, I think it’s good to just go for it or maybe start on something like SoundCloud so it doesn’t feel as scary. It’s so easy to upload music on SoundCloud, while it’s harder on Spotify. I think the first step is just having things out there. For example, I have a TikTok account where I do covers and try to promote my music, so any form of advertising you do will definitely help. As far as songwriting goes, just practice, practice, practice. The only way I’ve gotten better is by doing it more and more. Also, when you’re stuck, looking up different techniques and prompts or starting with a story instead can help. For the junior-year English project where we have to create an art piece for Their Eyes Were Watching God, I wrote a song for that, and it honestly felt pretty easy because there was already a story behind it. So for that reason, doing free-writes where you can get a lot of thoughts out and extract ideas is really helpful. And, for sure, try new things. I only started guitar a year and a half ago, and here I am now, so that was probably one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Be excited for Battle of the Bands because it will be great.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.