Diandra Reviews It All- Interviews Sofía Valdés: Figuring Things Out

Let me begin Hispanic Heritage month with an acknowledgement that I ADORE my people. Latinidad is so full in history, cultures, dreams, and hopes. To try and pinpoint us into one aspect of our “cultura” would be a disservice to its wealth and depth. Take for instance Sofía Valdés, a Panamanian songstress living in Liverpool, launching her music in the U.S., and following the footsteps of her Cuban family that has made a permanent stamp in music history with the track “Babalu.” (HELLO! I LOVE LUCY!) Her music sounds unlike anyone else, and to place it in a genre is not so easy. All you know, when you hear “Little Did I Know” is that this is GOOD and you want more. Yet, our interview, is about how the pandemic has ruptured Sofia’s ability to write more, but also inspired to write about new things.

Diandra: How are you?

Sofía: Yeah, I’m fine. The past 5 months have been rough, but I am doing better. I’m usually the type of person that can write two songs in a week, but, because of this, I haven’t written a song for the past 5 months, which is wild for me.

Sofía Valdés “Little Did I Know” [Official Music Video]

Diandra: Well, that must be hard because music is like therapy for you?

Sofía: Not to sound dramatic in any way, music makes me feel less alone without me wanting to be this way. I am very dependent on people. When people are around me, my mom, my sister, my boyfriend. I am like, “Let’s go out! Let’s talk. Let’s be together forever!” Usually, when I have music, I can be like, “Actually, I can do my thing for awhile.”

It hasn’t been working. It’s been a really rough time for everyone. I know the day I write a song, I am going to write like 6 songs. I am, probably, going to be obsessed. I am excited for that to happen because I feel like I have a lot to say about the past few months.

Diandra: What do you want to say about the past few months?

Sofía: I think, before, I was not comfortable talking about a lot of things. My dad has been in jail for awhile, and I never really sang about it and I think I am more okay with his story and to talk about him. My sister and my relationship with her, I feel like I left her growing up. We grew up in a good household, but I feel it wasn’t good enough for me to have left her there: if that makes sense? I always felt very guilty about that. And maybe other perspectives of relationships I never thought of?

I think I am always the victim in my songs, and I hate that. I think I am ready to change that. My songs are, usually, about relationships, but I think I am ready to talk about new things, as well. I, usually, write my songs by myself, but I think because, now, I have the tools, I think I could work with another writer and have her help me get out what I want to say. Though I do love writing by myself.

Diandra: Well, it seems like this is apart of your journey because “Little Did I Know” was about self- acceptance.

Sofía: For me, I was in a place where I was fine, finally. I could look back and say, “I’m really glad I am not with that person.” I was safe. I was really sad that a friendship ended with that person, but it was for the best.The name of the EP is, Ventura, and I think that, for me, not all of these songs were negative. One is called, “Lonely,” and that one is about being lonely. There are songs about being really really sad, but, looking back, I am kind of angry that certain situations made me so sad and miserable when, maybe, I could have been fine by myself. But, maybe, I wouldn’t have written those songs or got a record deal.

So the name of the EP is Ventura, which means good fortune and bringing good things. I think all these things make you grow and get you through the next thing. I am really happy about all these experiences I have had. They have really shaped me.

Diandra: You say you hate that you look like a victim, but what does a survivor look like to you?

Sofía: That’s a good question! I think, for me, a survivor is not being okay with what happened, but being honest with yourself and telling people, “This is how I felt.” I think I am a very sensitive person, and things might really affect me too much. I get really sad about things and I want to be okay to say it in the moment. In the moment, you might not be seen as the strongest person, but being able to share is the strongest thing.

Diandra: I think the most human thing you can do is say you are hurt.

Sofía: 100% For me, being able to say, “Ouch!” You know! (she laughs). Being able to be super honest is empowering. Usually, I am really scared to talk about people in my songs, but if something happened and it is really important, I should be able to talk about it.

Diandra: It is about healing.

Sofía: I do think when I write about something that it usually means I am healed. I can’t write something if I am in a bad place. I won’t be able to write unless I am in a place where I can look back at it. That is why, like with my dad and my sister, I am in that place. I got to spend like 5 months with my sister, and I don’t think I’ve been with her that long since I was 16. Usually, it is 4 weeks during Christmas.

For me, I am the type of person that I don’t really know what is happening until I am looking back. I can say, “Oh so that was how I was feeling!” If I write it in the moment it would be exaggerated. The one time I wrote a song about a person I was with, at the time, and they broke up with me. It was “Lonely” actually. I think I wrote that song about someone else, but he thought it was about him. There are a lot of things in that song. I am excited for you to hear it.

Diandra: Well, when I heard “Little Did I Know,” I was like, “I want to interview her.” Then, I read about your life, and you felt like an adult. You were so mature and independent. Do you feel like an “old soul” and that is why you write from and emotional distance?

Sofía I spend so much time like, looking at the floor and thinking for hours. So I don’t know if I feel older. I feel younger, actually. I feel like things are moving too fast. I tried for so long with my music and, now, things are happening. I always felt like everything overwhelms really easily. I think when I was younger, I felt older, but now that I am older, I feel younger. Like things happened to me, and I am like, I am too young for this, but I also think that comes from leaving my house way too early and having the pretend to be a “grown-up.” Now, that I am little bit older, I want to be a kid again and have someone take care of me. It is too late in that game now (she laughs).

Diandra: Anybody at any age deserves to be taken care of, and that is a theme in your music, “Take Care of My Heart!”

Sofía: Yeah! For sure! This is why I love my manager so much. The people around and my friends know how to talk to me and take care of me. It is not that I get offended easily. They just know who I am. I am very sensitive, but if someone is sensitive around me I get pissed. I get like, “Snap out of it!” or we both dig ourselves in a whole.

Diandra: I have to say you feel like a strong person. Do you think that the youthfulness you feel right now is because you are confronting your issues?

Sofía: I think so. Maybe? I was, actually, talking to my mom about this and I asked her, “Were you ready to have me when you were 29?” And she said, “No! I felt like a kid having a kid.” When you are put into situations when you have to figure it out, you think you are dumb, but everyone is trying to figure it out. When I was younger, I was super like, “I am ready to leave. I know what to do.” Now, I am like, “I don’t know anything.” I am ready to figure things out and I am glad I have good people to guide me.

Diandra: Do you think the pressure to be more comes from being apart a music lineage?

Sofía: My aunts wanted to be singers, and I know my grandmother wanted to be a singer and her husband was like, “No, you have to be a housewife.” My mom wanted to be singer, as well. I never felt a pressure like, “You have to do it.” But I felt a pressure like, “These people didn’t “make it” because something in their life happened.” For me, being successful in music is just being able to feed yourself with music and living through it, and, you know, have a house. With my family, they all had dreams that didn’t come true, and I wanted to do it for them to see it. Like my dad wanted to study music, and he ended up doing bank stuff.

Diandra: There is a real nostalgia element in your music.

Sofía: I love my country. I always feel like I left something behind. Everyone is always so far away. My family is so far away. That might be where the melancholy comes from.

Diandra: Do you have a favorite childhood memory with music?

Sofía: I do remember when I was like, 4 or 5, me and my friends were playing with little, stuffed animal dogs, and my friend started singing but, in my head, I was like, “I am a singer and I know it.” I was like, I am not going to sing, but I knew I could sing. I was so sure of it. Then, when I was 9, there was this Tinkerbell movie that came out, and Demi Lovato did the soundtrack and I locked the door and did karaoke to it. I remember being like, “Ahhhh, I can sing!” I love Brazilian music. I love Motown and “singe-songwritery” songs. Looking back, my mom would be playing Black Eyed Peas, and I would put my shirt over my head and try to do all the riffs with Fergie. I was super quiet in the back: singing to myself. I think the first time my mother heard me sing was when I was 11, and then when I was 13 I started posting covers on her Instagram.

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