Sophie Kilburn is done holding back. Her opinions matter and she is not keeping them to herself any longer. We spoke to Sophie the day after she’d played a gig in Wales about being an artist, focusing on her live shows and her upcoming third EP, ‘Don’t Make Me Angry’.
“I love feel-good pop, but sometimes actually talking about emotional stuff or important stuff like empowering and getting people heard, I think there should be room for that and hopefully my songs go in that. I’ll give Phoebe Bridgers a call.” She laughs at the last bit, at the thought of working with one of her idols. “They keep talking about the club. I don’t want to go to the club anymore. I am a pub person. I dance like an aunty at a wedding. It’s not a good sight… I just want to wear trainers. I want to be able to hear people. No, I don’t want to be ‘in the club’. I want to talk about a break-up or mental health…”
During our interview, Kilburn realises that her songs are all linked to the feeling of being in control. “Maybe I am a control freak,” she exclaims, but it is only a joke. Wanting to be heard is another continuing theme which Kilburn has brought with her from her debut EP, ‘My Room Made Public’.
Kilburn’s current single, ‘Body on the Inside’ is also the opening track to her upcoming EP and deals with difficult – almost taboo – topics such as how exposure to adult content has desensitized an entire generation of men which then influences them in terms of being intimate with their partners. She says: “’Body On The Inside’ is about taking your body back. My sister sent me this article about the young generation and the impact of pornography and media influence and how conditioned it was and it’s actually stopping generations not being physically intimate with people as much.”
The article was something Kilburn felt she could relate to, especially the more she thought back to previous relationships, and it inspired the single and also the thought-provoking music video (which she co-directed). She likens the idea to a scene in Sex & the City where Miranda tells her partner to “get it over with” and her gal pals can’t believe she said that. She also discussed the sentiment with her own friends and they agreed with her. “And then I wrote a song about it,” she says, nonchalantly. ”But it was about trying to flip it and empower myself.” She describes ‘Body on the Inside’ as an “empowering anthem”.
The next single is called ‘Still In The City’. “Each of these four songs that make up the EP… they’re all about taking something back. So [‘Body on the Inside’] is about taking your body back. This one is about taking memories back.” Kilburn describes the all too familiar scenario of introducing someone to a place you love, only to end up falling out with that someone and then feeling like a special place is “ruined”. We’ve all been there. However, ‘Still In The City’ looks at it from the point of view of “reclaiming” those memories of the places you love.
On March 13th, Kilburn is supporting Megan Wyn at a show at Notting Hill Arts Club, London, where they are encouraging people to come out and discover new music. Kilburn says: “I’m really itchy-feeeting to go on the road and bring my band with me… It’s really exciting. It’s an all-female lineup and it’s indie rock sort of vibes. I’ll be with my band and we’ll be playing a few tracks from the EP as well, including ‘Body on the Inside’, also another one called ‘Hot Minute’. It’s the first time we’re playing that live. I am really looking forward to playing something brand brand new. It’s really exciting. Tickets are only £3. It’s really trying to encourage people to get up off their sofas and discover new music in the live setting. Come, come, come, come, come. Come, come. Come, come.”
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Words: Narzra Ahmed
