San Jose native Sophie Holohan lets all her thoughts go when creating music. The indie-pop singer-songwriter focuses on crafting lyrics and works of art that translate to an audience of overthinkers looking for what’s next.
Growing up in Silicon Valley, Holohan was faced with many factors, such as academic pressure and a normal structured future. When applying for colleges, she decided to focus on institutions that would propel her music career instead of pursuing a similar path to her peers. With that step out into a new path, Sophie felt these demands stating, “I felt this pressure definitely to succeed because I had grown up with the idea that success was the most important thing. So if I was going to do a less traditional path, I definitely had to be successful at it.”
Attending Berklee, she fell in love with Boston and decided, despite it being her second school behind USC, she would start the songwriting program there. Holohan recounts her experience stating, “It felt like the whole world was opening up. It was the beauty of traveling so far is that it was a very different perspective…When I think of Boston. I think of my first taste of real freedom in my life, and I really think of that time really fondly.”
Attending for four months, she would go back to California during COVID and find success creating music at home. Moving from her family home to LA to pursue music, she took the leap and signed small record deal and decided not to go back to Berklee for her second year: “I moved to LA in October of 2021. And it was a great decision. It was definitely scary for the first little bit. I had doubts all summer, should I go back or not.”
Sophie was able to see the positives of LA with the wide stretch of touring opportunities, cool communities of artists, and accessibility to collaboration. “Everyone is a creative. That is a beautiful thing yet a difficult thing because you go from being the special musical one in your town to being in a town where everyone does it. That is a hard adjustment. You can also look at it as everyone is focusing on pursuing their purpose, and that is such a beautiful thing.” With the accessibility of touring, Sophie has toured with acts such as Trousdale, Giant Rooks, and Tiny Habits while looking forward to going on the road with her good friend Catie Turner for her 2023 summer tour.
Looking ahead, Sophie Holohan has released songs garnering attention, starting off with her singles, “Codependent” and “butterfly effect – demo” which started her success. Continuing to last summer with the release of her song “Cognitive Dissonance”, the leading single off her EP The Space Between.
The Space Between EP was released in the fall of 2022, marking Sophie’s debut project. Over the course of June to November 2021, Sophie created the EP from her repertoire of songs, realizing the following year the correlation between them all. “I didn’t know I had an EP until it was done. I wrote all the songs and was like oh this is the EP. I write a lot it’s something that I do for fun and also as an emotional outlet. It is kind of like a thought thing and also an emotional thing so I do it a lot.”
The EP was created as Sophie drove home from LA to the Bay Area with her sister. Suddenly, she realized the connection between her demos while sitting in the car. “I wanted a concept. I really love a body of work that has a through-line. Then when I was listening to fault-line, I was like oh my gosh the Space Between. This makes so much sense. I realized all the songs I had been working on were spaces in between something in another thing…
Cognitive Dissonance is the space between action and inaction. Megan’s Song is the space between friendship and love. High Road is the space between pettiness and moving. They all had little things like that so I wanted to take the listener on a journey on that mental experience. Cognitive Dissonance was like I have no idea what’s going on. Real Person is like I am an adult. Then, Megan’s Song is like woah I have relationships. High Road is like sometimes I hate people. Olive Branch is like I have no idea what is going on, am I supposed to forgive people, am I supposed to move on? Who knows. Then I see Fault Line as the closing end credits, it is the theme song of the EP summarizing it all up.”
Overall, Sophie looks to grow and develop her songwriting ability to reflect deep and emotional stories in her life. Each song represents something that she went through or is currently going through, hoping to bridge a path between her overthinking to her listener’s experiences.
This interview truly was one of my favorite interviews to do. Sophie’s overall sunshine personality with such a personal and thought-out explanation to every question made it a sincere and wonderful conversation. With her sunshine smile and personal lyrics, she truly creates relatable music that will continue to transcend the music world. I look forward to seeing her on tour this summer and hope you will do the same.
I was able to catch up with Sophie before her last tour to discuss life, hobbies, new music, and future plans. Listen to the full podcast interview here:
Sophie Holohan Caffeinated Corner Interview
Make sure to watch out for her upcoming music and listen to her current projects below:
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