We recently connected with Sophia Tan and have shared our conversation below.
Sophia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
To this day, my most meaningful project probably has to be my music blog, Some Thoughts On Sounds, which I made in college as a way to express my excitement about music. Since I was a teenager, I’ve always had an infatuation with music that seemed a little bit above the norm. In middle school, I would frantically obsess about pop punk bands like The Ready Set and Sleeping With Sirens, and in high school, my older brother introduced me to indie rock bands like Arctic Monkeys and Vampire Weekend, and it was then that I consciously started embarking on the lifelong journey to listen to as much music as I possibly could. From that point, I became addicted to discovering more underground, alternative artists, buying their music, going to concerts, and posting nonstop about them on social media. At one point, I knew I had to channel all this energy into a platform.
To be honest, I got most of my inspiration from music reviewers on YouTube. Specifically, channels like theneedledrop, deepcuts, ShawnCee, thesoundbinge, and Middle8 lit a fire in me—it was so cool to see how invested other people were in listening to and talking about music in a really thoughtful and analytical way. Since I’d already had a love for writing (I was an English major in undergrad), I figured I could start a blog for music reviews. After about a year of doing that, I ventured into creating YouTube videos discussing the same themes. While some of my older videos are so amateurish that they’re hard to watch, I still feel incredibly proud for putting myself out there and teaching myself a bunch of skills like video editing, script-writing, and just how to talk comfortably in front of a camera.
My latest addition to this, I guess, cinematic universe of me talking about music, has to be a three-part series I posted on TikTok of me covering my favorite albums of 2023. This was my first dip into short-form content, and was mostly inspired by my boyfriend who makes basketball commentary videos on the app. I definitely want to do more of these kinds of videos, though perhaps at a time when school and job searching aren’t so all-consuming. In general, it just makes me really happy to know that I’ve continued to create music content based off of my little blog I started years ago, and it’ll never not be satisfying to see my passion for music embodied in a tangible way that sparks community. I’m definitely going to try to keep it going.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Sophia, and I’m a fervent artist, music commentator, and newly recruited book nerd. I put “artist” first because two of my most defining passions are writing and drawing, both unique forms of art in themselves. When it comes to writing, I like to craft short stories, poems, or pieces of cultural criticism (I’ve been a music superfan since middle school). Drawing-wise, I’m a pencil and paper girl at heart, but I also took up painting during the COVID lockdown. Over the past several years, I’ve created a multitude of original and reimagined artworks across various mediums. I also have a music blog and YouTube channel dedicated to reviewing music, and I’ve proudly profiled a handful of creatives for an art-focused magazine. My latest obsession is books, and I recently began a master’s program in publishing, as well as started drafting my own novel.
I think what sets me apart from others are my meticulous attention to detail and overall commitment to excellence. In all of my visual projects, I have a clear tendency towards going ham on the details, and in my writing, I believe I shine most through long-form, descriptive, prose-y works. For some reason, I’m a huge proponent of meaningful artworks taking a “long time” to produce. This might be because I am a perfectionist (which is both good and bad), and so I’m used to embarking on a lengthy journey to produce something I’m proud of. As a result, you can guarantee that when I put something out into the world, it was done with as much time and intention as I could pour into it. Settling for an output that’s rushed or mediocre just doesn’t cut it for me.
Some of the things I’m most proud of creating so far are definitely my music reviews, for one thing—I mean, when I think about it, I was grinding out blog posts throughout college on top of my classes and working part-time jobs, all out of pure passion. The skills and discipline I taught myself through doing this definitely contributed to my future accomplishments. Other things I’m most proud of are my “To Pimp A Butterfly” album cover drawing, which probably took nearly 100 hours to complete, and my handful of album cover paintings I’ve done as various commissions for people in my life. It’s a huge treat to be able to combine my love for music and art and make things for others who share those same feelings.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
In a culture where working oneself to the bone in a soul-crushing job is deemed as praiseworthy, the act of doing things you love is a sanctuary and a blessing. I feel like with age, our worth is increasingly defined by our ability to adapt to a respectable, common-denominator life. In a lot of traditional jobs, putting on a mask to conform to a certain image can be necessary. But at the end of the day, what is most fulfilling about being human is embracing the parts of ourselves that are not so “normal”. Humans are messy, emotional, illogical, and unpredictable, and having outlets to reflect, dissect, and express those visceral thoughts and feelings is non-negotiable for a full life, in my opinion.
Another main reason I’ll always have art be a huge part of my life is because I’ve developed some of the deepest connections to others through art. Whether that be bonding with someone over a favorite musician or feeling seen by another writer’s string of words, there’s nothing more comforting than knowing someone has had the same feelings as you and that you’re not alone in your experiences. When someone puts their art into the world, they’re basically sharing part of their soul, the most vulnerable version of themselves. Having others connect with that offering on a deep level is probably the most life-affirming thing I can think of.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Funnily enough, I just went through a major pivot recently. After working in magazine writing for a little while, I decided to make the leap from that into book publishing. It’s a different direction than I would have envisioned myself pursuing a couple of years ago, but now that I’m here, it feels like there’s no other way it could’ve gone. As much as I respect the journalism grind, I’ve begun to realize that my heart lies in books. Something about the medium—its physicality, its thorough production process, the fact that it takes an entire team to build each product—just really resonates with me, and since having started my publishing program and being surrounded by others who share the same sentiments, I feel like I’m right where I belong.
That’s not to say that I think I’ll give up on journalism completely—I still constantly have my ear to the ground when it comes to pop culture and especially music, so I’m dabbling with the idea of freelancing or creating more music commentary content for social media. My schedule has made it hard to bring these things to fruition recently, but in my heart (as scary as it is) I know I want to put myself out there again while I still have the life in me.
At the end of the day, I’ll always see myself involved with art in some way. Whether it be creating my own art in terms of painting, journalism, content creation, or novel-writing, or devoting my time to promoting the work of masterful artists in the publishing field, I always want to be making and uplifting art as much as I possibly can. It’s what feels natural to me and what I feel like I’m meant to do, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://somethoughtsonsounds.home.blog/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sighphia.art/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-tan-5639a8211/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIREmN15ye-yq3I4Fi_7NJQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sighphiaa https://www.clippings.me/wordsbysophiatan
Image Credits
Personal Photo image credit: Zach Carrico