“Feel buried alive, this city is airtight…” With hindsight it's easy to see how intensely those opening words of Sophie & The Giants’ breakout hit Hypnotized would resonate in the claustrophobia and confusion of 2020.
Initially appearing to little fanfare in April 2020, the single reached triple platinum status in Italy, platinum in Poland & gold across a further 7 countries in Europe. It has been streamed a staggering 200 million times, the video viewed 65 million times on YouTube, and it hit 2 in the European Airplay Charts.
As Christmas approached and Covid chaos intensified, Sophie wrote Right Now, a song that defines the optimism of 2021. It’s a powerful, urgent and defiant anthem for anyone desperate to break out of their box.
Drawing on collective influences ranging from Blondie, PJ Harvey and Alanis to Caroline Polachek, Siouxsie and Radiohead, the Sheffield-based four-piece formed at music college in the spring of 2017 with Sophie (vocals and guitar), Chris Hill (drums), Toby Holmes (guitar) and Antonia Pooles (bass).
Whether it’s the Adolescence EP, Hypnotized or Right, the band’s releases are all unmistakably chapters of the same story. There’s a line in the band’s earlier song Monsters — “the future beckons you” — that brilliantly sums up the band’s ideology. Purpose and possibility lie at the heart of Sophie & The Giants’ music, and while the last year has shown us all the risks of making plans, there’s no doubt this band’s future is looking bright.
