Singer Anna Sofia Thinks Perfect’s Overrated

Rowdy Magazine joined Anna Sofia in a virtual press conference to discuss her second EP titled Broken Perfection, ‘70s nostalgia and embracing imperfections

(Courtesy image from Republic Records)

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The exhilarating and transformative feeling of dying your hair is one that indie/pop singer Anna Sofia knows well. When she hasn't been songwriting, painting or reading musician's biographies, she's dyed her hair a total of nine times during quarantine.

From pastel blues to bubblegum pink — you name it, she's dyed it. Changing the color of her locks is becoming a pattern for the artist. So much so that in her Happy For You music video, she wears different colored wigs to reflect different personalities while the song plays its easy-going retro beats. 

The wigs may sound like all fun and games, until she burns her wig in rejection of the idea of changing yourself for someone else (which arguably could still qualify as fun). 

“I liked this guy that didn’t like me back,” she said in a press conference with Rowdy Magazine. “These different hair looks kind of represent the times that I’ve changed for this person. I've always tried to do things for them to like me.” 

The meaning behind Happy For You is is just one example of relatability in Broken Perfection — Sofia’s six-song EP that intertwines pop, indie and R&B melodies with candid emotions and teenage wit. Although she longs to live during a time where Elton John and Full House are mainstream, her vulnerable lyrics reflect her experiences navigating high school romances and personal insecurities today. 

Fortunately for her, they seem to be catching on. In the past year alone, she's been signed by Republic Records and Electric Bill Entertainment. A big part of her success can be accredited to the fact that unlike a lot of other artists she’s listened to, she said she doesn’t stray away from adolescent themes — she embraces them. 

In her soft piano ballad Either Way, she sings intimate lyrics like “Internal war / Fighting for more,” in lingering whispers. Meanwhile, in Chill, she sings about laying in bed all day to steady techno beats — a quarantine mood.

“For people like myself in high school, I want to give them a chance to relate to someone and be like, ‘Yeah, man, like that happened to me last week,’” she said. For the people out of high school, she said, she wants to give them an opportunity to reminisce on some of the more formative years in their lives. 

But at the end of the day, the main message Sofia wants to portray is that the golden pedestal of perfection isn’t real. Like fellow iconic singer Hannah Montana, she said, “Nobody’s perfect.” 

It’s a message that’s especially important to Sofia in the age of social media where bodies are Photoshopped and faces are Facetuned, and with body image issues herself. It’s also part of why she feels like she doesn’t belong in this generation. 

“Everything has some sort of flaw to it,” she said. “And that’s where I kind of came up with the idea of Broken Perfection.”

Despite Sofia's young age, it's undeniable that her career will extend for the years to come. When so many artists play up a stage persona, her authenticity is refreshing. And I for one, cannot wait to hear what she'll have for me to listen to next.

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Lauren Rousseau is the Online Editor at Rowdy Magazine. She loves watching drug-store versions of The Bachelor and baking cookies at inappropriate hours. You can find her on Instagram at @laurenxrousseau and email her pitches at rowdymagazine.submissions@gmail.com