Dear Reader

To start off with, I wanted to write a quick post to explain who I am and why I decided to start the SofaMuse blog in the first place! It's currently almost 3am. Like most creatives (I've found), I'm kept up by ideas. So I guess this blog really began as a late night idea that I couldn't wait to turn into reality. 

My name is Sophie, and music has always been a part of my life. I was raised in a musical family, playing instruments and listening to my parents' favourite bands for as long as I can remember. However, it wasn't until I was about twelve and deep in the rabbithole of the Billie Eilish fandom of 2019 that I picked up a guitar for the first time. Teaching myself the four chords needed for 'ocean eyes' changed my life forever, and since then I've become Sophie Grace, an independent musician who released an EP in 2022 entitled 'a manifestation of teen angst' and is also part of Birmingham-based indie folk duo The Lavender Menace. 

The cover art for my EP, drawn by Jaz Shalom.

At my core, I'd say I'm a storyteller. I love to write, whether it's music, poetry or letters like this one to strangers on the Internet. That's probably part of what led me here to starting this blog. 

I'm creating a safe space for myself here, and as a result a safe space for anyone who shares a few core values:

• The idea that all belief systems and identities should be respected as long as they're not directly harming anything or anyone.
• The idea that all human beings are human and deserve equal rights and respect, and also that animals should be protected and respected. 
• The idea that freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom of consequence.
• The idea that art is subjective. Our opinions on it don't really matter, and just because I have a particular view on a piece of art doesn't mean you have to agree.

That said, welcome to the blog! My intent is for it to be a space where I speak from a listener and artist perspective about music and how I engage with it. Some ideas I have for content going forward include weekly track spotlights, discussions about music news and talking about the music industry and life as an independent artist in the UK. 

If there's anything you particularly want to see, or you just want to say hi then feel free to leave a comment on this post!

Thank you, 

Sophie