Joining me over Zoom, rising country artist Sophia Scott lets me bend her ear to talk the genesis of her signature sound and embracing vulnerability on her new single, “Tumbleweed”.
Open and honest, Scott describes her upcoming music as a tale of homecoming, connecting back to her roots of stripped back tunes. To the elation of her earlier fans, first drawn to Scott for her acoustic covers on YouTube and to the excitement of newer ones, she isn’t shaking completely from her rock roots anytime soon.
Indicative of the musician she’s become, Scott’s taste was anything but one-dimensional growing up. From The Rolling Stones to R&B, from Led Zeppelin to the likes of Shania, to finding a home for folk in Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. Darting from genre-to-genre, Scott learnt the ropes and set her own path.
Her upcoming project will see her lend the mic to the musician born of this “melting pot” of influences. “Tumbleweed” is a clear standout, holding its own as a much more stripped-back, reflective song among her discography. Scott shares how her mission for this release, accompanied by her new producer, was to “let the lyrics perform on their own”.
“Sonically I just think that it’s such a vulnerable song… I didn’t feel like it should lend itself to a very big production. I wanted it to be more intimate sounding,” she explains.
Here, she’s facing fears reminiscent of the girl described in her most recent single, “Buy A Round”; a version of herself described as ‘Dancin’ on a table/reputation ‘bout to go south’. Scott’s upcoming single acts as a “foreshadow into the future”, an acceptance of “being a girl that’s sort of hard to tie down,” not yet “finding the right person that can handle [her]”. Finding that version of her in someone else, another “rolling stone” who can match her energy.
On “Tumbleweed” Scott contemplates this future her. It showcases a vulnerable Scott, one emanating an “if it’s meant to be, then it will be” attitude.
To the glee of Scott’s OG fans, this streak will continue into her upcoming project. Scott describes “a pretty good balance” between her signature, heavier production booming throughout releases such as her 2023 Barstool Confessions, and the quieter moments of “Tumbleweed”.
Additionally, this year Scott’s path to stardom has been littered with a laundry list of accomplishments: she was named Pandora Artist to Watch 2024 in Country, 2024 Artist to Watch by Nashville Briefing and is now playing her first UK headline show to a sold-out Colors Hoxton in London.
The scale of it now, with Scott achieving a stage in her career where the demand is so high for her country tunes, even “across the pond” as Scott astounds. Originally from Colorado, Scott remarks how “it feels a little bit surreal”.
Off the back of performing at C2C: Country to Country, Scott remarks on the festival as a turning point in recognising the growth of her fan base. “[Being] able to actually meet people in person, connect on a real level and just see them lined up after the show and the way that they showed up and sang [her] songs” has had a profound effect on her.
After first playing a private gig in London, to now her own headline, it begs the question: When will the rest of Europe get the chance to see her? Scott states how her own European tour is “a big goal for next year because I’m just realising about how many fans are over there.” Certainly, with the release of “Tumbleweed”, a sold-out London headline under her belt, and a solidified track list for her upcoming project, hopefully the rest of us won’t have to wait much longer.
