Nineteen-year-olds need music too: newcomer Sofie Alise bleeds late-2000s pop, the influence of which spiffs up a factory-line diaristic debut album.
Sofie Alise, an LA-based singer-songwriter and Berkeley Conservatory grad, released her debut album Break from the Bends this month. It’s a true debut for Alise, who has only put out two singles previously.
She’s got a Tate McRae look to her, which we know from seeing her long brown locks splashed across all the single and album covers; it’s a “the beautiful girl in middle school” thing. But whereas pro-dancer McRae descends from Britney, Alise is a balladeer.
The first three tracks “talk sh!t” “we both know” and “every time” are all clodding piano and an explosive chest voice putting it all on the table — the “it” in question being heartbreak and confusion around an imbalanced situationship. Naturally. It’s algorithmic breakup music. Everyone behind these tracks is chasing the high of “driver’s license.” These are the kind of songs that adults don’t know exist, but which are splashed across Spotify’s “fall teen breakup beats” playlists, and probably resonate hard with people who haven’t really heard music before.
The fireworks show of drums and guitars at the end of “we both know” is unearned, but Alise’s pipes are real. When she pushes herself, her voice has a nice almost P!nk-esque rasp to it; and in a post-bedroom pop soundscape, you have to appreciate a girl who will sing to the rafters.
Then… a cover of Fiona Apple’s “Criminal”? OK, Sofie! It’s an extremely faithful, and therefore passable, rendition. It’s not worth listening to over the original, but serves its purpose within this album of demonstrating Alise’s emotional dynamism and ability to get a little tougher. That said, if Sofie is a Fiona girl, she can and should be doing weirder stuff lyrically.
The back half is superior: “boy problems” turns to the 2009 sheen of a mall Charlotte Russe, but the turn from A Star Is Born wrought balladeering to Ella Mai-style R&B is welcome. “who’s chasing who” sounds like an original song from the show Victorious if the kids were performing Chicago that week. You have to respect the DCOM camp of the thing. “closure” literally starts with the chords from “driver’s license” and the lyric “I drove past the spot where we parked on Mulholland.” Careful, guys! IP infringement alert! But Alise deserves an attagirl for leaning hard into musical theater performance on her closer.
Break from the Bends sounds like a Spotify pay-to-play playlist on a mint green iPod shuffle — the algopop for worse, and the 2K torch bearing for better. Hit skip on the first three basic ballads, which all blend together, and otherwise enjoy the sweet sound of being back in mom’s Honda listening to Christina Aguilera on the radio.
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