At 22, Sophia Somajo released “Stockholm Calling,” a project recorded without a microphone and performed entirely on her MacBook keyboard. That DIY spirit carried into “The Laptop Diaries,” a title that already reveals much about her creative state at the time. By the age of 24, she had already co-written her first Billboard number-one hit using a pseudonym, collaborating with her longtime creative partner and publisher, Max Martin. Together, they have crafted numerous chart-topping songs, and now, for the first time, they are channeling that creative synergy into Sophia’s own music.
Titled “Tarantino,” Sophia’s latest release marks her first in seven years. It’s been a long stretch, but the comeback feels justified. The vocals are sharp and commanding, arguably some of her strongest work to date. The track is theatrical and self-produced, created with Max Martin and Martin Stilling, and framed around a love story that is intentionally larger-than-life and emotionally volatile. It’s a precise, deliberate nod to Quentin Tarantino, his cinematic world where violence and desire are under sun-bleached skies.
The song is sultry and dangerous, romantic and doomed. Boho yet sharp-edged. These tensions don’t contradict each other; they hold together in a way that feels cinematic without relying on the reference to carry the meaning. The lyrics unfold like a narrative in collapse. It’s not a conventional love song but a dramatization of escalation, where intimacy and violence blur and the roles are already predetermined. The language is stylized, but the sentiment stays grounded. There’s no distance between the narrator and the chaos. The performance is the reality. What emerges is a portrait of love as confrontation, where the damage isn’t incidental. It’s built into the architecture.
“Tarantino” also offers a first glimpse of Somajo’s upcoming album, “CLOWN,” set for release next year. The project shifts away from persona-driven aesthetics toward something more stripped-down and autobiographical, a story about endings, beginnings, and the quiet courage of starting over. She has set aside vocal effects and heavy visual stylization, favoring direct lyrics and production inspired by the 1980s ballads, hip-hop, and pop she grew up with.
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