my story
Who on earth is Sophie Lily?
Welcome! Sit down, here's some tea ☕️
I always felt like I had a lot to say – ever since I was little – but hardly ever felt like anyone wanted to listen. Or when they did, it never came out right. So I started to write… I’d write on napkins, scraps of paper, the back page of my maths book and most of the time on my hands and arms (which my teachers didn’t like). I just felt like I had to share what was going on in my mind – in some way. So my thoughts manifested in my journals, as metaphors in my songs and poems, as character’s experiences in my stories… Maybe it was because there was no judgement on the other end of the pen? The words were mine alone and writing them down meant they didn’t crowd my head, but also never entered anyone else’s. I started writing as soon as I could, and never stopped.
But there was another part of me begging to be noticed by people. I was always the quiet kid. ‘A pleasure to have in the classroom’ but nothing to be remembered. Thats when the fear of being seen was overridden by the desire to be recognised. And the only time that ever happened was when I sang. When the quiet girl stood up and made some noise, people paid attention. The looks on people’s faces like they were reminded I existed – it was the only time I didn’t feel like Sophie Robertson. I felt like Sophie Lily.
So I picked up a guitar and taught myself how to play. I joined the school choir, signed myself up for every concert at school. Took music for one of my GCSE’s. Constantly chasing that version of me that felt like she could do anything. I taught myself the piano, ukulele, anything that I could accompany myself with. Then when I was 16, saved up to buy a mac book, a mic, an audio interface, software. Borrowed an electric guitar from my uncle, a guitar lead from my friend at college, and sat down day after day at that desk teaching myself. Making mistakes, starting over, giving up, trying again, and again…
So here we are today, I’m 18 now and I’m still writing, but in my room on my own. The school assemblies and summer concerts stopped years ago and it’s up to me to put myself on the stage and make people listen. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m showing the world who I am. I’m sitting down with my journal full of songs and I’m recording them. I’m spending hours at my desk teaching myself how to produce music – how to make my songs sound like they do in my head. Even teaching myself how to build a website. Because the girl who stood on the stage even though she was frightened, the girl who was sat alone at the back of the classroom, the girl who was quiet whilst her mind was shouting at her, she deserves to be heard.
So here I am, watch me.