Spotlight on: Sophia Massad
If Sophia Massad isn’t on your musical radar, she really should be. This bold, sassy and talented young woman is making her mark on the Oklahoma music scene in big ways.
Massad has been performing regularly on stage since she was twelve years old, when she started at the Centennial Rodeo Opry. However, this current project started in 2018 with band mates Tristen Todd on guitar, Levi Sherman on bass, and Michael Fabri on drums.
Sophia Massad. Photo Credit Austin Edwards.
Over the past three years they have released four other singles as well as a couple Christmas tunes. Massad also has a Sophia Massad EP which she released when she was sixteen and wanted to be Katy Perry, a lot has changed since then. Massad has evolved both in music and in life during that time, figuring out who she is and what her place in the world is.
Although she admits she is an introvert that has to talk herself up to engaging with people off of the stage, watching her perform on stage you would never know it. Massad commands the stage with her passionate singing and the way she lets the music move through her. Her performances are energetic and dynamic, she can mesmerize the crowd with her soulful crooning and turn around and stir them up with her powerful rocker vocals all in one show.
“It is hard to pinpoint a moment when I decided I wanted to do music for a living. Growing up, almost every evening my dad would sit down with his guitar and he and my mom would sing all kinds of oldies; The Beatles, The Carpenters, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Simon and Garfunkel, and much more. It wasn’t too long until my dad began to teach me how to play guitar, my sister taught me piano, and I realized I could sing. Once I began performing and writing my own songs, I knew that music was going to be my everything,” said Massad.
Massad’s influences span from a wide range of artists. Lately she has been really focused on Alabama Shakes and Amy Winehouse, although she admits she probably takes a lot more influence from the Beatles than she realizes.
“Over the past six months or so, I have been experimenting with techno/electronic music and I have been loving it so much. I have never even really listened to electronic music until I found Lane 8, who totally changed my view on it. Who knows, I may even be releasing some indie electronic music in the future,” she said.
Massad and her band released a new music video this past week, titled “She”, which clearly shows off her songwriting abilities and vocal talents. It’s a sweet song of longing and love, layered with some fantastic instrumentals. It’s relatable and real, a little vulnerable and raw.
“We went into the studio to record She in November of 2018. We mainly recorded over at 33rd Street Studio in Edmond and sometimes at ACM@UCO. We recorded with Gilson Machtolff as our engineer, who also helped with production and mixing. Kevin Lively mastered the song,” said Massad.
“As for our instrumentalists on this song, I played acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and vocals. We had my main guitarist, Tristan Todd, on lead guitar. He actually broke out the idea to add a slide guitar on this song when we were in the studio and when I heard it, it just added so much emotion and dynamics that we had to keep it. On drums we had Ethan Neel of Johnny Manchild and The Poor Bastards. Raul Alfonso on bass guitar, and Garrison Brown played our entire horn section.”
The music video was filmed and directed by Austin Edwards (http://austinedwards.com/) and was shot in Broken Bow Oklahoma at an AirBnb that they rented out.
“We really wanted to dig into the raw passion of the song and allow space in the video for the song to speak for itself. ‘She’ is one of those songs that I wrote without fully understanding the meaning, or what it would mean to me, until much later. But I think that a lot of people struggle with comparing themselves to others, especially in this world of content overload that we live in, so I hope that others can connect with ‘She’ and find what it means to them.”
“Due to the coronavirus, we have had to put our album on hold, but we are slowly working towards a release. The album reveals a level of transparency that makes me nervous, but my hope is that others can relate to my darkness, and at the least, connect with my music,” said Massad.
They will be opening up a Kickstarter to fund the album soon, and are hoping to raise enough money to get into the studio and get the eleven songs released by the end of the year.
You can find more information on Massad’s website and social media accounts.
Website: www.sophiamassad.com
Instagram: @sophiamassad
Facebook: facebook.com/sophiasmusic
Twitter: @sophiamassad