Where were you four years ago today? Probably blissfully unaware of the bullshit that would unfold over the next few weeks as the pandemic brought the world to a standstill. For Maya Von Doll of Sohodolls, the musician was at her own personal breaking point, and one that would get even more complicated as lockdowns swept across England. A silver lining of her ordeal, which feels like something shared by many at the time, is “What Kinda Love,” a swirling synth-pop buzzsaw of a tune that hit the streams on Leap Day of last week (February 29).
“I wrote this song when I was in a bad place in my life,” admits Von Doll. “I had put on a lot of weight during my pregnancy, suffered from insomnia and anxiety, was out of a record deal and suddenly didn’t have the day job I’d always had. I had handed in my notice at my London office and was interviewing for new roles in the city when lockdown hit. I’d got to the final round of interviews for a finance firm and was banking on having a new career adventure but that all evaporated with Covid. I felt I was now in a lockdown within a lockdown. I had no music studio so I’d write this song on my walk to the supermarket in a scruffy tracksuit feeling invisible and like an utter unemployed failure.”
At the time, Von Doll felt her life’s dreams were over. And so her daydreams took over.
“I didn’t think I could ever find love nor be successful,” she adds. “So I thought ‘All of my excitement will now have to come from my imagination because it could never happen in real life’. And then I thought about that thought — the power I have always had to retreat into my mind and escape or exist there. I would pass attractive people that I would never meet and I thought it would be great to write lyrics about an invisible person relishing in her power of imagination. In it she could have anyone and do whatever she wants with them. She could also be the version of herself she accepts.”
During the pandemic, a classic Sohodolls track, “Bang Bang Bang Bang,” went viral through TikTok, and the band emerged recharged and reloaded. New singles followed, but it’s “What Kinda Love” that not only has caught our attention, but provides a nice context and survival story for the ups and downs of artists navigating this new world thrust upon us.
Fire up “What Kinda Love” below via Spotify, and use it as sonic fuel to weather your own storms.