A few weeks back we were bored-watching Epic.Awesome.Videos on MTV Live, flipping back and forth between the new visual barrage and the standard ’80s and ’90s throwbacks on MTV Classic, when a burst of color and energy suddenly exploded from the screen. It was from the wonderfully warped mind of Sophie Powers, serving up a frenzied dose of neon-glazed pop through her kets4eki collab, “Woah!!” It sounded like the past, present, and future all wrapped into one glitz fit of calculated madness, and it felt like another leveling up for the alt-pop riser from Toronto.
This past Friday (July 12), several months after we first chatted with Powers about her equally loud style n’ sound, she wrangled the latest n’ greatest for new EP Glitch: Lvl 1, hitting the streams n’ screens via Atlantic Records/TAG Music. It includes the aforementioned “Woah!!” and seven other jams, including breakout hit “Nosebleed,” which we first hyped in March of last year, and standout panic-switch bops “Awesome (feat. Baby Tate)” and “Overflow (feat. Ezekiel).”
It’s a swirling cocktail of glitchy hyper-pop, industrial heaviness, and classic pop-punk, and this roller-coaster ride of a record is exactly what we need in this chaotic heatwave summer.
“The listener needs to be ready to hear this EP, as it tackles topics such as ARFID, depression, anxiety, breakups, ADHD, love, and navigating life as a teen today,” says Powers. “With technology having changed so much in the past 15 years, the visuals and aesthetics tie in nostalgic and pixelated graphics from my childhood, alongside the tech we see today. That’s where the ‘player ready?’ pixelated video-game storyline fits in. It’s a blast from the past and a launch into the future. This is my last year of being a teen. I might as well go out with a bang.”
Bang says pop.
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