Long before the coronavirus pandemic turned life on its head, it seemed as if the world was being overwhelmed. Political double-speak, “fake news,” misdirection, lies, and disillusionment were everywhere — and still is! Sonia Stein, a UK pop-songstress, captured this crisis in faith in “Symbol,” a new cut from her new EP, See Me Now. In the video accompanying the somber track, Sonia stands pressed against a blank wall as powerful images – the planet earth, Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, a country torn by war, the testing of the nuclear bomb, Greta Thunberg reprimanding world leaders over climate change – project over her. As she sings about searching for meaning, she ultimately winds up covered in stars, in eternity, either devoid or completely full of what she’s looking for.
Though the track seems like it was written for the current COVID-19 outbreak, Sonia tells HollywoodLife that it’s not the case. “ ‘Symbol,’ is a song I wrote about the confusion and oftentimes hopelessness one feels when looking for someone/something to believe in, specifically in the political world,” she says. “Sonically, the song feels very cinematic, so for the visuals, we used a mixture of images from beautiful landscapes, nature, and space to images of recent and past events that feel relevant to the sentiment/message of the song. The whole video was filmed in my flat during lockdown using just a projector.”
This marriage of her ingenuity and creativity has been helping the London transplant achieve her music dreams since she was 15 years old. “My perspective on the world is different because I lived in loads of places,” she told Wonderland magazine in 2018. “It makes my songwriting my own style, but I never think about it while I’m writing like, ‘Oh, I’m writing this because I used to live in Poland!’” An unabashed lover of pop music, Sonia’s music is the melding of her unique style and wide range of influences to create a sound that built a loyal following across the globe.
Sonia started 2020 off by wrapping up a sold-out world tour with Dido, and she followed that by releasing See Me Now. The five-track EP included her previously released tracks, “London Used To Be So Cool,” “Passerby,” and “Coexist.” Though the COVID-19 outbreak might have delayed her plans, there’s no stopping where Sonia takes her brand of “Twin Peaks meets hippy witch androgyny” next.