Dublin singer- songwriter Sophie Doyle Ryder spoke to David Hennessy ahead of her debut London headline show which is also her first headline show anywhere outside of Ireland. Â
Rising Malahide pop star Sophie Doyle Ryder plays her first headline London concert at The Courtyard Theatre on Thursday 11 May.
It is Sophieâs first headline concert anywhere outside of Ireland but it is perhaps apt that she comes here first of all as it all started for her here in a way as she penned her very first singles around London.
Sophie has long been drawing comparisons to international stars like Ariana Grande and Anne Marie while The Irish Sun have described her as, âIrelandâs answer to Rihannaâ.
She is also signed to the same agency as Billie Eilish.
Since she released her debut single Mood in 2019, Sophie has rapidly established herself as one of the most hotly tipped pop artists in Ireland.
She released her debut EP Beginnerâs Luck last year and has been named âOne To Watchâ by many Irish media platforms such as RTE, Spin 103.8 and Sunday World among others.
Sophie told The Irish World about her upcoming London debut: âI’m really, really excited for it. Iâm so happy.
âLondon is so exciting to be performing in because of the buzz with the music in general.
âI’m just so excited to be there.â
It was in Croydon that she actually wrote her debut single Mood in 2019, and the follow-up tracks Enough and Too Much.
âI love it over there.
âI liked Croydon.
âI think I was 16 when I went there and I was a bit scared to be honest because I heard mad things about Croydon but it was grand.
âI was like, âIt will be grand, Iâm with my dadâ.
âMy dad is like 5â 7â. Heâs not the tallest man or scariest man in the world but I was like, âIâll be fineâ.â
Sophie has just released her new single Happier which placed very high on spotify UK playlist New Music Friday UK and was RTĂ 2FM’s track of the week.
âWhen it came out, I was shocked,â she says.
âIt’s a really special song for me because I think it’s really different.
âIt kind of relates back to Enough: You’re happy on your own, don’t need somebody.
âThe chorus is âno more co-dependenceâ.
âIn the past my mam would tell me âyouâre too co-dependent on that person and you feel like you’re gonna die when they leave and then your whole world’s gonna endâ, which is true.
âWhen I was 16, I had a meltdown over a boy.
âNow I look back on it I’m like, âOh my god: So stupidâ.
âI think it’s important especially for young girls to kind of grasp the idea of it but I know when I was young, I wasn’t really listening to the lyrics of songs. I was just kind of singing them.â
The message of female empowerment and independence is one that runs through Sophieâs work.
âI like feeling like I can do things on my own. I can’t wait to get out and get my own house and everything.
âI love living with my mam and dad, but I canât wait to have my own house and have my own music space and not tell people to shut up because Iâm trying to record, or shut up because Iâm doing an interview.â
Sophie reveals she could see herself leaving Dublin for somewhere like London.
âI think I would just be wasting my life away if I stayed here.
âI love Dublin, love Ireland, love everything about it.
âI adore it.
âHate the education system and stuff.
âI don’t know if I want my kids to be doing the Leaving Cert and everything.
âI just can’t really see myself here in the long run.
âIt’s a dream to kind of get out of here really.â
And she has loads of time.
It is easy to forget that Sophie is still only 20 years old.
âI sometimes catch myself being like, âAh, I haven’t done enough but then I’m like only 20, I’ve done so much. It is a bit hectic.
âBut I love it, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
âI would pick this over anything any day, even though it has me up to my eyes.â
Sophie has always known she wanted to be a singer, from when she was singing karaoke on family holidays in Spain or recording a CD of Adele covers when she was 13 or 14.
âI was 13 when I wrote my first song maybe.
âActually my stepdad owns a company called Vision Media and he did my first CD for me.
âI went and recorded loads of Adele songs in his little studio.
âIt was so fun, I think I was 14.
âThat definitely gave me the spark but I took it seriously at 16.
âMy granddad’s moved it (the CD) into every car he buys now and he still has it, he loves it but I hate it, I think it’s so bad.
âI hear it and I’m like, âOh my god I wasn’t a good singer back thenâ.
âI don’t think I was at all and I’m like, âWhy did people tell me I was?â
âSomebody was lying to me, I think.â
The Irish World gets the feeling that Sophie would still like Beginnerâs Luck to be considered her debut EP. Her grandad may love that CD of covers but Sophie herself wouldnât mind smashing them with a hammer.
âThey canât see the light of day,â she laughs. âOnly my Grandad and thatâs it.â
Sophie was studying at BIMM, the revered music college in Dublin but has deferred for the year.
âI’ve taken a break.
âI’m not quite sure what I’m going to do in September yet.
âIt (music)’s something that I love doing.
âI definitely want a degree.
âMy mam wants me to get a good degree âjust in caseâ.
âIâd love to be like a teacher if I wanted to make my own little music school or something.
âThat’s what I tell people when they ask me my plan B but I definitely think that I’m really enjoying doing the music right now.â
So is it studying music formally that youâre less sure about? âYeah.
âWhen I was in secondary school I studied music and I always found the theory side of it really difficult.
âI just can’t sight read music for the life of me which might come as a surprise to some people, but I just cannot do it at all.
âI’ve such a passion for the performing side of it.
âPeople in my family say I’m a bright button but I don’t really think I am.
âI can’t grasp it for some reason.
âI can grasp the really basic things but at college level I found it really difficult definitely.â
I don’t think it has anything to do with you not being bright, not everyone learns the same way.
Do you think it could be you’re more of a self taught kind of person?
âYeah, I think I am because I self taught myself piano and everything when I was young.
âI think when I just teach myself things, it’s a lot easier.â
At BIMM Sophie found a supportive circle that is behind her and her music with even lecturers of hers showing up to her gigs. She didnât find people so supportive at secondary school.
âItâs such a supportive group in BIMM.
âI still have a nice little community from BIMM that would support me and like my stuff, listen to my stuff, share my stuff.
âI got along with every lecturer in there, every single one of them was so nice and itâs not something I expected coming out of secondary school.
âI didnât really get along with many of my teachers.
âThey all thought that I was a crazy girl who wanted to be a singer and Iâd never actually do anything about it and that I would just go around singing on the streets.
âIt was kind of refreshing (at BIMM) because I was being taken seriously for the first time especially when I saw them at my gig.
âPeople actually believe in you and donât doubt anything you say and they encourage you to have crazy dreams like playing the Malahide Castle one day.
âAt school there were a lot of people who were just, âYouâre madâ.
âAnd I was like, âAm I though? Iâm going to do it. Iâm going to write songs, I can write songs already. Why canât I just record them and release them?â
âPeople were just like, âYouâre madâ.
âBut then I released my first song when I was in 5th year and then people kind of started taking me a bit more seriously.â
Sophie says her plans were greeted with derision from both her teachers and peers although some have changed their tune now.
âEvery time I was in a careers class, I would get questions, âWhat are you going to write down on your CAO and what are you applying for?â
âI would say one college, âBIMMâ and they were like, âAre you serious?â
âAnd I was like, âYeah, Iâm deadly serious. I donât want to do anything elseâ.
âWhy would I sign up for nursing when I donât want to be a nurse?
âBut it was hard. I kind of found it discouraging sometimes but half the time from my peers it was just bitterness and jealousy.
âYou can just kind of tell.
âI had my friends that support me and thatâs all that matters to me.
âThereâs definitely people who come to me now, âOh my God, this is so coolâ.
âAnd Iâm like, âYou told me I was a loser three years ago but thanks for supporting me nowâ.
âIt was hard but I definitely have thick skin. I got lucky with that.â
Sophie had her debut headline show at Whelanâs postponed and postponed due to the pandemic.
She was initially supposed to play it when she was 17 and would be 19 when she did get to do it.
The pandemic gave her a chance to work on her sound.
âI feel like I’m in such a different headspace now where I know exactly who I want to be as an artist.â
And who is that? Obviously you get compared to Rihanna, Anne Marie, Ariana Grande, how do such comparisons sit with you?
âI actually never expected to get compared to Rihanna.
âI was like, âWow, that’s such a huge complimentâ.â
Sophie has always found music to be therapeutic for her.
âMy parents separated when I was really young.
âI think I was six or something so I’ve no real memory of it.
âI might have one vague memory of me being like, âI don’t even know what youâre saying to me but okayâ.
âAnd then I remember getting older and kind of realising what it was.
âMy mam stayed in the home with us for a few years so when she started moving out, I was like, âOkay, I know what’s happening nowâ.
âI think music really helped me and also my step parents are amazing.
âMy stepbrothers and my stepsister, I love them.
âI don’t know what Iâd do without them in my life.
âAnd my stepdad doing the CD for me and everything, I think maybe if that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be a singer.â
Sophieâs number one fan will always be her father who rarely misses a show.
âHeâd die if he missed a show.
âHe’s my biggest supporter.â
So heâll be there for your big night in London? âDefinitely, 100%.
âHe wouldn’t miss it for the world.â
What are the plans now, another EP? âI think when I released Beginnerâs Luck my only disappointment was I felt like some songs got a little bit lost and they didn’t get the recognition that I wanted them to.
âSo my plan is to just release a lot of singles and then make them a collective EP at the end.â
Does that mean you have the next single already picked out? âYeah, Iâm so excited about it. I wish I could tell you the name of it. Iâm really excited about the next one.
âItâs a bit rockier and a bit Avril Lavigne.
âIâm really really excited about that one.
âIâll definitely be playing it in London as a teaser.â
Sophie plays the Courtyard Theatre on Thursday 11 May.
Happier is out now.
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