REUNITING WITH SOFI TUKKER

DECEMBER 2024

Photographs by Vasili Papathanasopoulos.

Styling by Victoria Knowles.

The last time I sat down with SOFI TUKKER was in July 2022, merely days after their Splendour In The Grass set was cancelled due to extreme weather. The duo had just kicked off their world tour in support of their sophomore album, WET TENNIS. In the two years since, Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern - the musical minds behind SOFI TUKKER - have hit global stages including Coachella, Governor’s Ball, Lollapalooza and

Bonnaroo, their song Summer In New York became the 2023 US Open’s theme song, and continued their extensive activism work; having worked with multiple organisations over the years including Planned Parenthood, The Trevor Project, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, the March for Our Lives and the Red Cross, among others.

Tucker wears; Top, Bassike. Jeans, Versace. Sophie wears; Jean Paul Gaultier.

Now, the GRAMMY-nominated duo have unleashed their new album on the world; BREAD. An acronym for “Be Really Energetic and Dance,” the album retains Hawley-Weld and Halpern’s key goal of spreading joy and light with their music. “I think it's one of the main things that we are proud to do for the world,” Halpern says. “I think it's one of the ways we contribute the most. I think we feel lucky that that's what our art does, because it would definitely be pretty hard in my opinion. I wouldn't like my job if I was going around singing sad songs all the time [laughs].” Having had the opportunity to interview SOFI TUKKER a number of times, they themselves radiate joy, which effortlessly bleeds into their compositions. Songs such as Throw Some Ass, Woof, Perfect Someone and Hey Homie will quite literally have you ‘throwing some ass,’ and soundtrack late nights spent on dance floors across the globe.

Tucker wears; Jacket, Emporio Armani. Shorts, Bassike. Sneakers, Versace. Sophie wears; Jean Paul Gaultier. Jewellery, Jean Riley.

Continuing their fusion of house, EDM and bossanova influences, the record retains their signature sound whilst delving deeper into the genres that fuel their individual musical passions. When the duo first met, Hawley-Weld was creating Brazilian bossanova music, whilst Halpern was solely focused on house music. SOFI TUKKER as a musical project creates a cohesive sonic union between both genres, perfectly fusing together and never overpowering one another. “That's really just like the two sides of SOFI TUKKER literally [laughs]. So the Sophie and the Tucker,” Halpern comments. BREAD pushes the agenda further, with the duo questioning ‘what really makes SOFI TUKKER special?’ Halpern answers his own question; “Such a big part of it is Brazil. We like to call Brazil the third member of the band, and we still work with the same poet that we made our first song Drinkee with, Chacal.” They lean into their Brazilian influences in a more overt way across this new collection of songs, having spent more of their time in Brazil leading up to working on the record. “I think the initial stemming inspiration was from two years ago, when we spent a lot of time at Carnival in Rio for the first time we'd ever been to Carnival,” Halpern recalls. “We were with our friend Alessandra, and I just feel like we really just decided like, 'Hey, we're gonna go a little deeper now. And not only is it Sophie's side of the band, but I'm gonna get a little into it too.” Halpern developed his own nuanced interest in Baile Funk, a genre that was not at the forefront of Hawley-Weld’s own interests. “So it's gonna come from both sides of the band now,” he continues. “So then coming from my side of the coin was other parts of Brazilian culture and it definitely did play a big role. Probably the biggest role in this album than it has in the past.” I ask Hawley-Weld what she thought of Halpern delving into Brazilian culture and music, with it being deeply embedded within her own artistry. She responds, “I mean, I was just thrilled because I like being in Brazil, so when he showed interest in Brazilian genres or the language or people, it makes me feel like I'm onto something [laughs] and it makes me spend more time there.” She tells me of their time spent working with local musicians and being enamoured by “instruments we'd never even heard of and just adding flavours and elements that are interesting to listen to [even] when you listen to it like 200 times as we have, and as we do every night on stage.” Halpern retorts, “I mean, we've definitely listened to the songs way more than 200 times. Sorry to break it to you [laughs]. That was like a gross understatement [laughs].” The main sentiment from Hawley-Weld’s thought is that by immersing themselves within the realm and culture of Brazilian music, a revitalised energy has seeped into their music heralded by an attention to detail. “There's so much thought that's gone into all of it that there is something fresh to find.”

Written vastly over the past two years, the record does draw from older, unfinished compositions re-contextualised to fit the world of BREAD. “I would say the bulk of it was in there [past two years] and then a couple of the songs we had started like five years ago and never figured out and like sort of remade them in the last few years. We have so many songs that we've started that never made it, in different ways and forms, we'll probably make it into future music.” Hawley-Weld adds, “I feel like with this one we really took our time to fine tune in a way that we didn't even know was possible before. I think we would just make songs and be like, 'they're done,' you know? On this one we were like, 'wait, is it done? Can we make it better? Can we go and make every little sound something that is really intentional and that we're really, really proud of?' We spent a lot of time reworking things.” Interestingly, Halpern notes their approach to making BREAD could almost be traced as a de-evolution. “One thing we did on this album, I think that is part of our evolution, but ironically it's like a de-evolution where we really went back to our first EP Soft Animals, and we were like, 'what was so special about this?' Part of it was the simplicity and just the vibe and the feel and we wanted to get some of that and we didn't wanna be like going too far away from what initially made us us, and we feel like it was just the perfect combo.” The albums cohesion lends to both Hawley-Weld and Halpern’s thoughts, with each song building upon the sphere of BREAD and presenting itself a technicolour celebration of life and togetherness - whilst also retaining the charm and sensibilities of their earlier releases, albeit heightened.

Tucker wears; Top, Bassike. Jeans, Versace. Sophie wears; Jean Paul Gaultier.

Conceptually, the world of BREAD revealed itself to the duo with Perfect Someone. Halpern says, “that was sort of the moment when we felt like we, like we envision an aesthetic and we envision the sort of identity and where it's all going and like a little bit more elevated, sophisticated version of what we'd been doing before. That informed a lot of things. I think that was sort of the moment we realised there was an album here potentially in the making.” Hawley-Weld tells me their process when creating an album is one that is led by trial. She details how both she and Halpern work on songs together until a cohesion begins to appear, and a theme binds them. “Then we kind of finish the album based on that. But it was really just the songs that wanted to come out of us. After there were a bunch of songs, we realised that there was something cohesive and there were some threads both musically and contextually, lyrically. So it wasn't like, oh, we have this grand idea and themes that we wanna talk about, let's go make an album.' It was more like, 'we need the songs,' and then we were like, 'oh, didn't realise that those are all related, but they kind of are.’” Halpern notes it was later on during the albums process when the duo settled on the title BREAD and its visual aesthetic, recalling “when we did, everything started clicking, it just all started making sense and everything kind of came together. That was only a few weeks before we shot the album cover and filmed the first music video. It was crazy.” The album features a number of collaborations, with the duo enlisting Channel Tres and Kah-Lo and sampling MC Bola’s Ela é Top. Hawley-Weld tells me the collaborations were organically born through mutual appreciation of each others artistry. “We were watching Channel Tres perform live at a festival, and then he watched us and then we were both just like loving on each other. We were like, 'we love your show,' and he's like, 'I love your show,' and we're like, 'God, we gotta do something together.' Then we're like, 'oh wait, we have this thing that we were working on that's kind of like half done and we actually think that his voice could really help round it out.' Same thing with Kah-Lo. We just knew there needed to be another element, and at the time we had just gone on tour with her and we're friends with her, and so it was just like, 'let's send it to her.’”

From there, a similar process is undertaken for the albums visual elements. With each album cycle, SOFI TUKKER create visuals that are immediately synonymous with the music. For WET TENNIS, the duo designed their own tennis line and delved into the world of the competitive sport. For BREAD, it’s carb loaded. I feel like with the visuals, we also just really took our time to go deep on everything, you know, like making the bread gown from nothing,” Hawley-Weld says of the dress made out of bread she dons on the album cover. Both musicians worked together to craft their ultimate team when it came to building a space for the album to sit within visually “Working with CHRISHABANA was really cool for that. Also, Rob Woodcox, the photographer, he was just our favourite photographer. We just loved his work and so we shot for the stars and tried working with our favourite and we got to. There was a lot of little details also even in the aesthetic. We worked with one of our best friends Kunna Haan who became the creative director for this project. Getting to work with her and like her attention to detail, which you'll see in the music videos, like if you watch it 200 times [laughs]. It just came from us chatting and brainstorming and being like, 'what if we did this? And what if we did this?' And then, 'oh my God, what if we did this and can we take it even further?' And it's just been so fun to do and yeah, we're really proud of it.” Across the music videos, we see Hawley-Weld admitted to the “SOFI TUKKER Center For Asses That Don’t Move Good’, Halpern portraying a doctor, before she has the ultimate girls night with Heidi Klum. The clip for Hey Homie features archival footage of the duo, celebrating their friendship, whilst Woof finds them driving across New York City with a troupe in tow.

Tucker wears; Jacket, Emporio Armani. Shorts, Bassike. Sneakers, Versace. Sophie wears; Jean Paul Gaultier. Jewellery, Jean Riley.

Whilst the duo have spent years working and touring together, they have also become housemates living in a property together in New York City. I ask them both how living together influences their creative output, and whether or not they’re able to compartmentalise their personal lives from their working lives when existing within such close proximity. “There's not that much compartmentalising really,” Hawley-Weld notes. “I mean, we're kind of always working, always scheming, always thinking about what's next and what we're making. It's because we love what we do, you know, like that's what we would do for fun. If we had other jobs, I think we would still be making music and talking about music and ideas and stuff. Like, it's definitely blurry [laughs].” Halpern adds, “We'd rather be building this thing that we love and are excited about and it's more fun to get excited about an idea of a new song or a remix or this idea for a campaign or this outfit we're gonna wear to this event or whatever than to like, I don't know, play chess or something [laughs].” I suggest naming the next album chess.

Sophie wears; Dress, Versace.

When last sitting down with Hawley-Weld and Halpern, they were in the midst of an Australian tour. I had asked them what their dream production for their live show would look like. The response for Halpern: “I’m always trying to get lasers in our show, and they’re so damn expensive… eventually I wanna like fly through the air.” I ask if they have achieved their ultimate production wish list, and the response is filled with jubilance. “So many lasers... A lot of lasers,” says Halpern. Hawley-Weld adds, “Wow, that's cool. We really did reach our dream of lasers.” Whilst they’re yet to fly through venues yet, she adds; “ask us next interview please.” For the BREAD world tour, Halpern promised “Lasers, tons of lasers, tons of bread, tons of dancing production, choreography.” The duo recently visited our shores, supporting Colombian superstar J Balvin on his arena tour. They tell me this trip proved to be a bonding experience between them and Balvin, and cite their latest triple j Like A Version as a highlight.

Tucker wears; Top, Bassike. Jeans, Versace. Glasses, Celine.

SOFI TUKKER will continue touring through the UK and Ireland over the coming weeks, with more live shows and festival appearances scheduled for 2025. When sitting down for this interview, the duo were in Kansas on tour. I ask them of the impact of live music and how bringing the album into a live context can help create human connection. “There's really nothing like entering a venue where you get to build out your whole world, like exactly artistically how you imagined it,” Hawley-Weld notes. “Then have people show up that are bought into the world and kind of know the music ahead of time and are singing along. I mean, it is the coolest experience ever to make music, put out an album with this full kind of universe surrounding it and then actually get to bring it to life every night.”