“Sofia” by Clairo

Clairo is a lesbian or more specifically a bisexual. And in this case, we have her singing to a fellow-female romantic interest.

She named the song “Sofia” due to crushes she has on a couple of celebrities who actually have that name, filmmaker Sofia Coppola and actress Sofia Vergara. And even though she may not know these women personally, it can be said that she is addressing them nonetheless, because what the lyrics are based on – for lack of a better description – is a lesbian fantasy.

The addressee is in fact someone the vocalist is feeling in that kinda way. But obviously there isn’t anything actually going on between the two of them since the lyrics center on Clairo “wishing that” this lady were her own. 

Indeed, there isn’t even any clear indication that she has overtly expressed her romantic feelings to the addressee. But the lyrics read as if most likely she has, even if not necessarily directly. But “Sofia” obviously isn’t a lesbian or, perhaps more to the point, someone who herself feels that same-sex relationships are wrong.

So at the end of the day, it appears that this romantic interest will be one that passes Clairo by. But she is not giving up without a fight. She’s going to use all means possible to let the apple of her eye know that they can indeed become a lasting couple, if only the addressee is willing to give her a chance.

Who produced “Sofia”?

The producer of this track is Rostam (Batmanglij). Some readers may recognize him as a former member of Vampire Weekend. He was actually the band’s keyboardist from 2006 to 2016.

Who is Clairo?

Clairo is a singer who was brought up in a part of Massachusetts known as Carlisle. Her dad, Geoff Cottrill, is prominent enough to have earned his own Wikipedia page, though he isn’t an entertainer but rather a business executive.

Clairo is 23 years old as of the writing of this post. However, she was only 20 years of age when this track came out on 26 July 2019. And accordingly it is derived from her debut LP (that wasn’t self-released), Immunity, which is the product of a company known as Fader Label.

Since Immunity, Clairo has put out another studio album, Sling, which performed better than its predecessor in that it broke the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and also topped Billboard’s Alternative Albums chart. 

But as far as singles go, “Sofia” remains her biggest hit to date, as it charted in several countries. In the United States, it performed impressively on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs listings. Moreover, the track has been certified platinum in the States and gold in Australia.

This song was written by Clairo and the aforementioned Rostam. And Danielle Haim, of girl group Haim fame, served as an instrumentalist on the track.