Visalia, California, native artist Soap has valued being surrounded by music throughout her entire life. Being not just a singer-songwriter but an artist with the skill and ability to play guitar, violin, piano, and ukulele Soap is unlike any other artist in her genre.
Drawing towards a spooky vibe with her music, her new single “Warning label” is a jazz-style piece that will give listeners a feeling of inner uncertainty. Each slow-moving guitar and drum combination fit seamlessly as Soap’s lyrics crawl through the track.
Being influenced by the ’50s and other jazz-style tracks, Soap sneaky instrumentals have a beat perfect for the slow-moving two-step. “Warning Label” examines personal experience where one feels a sense of release from an unkind love, and looking back is able to reflect on all of the foreshadowings for misery and betrayal.
With lyrics like “they warned me about you,” and “time came to tell,” it is clear Soap feels regret as she looks back on a situation where she didn’t read all the signs and cues and ended up causing personal harm to her emotions.
Soap’s sneaky, jazz-style tracks are so unique and bring a new element to slower-based singles within the industry.
Can you walk us through the storyline behind your new single “Warning Label”?
I started working at a camp near Shaver Lake and I started a relationship with a coworker, some of his friends seemed a little off about the whole dating thing. It wasn't until I left camp when his friends who also became really good friends with me cut ties with him and told me how bad he was and warned me to watch out for him. Did not want to believe it at first but fast forward 3 months and I was extremely drained and the relationship ended, that's when the title "warning Label" came to mind. People told me what I was getting myself into but brushed it off and continued seeing someone that was not good for me.
You mentioned you have drawn influence from the 50’s and jazzy music, do you have any specific artists who inspire you?
I have a mix of influences, from the 50s-60s I enjoy listening to The Shangri Las, Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Etta James. I also have a couple of other artists who inspire me like I love Lana Del Rey's poetry, Jim Morrison's poetry slaps too, I kinda just smash and mix all that together to form my own style.
How would you explain your musical style to people who may be new listeners of your tracks?
People tend to assume most of my songs are sad and gloomy but I believe it's just a dark raw sound than most songs, I have a very mellow dark vibe to everything I play, I've been compared to Amy Winehouse and Lana del Rey but again I have my own twist to it.
How have you been able to tap into your talent of playing guitar, violin, piano and ukulele and what do you feel are your next steps instrumentally?
Honestly, everything I can put my time into I'm willing to learn, I would love to buy an old piano and continue getting better at it. I started playing Violin when I was 12 so I'm thankful to be able to read music easily now, It's really fun to connect with people musically and create with different types of instruments. For now, I'll like to put more time and effort into what I know in hopes of getting better in the future.