Worst Thoughts In The World is out now!
Image: Nicole Ngai.
Singer-songwriter Sophie May has shared her sophomore EP, Worst Thoughts In The World. To celebrate the release, the singer has shared with MILKY five people that inspired her to share her worst thoughts in the world.
“My second EP focuses on personal experiences while also looking inward and trying to make light of my state of mind. Struggling with intrusive thoughts and feeling like a bad person can create clouded judgement, making it hard to trust yourself and what you know to be true. I found myself reflecting on past relationships and trying to figure out where it all started but at the same time I attempted to keep the humour alive because if you don’t laugh you’ll cry. Or in my case, if I don’t laugh, I’ll convince myself I’ve poisoned my family.”
FATHER JOHN MISTY
Starting off strong with one of my favourite musicians, Father John Misty. He has a song where he mentions kissing his brother in one of his dreams. When I first heard it, it literally stopped me in my tracks. I’d never heard someone make light of a thought like that. It gave me the confidence to write about my own intrusive thoughts.
THE TV SHOW GIRLS
Not a person, but if you count the characters then it works…this TV show made me feel normal. It also made me realise the disturbing thoughts I had been experiencing were also the funniest. So if you’re torturing yourself over something you’ve imagined, you can be comforted by knowing somebody else has already thought of it too.
PAUL SIMON
Paul Simon has a song called ‘Run That Body Down’ which I am obsessed with. The inner health anxiety demon that lives within me loves this song. There's something so magical in the way Paul sings about an extremely stressful topic, while still keeping a beautiful melody throughout. The art of telling a clear and meaningful story without imposing on the listenable-ness of a song. A balance I’m always striving for when writing about something I deeply care about.
ELLA AND ROSA
two of my closest friends (sorry for cheating I know this is technically two people but they come as a pair). In lockdown I was really struggling with my intrusive thoughts. The first time I opened up about the guilt I was experiencing was with Ella and Rosa. They responded by telling me all the awful things they’d ever thought, and it brought me some real relief. I’ll always be thankful for that.
MATT MALTESE
Who I wrote ‘Worst Thoughts In The World’ with. At the time of writing this song, I had a couple of thoughts that were really upsetting me. When Matt and I went into a session to finish the song, we started talking about all the thoughts I deemed ‘bad’. Matt encouraged me to put them into the chorus. I thought maybe I needed to be more ambiguous but after singing through a few options, I found the more honest I was, the better the song.
Worst Thoughts In The World is out now!