Missguided Discovered: Sophia Thakur - BabeZine
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Sophia Thakur is a poet and spoken word artist from London, who’s created serious waves across the arts industry. She has performed her poems all across the world, including Glastonbury, Stylist’s Remarkable Women Awards, international conferences, and given multiple TED talks. Sophia uses her platform to speak out about social issues including politics, race, gender and equality. Following the release of her first book Give This Heart a Pen last year, we caught up with her to find out more about her poems, writing process and career highlights. Hey Sophia, how are you? Tell us a little bit about your most recent tour… It’s been surreal, meeting so many corners of people’s hearts across the world with my baby (the book). From India to Ghana to Denmark the cultures are all so different but the behaviour of the heart rarely changes. That’s something I’ve found from speaking to audience members after a show. No matter which side of the world you reside, we’ve all accidentally on-purpose spoken to someone who wasn’t good for us.
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We’ve all experienced the euphoria of finally loving our reflection (even if it’s a fleeting moment). I come home to London and feel so much more connected to the melting pot of people around me each trip. Your book contains a lot of raw and emotional poems, how do you feel now that it is out there in the world? At first it was weird, knowing that my mum will suddenly have all the details of my breakup and struggle with mental health. But once I sunk into the fact that our truths are worth talking about, no matter how awkward it may be… I still get nervous butterflies when people I know buy the book. More so than when strangers do! How weird is that? But it has been incredible to watch it grow wings and travel into the most unlikely hands. Seeing how that honesty is changing peoples lives for the better has made it all worth it.
Do you write specific poems to be performed and others to be read? This was something I had to learn whilst writing the book. They are different practises! To write for white dress (link webpage) the page is to write in a way that the poem will perform itself in the reader’s head. Whereas when I write to perform, I can show mood/ pace and intent through body language as opposed to punctuation and line-breaks. But I believe that all topics can be explored in both ways. I do write for wherever it’ll land! Music plays a big part in your spoken word performance, how do you go about picking your tracks? Sometimes the theme of the poem lends itself to a certain genre. For example I wrote this really political piece once and knew that I wanted it on music of the revolution… Other times I might be listening to some really beautiful piano music and I’m led to write on a softer or more intimate topic, such as love or family. I come from a musical background so the music score is super important to me.
My band always think I’m insane until show day and it all comes together so magically. How do you find performing at a festival in comparison to intimate audiences? The energy is just so different at a festival. When I stepped out at Glastonbury it was like a live wire went off inside me. I definitely had to be a more extraverted performer. The audience were electric and I wanted to keep them there. At intimate shows we get really reeeally personal with the audience. The main feedback I get is that people feel like they are the only ones in the room with me for those hours I hold the stage. And I love that. How open we all get. How do you like to unwind? TRAVEL! I’m never too far from a ‘writing holiday’ which mainly consists of tanning for hours, swimming, eating and exploring new cities and people. And a spot of writing aha. When I can’t get away I’m such a homebody.
