Sofi de la Torre

Self-made Canarian singer/songwriter Sofi de la Torre combines R&B and chillwave elements with big, floor-filling pop hooks to create a style she somewhat immodestly dubs "pop done right." Born on March 16, 1991 and brought up in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands -- an autonomous community of Spain, but much closer geographically and culturally to Northwest Africa -- she discovered her talent at age 14, when her school music teacher was impressed with a song she wrote as a homework assignment and lent her a keyboard to take home. She taught herself to play and continued to write; when she left school at 18, she went to L.A. to take a music course, but decided she didn't have what it took as a performer and moved to London to study media and communications. While there, however, she felt herself drawn back to music and self-released two singles, "Heartbeat" and "Faster," which were in the pop/rock vein. She then met German film director Felix Fuchssteiner, who was impressed enough by her songs to feature some in the soundtrack of his film Rubinrot ("Ruby Red"), an adaptation of the popular YA fantasy novel by Kerstin Gier; de la Torre even appeared as a singer in the film. She signed to the German talent agency Oh My Sweet, which oversaw promotion for her first album, Mine, released in 2013. Buoyed by her modest success, she was determined to switch to pure pop for broader commercial appeal, and in 2014 reinvented herself with the club-ready single "Vermillion." Euphoric yet melancholic, the track created an instant, massive buzz on music blogs. The EPs Give Up at 2, Mess, and That Isn't You followed as de la Torre gradually evolved a narcotic, hyperreal style of pop which brought her a devoted internet following. In 2017 she teamed up with Finnish producer Jonas Karlsson for the well-received single "London x Paris." He went on to produce her second album, Another? Not Me, I'm Done. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi