Sofía Valdés is back with five new tracks on her In Bloom EP, which dropped on May 13th. The singer-songwriter who hails from Panama, follows up her debut album Ventura in a fitting progression of her style.
With her debut last year, Valdés earned critical praise and even became the face of Chanel in Latin America. Now, at just 20 years old she’s looking to keep moving forward. On In Bloom, her youth is still present but you feel her coming into herself more, maturing.
Describing the inspiration for the EP, Valdés said “For me, In Bloom means standing your ground and not letting anyone take you away from that moment. I was finding myself while I was writing the songs. I was going through a roller coaster of emotions which in every phase of it I felt like I was changing which I needed in order to pass the page. The song ‘In Bloom’ is a character that I made for myself. Someone I wanted to be like and look up to. This person that’s confident, firm, beautiful and proud.”
That title track is a catchy bilingual track about knowing the guy you’re interested in isn’t quite the relationship type. Valdés brushes it off with a knowing confidence that comes from being young and knowing now is the time to make mistakes. She knows growing into something else, she’s focused on blooming into something new. The song has a gentle sliding rhythm to it led by drums and rhythmic acoustic guitar.
“Carbon Copy” is an emotional ballad about when your ex moves on, and you realize that you may have just been their type. She portrays the gutting betrayal of this moment, how it can make you feel completely not special. Her voice really gets to show off its various textures on this track.
The opening track, “I Hate the Beatles,” and closing track, “Swim,” are also slower, more emotional tracks. “I Hate the Beatles” captures Valdés reflecting on past relationships and how a love for the band has been a common thread with men in her past. “Swim” is about the waves of emotions that hit after a break up. Sometimes you feel like everything could be fixed, sometimes you feel parting ways was for the best, sometimes you never should have been together at all.
The catchiest track on In Bloom is the fourth track “Parking Lots.” Over a groovy rhythmic bass line, Valdes gossips with her friends trying to determine if a guy is still interested in her. The hook, “So I’m singing with the girls in the parking lot / Gabby heard you had second thoughts / Out here pulling petals, do you love me or not?” has a rhythmic nature – it almost recalls songs you would use to jump rope to – that makes it stick in your head.
In Bloom is a solid collection of songs from this young artist, and will surely garner her some new fans.
