Sofia Escalante Visits Section 36 Music!

It's the first Section 36 Music visitor of the year! Sofia Escalante is an incredible singer with recent single that you have to check out now. I was thrilled she was willing to visit with us and discuss her music, her goals, and a bit more. I'm sure you'll love what she had to say.

So, let's see what happens when Sofia Escalante visits Section 36 Music!

What can you tell me about your recent single, “Un Último Atardecer”?

“Un Último Atardecer”, as well as most of my songs, is inspired by nature, life, and love. It literally translates to “one last sunset”, and I wrote it while sitting on the sand in a Costa Rican beach that I'm grateful to call my home. “Un Último Atardecer” started off as a love letter to life itself (and how beautiful it can be) and it eventually also turned into a love story of new beginnings. Imagery is really important to me when writing a song, I want my listeners to be able to picture themselves in the story while they’re listening, to be almost able to feel the sand on their toes and the summer breeze on their hair. Production wise, it was my first time working on a project with just students. My producer Juanes Urrego is currently a Music Production and Engineering major at Berklee, he got my idea right away and we managed to have an incredible work flow throughout the creation of the song. All of the musicians playing and the arranger, Miguel Morales, were also students at the time. Overall, this song and its creation taught me the importance of collaboration with your peers and how hard work really does pay off. 

Do you have a favorite memory from the recording process?

My favorite part of recording is always recording the vocals. For this song, recording the BGVs was definitely the most fun I had. I got to experiment with my range and sing all of the BGVs in the song (I discovered I can sing really low if I want to, which was really cool). We got to play with different vocal textures and ear candy that ended up making “Un Último Atardecer” really special. 

You attend Berklee College of Music. What made Berklee the right choice for you?

Berklee has always seemed like the impossible dream. Coming from a small country like Costa Rica, I never thought it would be possible to study at one of the most prestigious music universities in the world. I knew Berklee was the right fit for me since it has a more contemporary approach to music and I am able to study everything and anything I want (I'm currently double majoring in Music Business and Contemporary Writing and Production). It is definitely a blessing and i'm really grateful to be where I am right now. 

Who or what would you consider your biggest musical inspirations?

I grew up listening to Bacilos, Carlos Vives and Shakira (and I think you can really hear their influence in my music). Early 2000s Latin Pop is most of what I listen to daily, and it really inspires me to write songs that come from the heart and lyrics that say what I mean. I always want my music to be catchy and make you want to stand up and dance. 

If you could cover any Disney song, which one would you choose? Why?

I love Disney so much! During the pandemic I started posting covers more frequently and I do gotta say that most of them are Disney princess songs. My favorites to sing are definitely Tangled, Moana, and The Little Mermaid (which fun fact: if you listen really closely to “Un Último Atardecer” you can hear a Little Mermaid reference somewhere in the second verse). I've always loved Disney princesses, and singing their songs always makes me nostalgic and incredibly happy! 

What are your immediate musical goals?

I'm currently working on my first EP! My immediate goal is to continue working on it with my producer and have all the songs ready for its release. When I come back home to Costa Rica I always get really inspired, so another goal of mine is to write as much music as possible while I'm here. I feel that right now in my career I'm more in a creating and learning mindset, so I'm creating and writing more than I'm performing. Definitely in the future I want to perform more, but for now I want to let my creativity and writing flow. 

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I am definitely excited about that EP!

As always, I want to thank Sofia for visiting with us, and for sending along the pictures to accompany the interview. 

I'm sure you’ll all want to follow her and see what she has going on. I would follow her on Instagram and Spotify to make sure you don't miss a thing. 

Thanks again, Sofia, and good luck reaching your goals!