Soccer Mommy Really Is That ‘Cool’

The one thing that I keep noticing about Sophie Allison, better known by her stage name Soccer Mommy, is that her brand feels authentic. Welcoming heckling at her shows, she’ll go on tangents and tell stories when prompted. When I saw her perform at The Grammy Museum, she changed her entire setlist for a song request, needing to change the others to the tuning of the unplanned song. After the show, she politely ignored security guards that were blocking fans that wanted her to sign their records. At her show at The Observatory this past week, she poked fun at herself during the awkward pauses between tunings. 

Even in her marketing, which is normally inherently inauthentic, her personality manages to shine through. Outspoken in her distaste for social media, Allison gleefully promoted herself on Roblox, where she held her listening party. She hosted a screening of ’70s sci-fi film Fantastic Planet and hung out with fans beforehand.

Influenced by the Americana sensibilities of her hometown, Nashville, the melodies of Taylor Swift, and the rock sounds of Avril Lavigne, Soccer Mommy has woven together a final product that has enamored critics across the country (Allison scored the coveted Best New Music title on Pitchfork for her very first studio album, Clean). With lyrics that are strikingly visual, sung with a voice that’s blunt and unassuming like she’s telling you a secret, her music draws listeners in and combines my favorite bands. Her words are bold and full of feeling one moment, then acutely painful the next.