Sophie B Hawkins' new album, Free Myself, marks a new era in her music, which she says has been "a time of feeling that I'm literally being birth."
Sophie B Hawkins Frees Herself in Her New Album
"Personal experience has to happen to open up the music that's already inside, and the poetry that's already inside," she tells Sonia Baghdady of Advocate Now. "That's why I always say it's the triggers that are the teachers, and the triggers are the things that bring out the best work."
Though she's known for her hit "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover," Hawkins says that after 30 years in the music industry, her perspective has shifted to what her newest single "Better Off Without You" reflects.
"'Better Off Without You' is appropriate for now, because at this stage in my life, I have to be truly free," she explains. "And I have to be able to be myself without looking over my shoulder, wondering if I said the wrong thing or did the wrong thing. ... I'm not worried about any of that stuff, so I'm better off without you."
Hawkins adds: "Standing by yourself is the strongest anyone can be."
There have been many times in Hawkins' career during which she says she felt alone. When she came out as omnisexual in 1992 in The New York Times, she received backlash from mainstream society, as well as some LGBTQ+ circles.
"It was so painful to be ridiculed. And I think that I was more ridiculed because I was feared," she says. "That was hard, because I really love people, and I wanted to talk about it. I want everyone to feel free, and I want everyone to feel that they can explore their own creativity and their sexuality [which] is potentially a big part of their creativity, and so is their gender."
Hawkins says she's excited about how far LGBTQ+ rights have come, praising the recently passed Defense of Marriage bill as "incredible" for its protections for gay couples and families.
Hawkins also takes pride in how far her career has come, saying: "I was isolated and I was marginalized, and that wasn't nice for me because I wanted to be part of the conversation. Thankfully, I'm still alive, and I'm part of the conversation."
For more interviews like this, watch Advocate Now on The Advocate Channel.
