After 30 years in the music industry, Sophie B. Hawkins is celebrating her career anniversary with an uplifting video for her newest single, Love Yourself. Hawkins recently sat down with Tracy E. Gilchrist of Advocate Today to discuss the importance of self-love, particularly in LGBTQ+ communities.
Hawkins recently released the music video for Love Yourself, which she says is based off a real moment in her life, after she was leaving a party. Instead of thinking about what she should've said or done, and the missed opportunities of the night, Hawkins came to the "simple but profound" conclusion that she should instead love herself.
"That was a true transcendent moment, because there's no way that I would've gotten there just by reading a book or hearing someone say it should be true," Hawkins explains. "It had to be gotten there by the spiritual work, and the conscious work of being human on this Earth."
She says the song differs from her previous work, in that it's not about a person, but rather a feeling.
"It is unusual. I'm not singing about who I love or who I lost. I'm really saying something that's so deep that I found within myself that I want to share because I know it's true. It's possible. And not only is it true, but only you can do it," Hawkins says.
Music provides Hawkins with a place to "stand her ground," something she's glad to be back to following the Covid-19 lockdowns. She describes this moment in time as "much more potent."
Hawkins elaborates: "Now, what I find is, people are just so much more themselves. A lot of people are done with trying to conform or trying to live up to ideas that they know they can't live up to, or being with people they know they can't be with. So, there's this incredible sense of we're just ourselves. We're never gonna be more than ourselves, but we can always be a better version of ourselves. And we can always enjoy more and live more, no matter what we don't know."
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Hawkins' breakout album Tongues and Tails. Her single Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover was one of the first examples of a woman songwriter using she/her pronouns for her love interest, something Hawkins was adamant about.
"Always, as an artist, I want to have that emotional truth, because I want to love myself," she says. "I don't want to love my success or love my career, I want to love the actual person and artist that I can be or will grow to be."
“Love Yourself” Single Art
While Hawkins believes she may have reached more mainstream appeal if she changed the pronouns, she said the audience she's since cultivated is here to stay.
"What it did was make me have this lasting career that people are still very touched, and they trust me. They trust my music, they trust my lyrics, they trust me as a human because they know, from the gate, that I chose to do the true thing," she shares.
Now that LGBTQ+ artists have a space to be their authentic selves, Hawkins wonders if she played a part in paving the way for them. She says that whatever effect she's made, she's grateful to have made it.
"If I did help, it makes me feel relevant. Forever. Because it's like ripples." Hawkins explains. "When you do something, and it goes on for generations and generations, I'm connected to those women I love so much. And I'm connected to them because they helped me, and they got into my soul and made me want to be the best artist I could. And now I, hopefully, help women and men be the best artist they can, and the best person, and the truest person. That's how it makes me feel--always and forever part of the fabric of this wonderful thing called humanity."
Until the release of Hawkins' next album, watch the music video for Love Yourself above, and catch her full interview with The Advocate Channel below.
