So I wanted to put an album out that had all my different sides: my good girl, my bad girl, my angry, my sad, my joyful, my in-love. I wanted to have a full range. And I think a lot of women understood that there was something revolutionary about just commanding that space to say, “You should encounter all of me.” Because back then, a lot of us were trying to just fit ourselves into a box — some small fraction of what we really were. And I think that’s what women got out of it: kind of “She busted down some walls for us to still have self-esteem, but also express these dissonant feelings and experiences.” And I think men are more like, “Hey, she rocks!”
“I found my inspiration for Soberish by delving into an early era of my music development, my art school years spent listening to Art Rock and New Wave music non-stop on my Walkman,” she said in a statement. “The English Beat, The Specials, Madness, R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People, Yazoo, the Psychedelic Furs, Talking Heads, Velvet Underground, Laurie Anderson, and the Cars. The city came alive for me as a young person.
I drew inspiration from a friend who was going through a divorce, but the actions in the lyrics are my own. I relate to hiding out in the bathroom when everyone around you is having a good time but your life just fell apart. You look at yourself in the mirror and wonder who you are now, shadows of doubt creeping into your eyes. Just a few moments ago you were a whole, confident person and now you wonder how you’ll ever get the magic back."
