Okay let’s talk about BLOOM. Despite the perky and happy-sounding music she records, SOZI isn’t here to play nice or wait for anyone’s permission—she’s writing, producing, co-mixing, and birthing her sound like a woman possessed (and you know female producers are near and dear to our hearts.) It’s giving ‘goddess in the studio’ vibes and heartbreak in the rearview. And this EP is a full-cycle transformation ritual in four glittery, gut-punching acts. In listening to this, we’re blooming with her.
It all starts with “Seconds,” the sonic equivalent of realizing you’re spiraling but still doing your skincare routine. The intro slips in like a held breath—Slipping through my hands / like I’m holding onto sand—and suddenly you’re back in that Uber, mascara-smudged after crying in a rooftop bar bathroom. The synths shimmer like city lights through tears. It’s heartbreak, it’s hope, it’s every messy little moment you’ve ever tried to pretend you had under control.
How do the seconds turn to minutes when I just woke up? Girl. That line hits like a hangover after a party you weren’t even sure you wanted to go to. It’s burnout in a glitter dress. It’s being 26 and wondering if everyone else got the manual for how to thrive while you’re still stuck in the loading screen. SOZI doesn’t fake being okay—My jar of happy thoughts has been empty with the loss—but even in the unraveling, she reminds us: We’ve still got love to give. We’re still worth blooming.
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“Fall Away” bounces in next, all up-tempo with whispered surrender. If “Seconds” is the panic, “Fall Away” is the release. The sound is warm and fluid, like the sun on your face after crying through the night. There’s no more clenching—just the soft, steady thrum of someone healing out loud.
There’s a darkness I see in you / There’s a need for something true. SOZI sees us—the exhausted dreamers behind the selfies, the girls scrolling through the chaos with tired eyes and wine-stained lips. And when she repeats, Let it go / Let it all fall, it’s a balm. A spell. An invitation to stop holding everything so tight. Let go of the lie that you have to keep performing your pain prettily. You’re not alone. Not in this.
Then “Just For A Minute” floats in. Honestly? This is the dissociation anthem. We’ve cried. We’ve screamed. Now we’re hovering above our own lives, detached but somehow still fabulous. The production is all champagne fizz and dream logic—lush, dizzy, indulgent. Like scrolling TikTok at 3 a.m. in your ex’s hoodie while thinking about your fifth-grade trauma and also what you’d name your future cat.
Laying in bed in my head, am I still overthinking? Always. SOZI wraps anxiety in silk and sequins or flowers and ribbons and somehow makes the existential dread sound happy. There’s a little hope and rebellion here: Just for a minute / I wanna wear the crown. She’s not about asking permission but imagining herself as royalty, especially when everything feels like too much.
And then comes the final act: “Set Me Free.” This one struts in like stilettos on marble. We’ve spiraled, we’ve surrendered, we’ve floated—and now we fight. This track is fire. No more soft-focus tears, no more whispering “I’m fine” into your wine glass. This is full-body catharsis.
There’s a soul / there’s a part of me locked up—and she’s done playing nice. The synths pulse like adrenaline. The beat climbs. And when she hits that chorus—Set me free / Set me free / Set me free—you feel it. That rage, that ache, that fierce joy of finally choosing yourself.
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Each metaphor lands like a stiletto heel on marble—precise, deliberate, and hard to miss: Like a doll in a box that spins when you turn the key. Gorgeous, yet haunted and Relatable AF. You’ve been boxed in. Played with. Wound up to perform. But now that’s the way you’ll play, on your terms, in your tempo, once you’ve broken the damn box. It’s a rebirth. High heels, smeared lipstick, a smirk that says watch me now.
To celebrate BLOOM, SOZI threw a release experience. Picture this: acoustic harp and guitar versions of the EP, a dreamy tea party at Madeline Garden in Pasadena, luxe gift bags, dainty snacks, soft florals. Think ethereal goddess mode with a wink. She gave attendees transformation with a side of elegance—inviting them not just to hear her story but to live inside it for an afternoon.
BLOOM is messy, tender, euphoric, and unapologetically feminine. With Bloom, SOZI gave us a mirror. And we look damn good in it.
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