Upcoming pop singer-songwriter Sophia Kaloustian shares a different take on losing someone you once loved in her brand new single, “Used To Breathe.” This song explores themes of self-growth and introspection.
This latest single shares a story of finding oneself. After dedicating years of her life to relationships and other people, Kaloustian is now learning who she is as an individual and the challenges that come with making that major transition. The singer narrates a story of heartbreak, but not the kind where you miss the person. More so, this tale is about missing love itself and the concept of romance.
Sophia has kindly taken the time to chat with Fierce & Fabulous Revolution regarding the release of “Used To Breathe” and you can find the full interview below.
Hey Sophia, thank you so much for this interview. Can you start by introducing yourself to anyone unfamiliar with your music?
Sophia: Sure! My name is Sophia Kaloustian and I am a twenty-four year old vocalist from Los Angeles.
When did you first discover your passion for music?
Sophia: I have very visceral memories of discovering my passion for music starting at around four years old. I specifically remember my older cousin letting me listen to music on her iPod nano and hearing “Breakaway” by Kelly Clarkson through those wire headphones and immediately being obsessed. I was glued to that iPod with that song on repeat for the rest of that day and declared it as my first ever favorite song from that moment forward. I was really obsessed with learning music on my own from a young age too. I would challenge myself to memorize and learn the notes to as many songs as I could, as fast as I could. This passion was then channeled into my performing when I started singing in shows at age eight. Once I was put on stage singing solos in elementary school variety shows, it felt like I had unlocked the most authentic piece of myself that I didn’t know how to articulate at the time. From then on, music and performing have been integral to my life.
Have you always wanted to pursue a career within the music industry?
Sophia: It was a dream that I had buried deep down in my mind and not allowed myself to actually consider because for the majority of my life I didn’t believe I was good enough to pursue one. So, I didn’t have any career aspirations at all, until I applied for transfer after community college. Even then at music school, I still didn’t seriously consider pursuing one until around 2022, when I had many different professionally music industry established mentors in my life heavily encouraging me to do so. With their encouragement, I was able to believe in myself as a vocalist. However, it wasn’t until writing my first single “best intentions” in January of 2024, that I allowed myself to pursue not only a career in the music industry that I was already pursuing but pursue being an artist.
How would you currently describe your musical style?
Sophia: I’ve always struggled with trying to describe my musical style because I’ve been vocally trained to sing a wide array of different genres, which I feel all impact my style to varying degrees. However, over the last three years I’d say my natural vocal style assimilates with pop, rock, and musical theater influences. My writing style is very lyrically based, with a large emphasis on storytelling. Therefore, my musical style is a conglomeration of those factors. For example, some people listen to my music and immediately hear and appreciate the musical theater influence on my vocals and storytelling, while others focus on my timbre and vocal range that resemble a pop rock style. My musical style has been compared to artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Lizzy McAlpine, and Demi Lovato.
You just released the brand new single, “Used To Breathe”, which sounds amazing. How did the idea for this song come together?
Sophia: I was honestly having a breakdown about an overwhelm of grief that had been accumulating within me. So rather than continuing to bottle it up, I decided to channel my emotional turmoil at that moment into a song in order to process my pain in a productive and creative way. I opened my notes app on my phone and the lyrics poured out of me. I finished the lyrics and melody within about thirty minutes, that’s how “Used To Breathe” was born! I showed it to my producer right away and we cut out these two different pre-choruses I had written that were honestly too wordy in order to consolidate it. His influence on the song, especially creating the sonic universe that my melody sits in, completely transformed the song and made it magical.
Did you always plan to release “Used To Breathe” as a single?
Sophia: I didn’t plan on releasing this as a single, actually! I honestly didn’t even plan for this song to be an upcoming release. However, I sang the song a few days after I had just written it in August to one of my best friends, Marcus. His immediate reaction was that this HAD to be on my upcoming album. I decided a few months later after working on it with my producer that it had such a fun energy with a unique message that it deserved to be highlighted as a single, rather than just another track on a larger project.
This song centers around missing the space a relationship once held deep within you. What did it mean to you to create a song around this?
Sophia: It was really cathartic being able to verbalize a very nuanced array of emotions I was feeling at the time of writing this. I’m currently in a stage of life where this is the longest I’ve been single since I was fourteen years old, and while it has been a great opportunity for growth and self-discovery, it is also filled with a lot of grief. Therefore, being able to articulate these emotions to myself in a creative way that I miss the space that was taken up in my life that all of sudden became an empty void that I didn’t know how to fill was really therapeutic.
What advice would you share with someone struggling with the absence of such a significant presence in their life?
Sophia: Although it is so hard navigating such a different way of life, staying stuck in a situation you don’t belong in will slowly destroy you. It is worth every amount of questioning, every breakdown, every physical heart ache you feel to be able to provide happiness for yourself, instead of depending on someone else who does not treat you right to provide a semblance of distorted “happiness” that you’re settling for. Allowing myself to no longer be hindered or held back by my co-dependent attachment to romantic relationships has allowed me to truly discover myself, my capabilities, and my true dreams for my life. I know everyone going through the same is given that opportunity and should take advantage of letting the pain be a constant learning experience, rather than a hindrance.
What does this song personally mean to you?
Sophia: It means that I don’t necessarily miss my ex’s most of the time because I know that we weren’t right together. However, what I do miss more often is the security and the time they took up. Specifically, the security of self based on their validation and illusion of security of what my future was going to look like that being with them provided and represented. Additionally, the majority of my free time was spent hanging out with my boyfriend at the time, so adjusting to a completely new day to day is still hard for me because it was how I operated during very formative years of my life from 2015-2023. Since I spent the last almost decade of my life in very serious relationships, being in love was as natural to me as a bodily function that automatically occurs, like breathing is. Which is what the tag line “Cause being in love’s how I used to breathe” represents. So, this song is me articulating the juxtaposition of trying to move on without a relationship in my life, while still actively grieving that loss.
If listeners could take something away from this song, what would you like it to be?
Sophia: I want listeners to feel comforted in the fact that heartbreak is a multi-layered experience and that they should give themselves grace with the cyclical grief that can come along with it. That someone going through contradictory feelings isn’t alone in it and that it is normal. It is normal to be a wreck intensely missing what your life with them entailed one day, it is normal to feel perfectly fine and not notice their absence another, and it is normal to feel like you hate them for what they put you through the next day. Your pain is valid no matter how much time has passed or how much you feel like you should be over it already, when situations like these are so nuanced.
What advice would you offer to someone looking to pursue a career within the music industry?
Sophia: My professors from APU that work in the industry always harped on a few key elements to being successful in this industry. Hard work ALWAYS beats out talent. Being talented only gets you so far, but being able to work hard is what sets someone apart in this industry. The determination to keep going, being adequately prepared when presented with opportunities, and treating every gig as a professional is extremely valuable. Secondly, being a kind, fun, and just easy to get along with person is very important. No one wants to work with a self-entitled diva who doesn’t treat everyone in the room, no matter their level of “importance” with genuine kindness and consideration.
Finally, is there a message that you would like to share with the readers of Fierce & Fabulous Revolution?
Sophia: Yes! I just want to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to share a bit of my story. I hope this song resonates in ways that brings healing to people through my unique approach to the lesser discussed feelings on this subject, than the typical musical discussions of breakups. Go stream “Used To Breathe”!!!!
You can listen to “Used To Breathe” on Spotify below or via further platforms here.
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