Sunday Conversation: Sofi Tukker's Love Letter To Brazilian Music

Forbes

01-06-2025

NAPA, CALIFORNIA - MAY 23: Tucker Halpern (L) and Sophie Hawley-Weld of Sofi Tukker perform during ... More the 2025 Bottle Rock Napa Valley festival at Napa Valley Expo on May 23, 2025 in Napa, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/FilmMagic)
Like you I know the duo Sofi Tukker as a fun-loving electronic group I had encountered at dance music festivals and LA parties over the years.
However, like almost all musicians, the members have wildly eclectic tastes and influences. On the wonderful new album, Butter, a companion to last year's Bread, the pair dive headfirst into Sophie Hawley-Weld's longtime passion for Brazilian music.
A gorgeous, sophisticated, elegant collection, Butter, is an authentic homage to the music Hawley-Weld has loved since she was 14. I spoke with her about the album and much more.
Steve Baltin: When did your passion for Brazilian music start?
Sophie Hawley-Weld: Yeah, I also just fell in love with bossa nova specifically. I was probably 14 years old when it really struck me. And I just felt so calm, like my nervous system felt so cozy when I listened to it and I was just really drawn to the style of singing and the style of guitar playing and then I learned Portuguese so that I could sing my favorite songs and at that point I was like oh well now I speak Portuguese I should go to Brazil. So, then I went to Brazil and when I was in Brazil is really when my mind exploded because I got really into fojo which is a style that also shows itself on the album. It's sort of like a folk style that has a really cool dance. And Samba blew my mind. I just started dipping my toes more into more genres. And it wasn't until 10 years later with this album that I actually got to go to Brazil for an extended period of time and make music in this vein. There's like 13 songs in the album, so basically like 13 different styles of Brazilian music and there's even more than that. Brazilian music is such a huge range of genres. There's so much more than even this. This is just still the tip of the iceberg,
Baltin: That leads to an obvious question. Will this be volume one? How deep will you go?
Hawley-Weld: I feel like it's something that I can't imagine falling out of love with, I can't imagine not being passionate about it in some shape, way, or form. For sure it's volume one, this was a really big step for me in my return to Brazil I would say. Then with Tucker's (Halpern) support and me just following this passion for this project. But for sure, I love this style of music so much. I definitely want to do an album that's also just voice and guitar. That's one of the things I've always wanted to do. And I definitely want to do more, yeah. I want to explore more Brazilian genres, and I spend a lot of time here now, so inevitably it will happen in some way in tangent with everything that we're doing in the electronic space.
Baltin: This probably keeps music much fresher for you, because you can go back and forth to it. If you do anything too much it gets monotonous.
Hawley-Weld: Yeah, and I also think it keeps itself fresh if you're listening to electronic music by night and acoustic Brazilian jazz by morning. Your ears always stay fresh. It's funny cause Tucker is so the person who will just say I can do hard techno at all hours. But, for me, switching up genres throughout the day is something I really love and matching the mood of the moment of the day with the genre is something that I really love. I listen to piano music for a lot of the winding down parts of the day or like I listen to really pump up music during my workouts and I love doing that. I love listening to different genres. It does definitely keep it fresh.
Baltin: I'm sure subconsciously that music will still influence the electronic stuff as well in an interesting way, being around that musicianship and that skill set.
Hawley-Weld: I would say it's already doing that
Baltin: How have you noticed it?
Hawley-Weld: It's hard to exactly define it because since Butter we recently wrote some songs that are almost blues and country inspired. So, it's hard to say exactly how but I think inevitably wlw
Baltin: Will you now be doing Brazilian festivals? What would be the dream jazz festival to be on?
Hawley-Weld: We are doing Newport Jazz and then I don't know if it's announced that we're doing one other special show that we're going to film. But we're actually going to keep this super minimal in part because it's such an enormous logistical musical production. We're flying a bunch of musicians from Brazil for the festival, and we have to rehearse for a week before too. So there's a lot of moving parts to make it happen and it's not an easy thing to organize. So, we're just doing one big splash and then if there really is the demand you can always get me to go back to Brazil for sure. I'm in Brazil right now.
Baltin: Do songs come to you now in Portuguese as well or does it come to you in English first?
Hawley-Weld: It depends on the song. I feel like the song will tell me if it's supposed to be in Portuguese or in English and sometimes it starts in Portuguese and then turns English but usually it's just obvious based on the information that I have, like the chords or the vibe of which language would suit it best.
Baltin: That's still so fascinating though. Has it always been that way for you since you studied Portuguese or is it something that when you started writing music in Portuguese started coming to you that way?
Hawley-Weld: I first fell in love with the language when I was 14, but I didn't learn it until I was in college. So, it was about 19 years old, I guess. And I would say ever since then I've been that way; I I've written songs in both languages.
Baltin: Do you feel like in a weird way that this music manifested a life for you in Brazil? Because going back to being 14, you had to envision this. So, do you feel like in a way, doing this album manifested for you falling in love and creating this life there?
Hawley-Weld: Yeah, I do think so. I think it was subconscious, but certainly, it happened. It wasn't conscious at all. I wasn't like, 'Oh, it's time for me to go build a life in Brazil.' I was like, 'I really want to make this album.' And then the album turned into a lot more than that.