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Sophia Fracassi doesn’t hide from her emotions, this was evident in 2022 with the release of her debut EP Marathon, and is still the case in everything she’s done since, and has planned moving forward. From being named KiSS Radio’s “One to Watch’ for February and March of 2023, a cross-Canada tour with Canadian pop-rock icon Amanda Marshall, and a new single titled “Dancing with Myself” coming in June, just in time for the tour, Fracassi shows no signs of slowing down.
Throughout her journey to become a musician, Fracassi has never compromised. Born in small-town Ontario, she was already singing at 18 months old, and enrolled in vocal lessons at five. With her parents' support, she was writing songs by age nine and teaching herself how to play piano to complement her vocal prowess.
Fracassi’s desire to serve others stems from personal experiences during her formative years, including witnessing a loved one’s battle with addiction. As she saw the impact of addiction on those around her, Fracassi felt a calling to give back to her community by volunteering at a local nonprofit cafe and organising fundraising concerts for the unhoused. However, her experiences with addiction also inspired her, as she witnessed her loved one’s recovery and saw them become closer to their true self.
Now, in 2023, Fracassi is set to embark on a tour with Canadian musical icon Amanda Marshall, fulfilling a lifelong dream for any emerging musician. This opportunity is not lost on Fracassi, who understands the significance of the tour and the platform it provides for her to share her music with a broader audience. “Joining a tour with someone as legendary in the Canadian music industry as Amanda Marshall was not on my bingo card for 2023! To have my first touring experience be alongside such a talented individual is truly the greatest honour, and I could not be more grateful for this opportunity. I’m pinching myself constantly about getting to share my music with a wider audience, let alone in some of Canada’s most beautiful venues! I’ve been dreaming of this for so long, it’s definitely going to be an adventure to remember.”
Just days before the tour, Sophia’s new song Dance With Myself (Coalition Music / Warner Canada) produced by Steve Molella (New Friends, LOLO, Finger Eleven) is also set to drop. This emotionally charged pop ballad is, according to Fracassi herself, “a song about raw, unfiltered joy. Joy that does not rely on circumstance or relationship. The unfettered sense of liberation that seeps into every fibre of your being and spills over.” Her first original release since her EP Marathon, this song is sure to resonate with streaming services, radio listeners, and concert crowds.
“I wrote this song to claim territory in my life that I had lost to a broken heart, and a need to please,” says Fracassi. “Dance With Myself” is a figurative stake in the freedom to be who I really am. Sometimes, you find yourself in the eye of the storm. It’s in those moments that you can choose to be afraid, or throw your hands up, surrender, and dance with yourself.”
Earlier this year, Sophia was named KiSS Radios “One to Watch” for February and March of 2023 with her song “I Wanna Get Better Now” off of her debut EP, Marathon, which was broadcast across Ontario on Kiss Radio stations in Toronto, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Timmons, Kingston, North Bay and Sault Ste Marie
Despite all the plans Fracassi has for the future, you also can’t forget just how much she’s done already. Not only is her EP Marathon a chronicle of her coming of age, but a benchmark for where she is now, and where she’s headed to from here.
“I’m growing up, and it’s weird and hard,” Fracassi says. “The EP is my diary of what that’s felt like the last few years. It’s cohesive because I wrote exactly how I was feeling in the moment, and then we released them as I wrote them. There is a real intention that I want people to see behind everything that I put out and put together.”
Having said that, Fracassi is still conscious of the fact that she’s only at the beginning of her journey, and that life still has a lot to offer her. As she grows as a songwriter, she plans to continue challenging herself—while encouraging others to do the same. “There’s often a time and a place in someone’s life where they are looking for something, and one of the best ways they can find it is through a song. I would love to be that for somebody,” she says. “I want it to make an impact on people, however long that impact lasts.”