Sophia Center – Somewhere
Today, Sophia Center shares new song “Somewhere” off her debut EP The Kids’ Table produced by members of TOLEDO and Bloomsday. The Kids’ Table arrives October 10, 2025.
As the second-to-last track on The Kids’ Table, “Somewhere” sits in that weird in-between stage during a friendship breakup where you’re not angry anymore, but not totally fine either. It’s about losing someone you thought would always be around, and how disorienting it is when that kind of closeness just fades. The song’s softer tone mirrors the EP’s gradual shift towards its ending.
Sophia says, I genuinely think friendship breakups are far more devastating than romantic ones, because you never really expect them to end. I wrote this song for the ex-best friends we planned matching tattoos with, and now just make painfully polite small talk instead.
The introspective, cinematic creativity of Southern California is in Sophia Center’s blood. Born and raised in South Pasadena, she internalized what she calls the “Gilmore Girls vibe” of her hometown, which yielded an idyllic, albeit jittery worldview. Observing her father write songs as a hobby allowed her to see music as an early outlet for self-exploration. “At five, I was writing questionable songs,” she remembers. These sketches were akin to diary entries. Now, freshly in her 20s, Center has honed an inward gazing perspective.
Though Center is currently in college, her momentum as an artist makes her a precocious force. She gigs around campus when school is in session, touring across Southern California between semesters. Majoring in film with a minor in music technology requires delicate time management, but also lends her access to a rich community of collaborators. Center’s backing band includes classmates, and she often shoots visuals with her friends on the weekend. Studying film encourages her to block each lyric like a movie frame, relaying stories that smudge reality and fiction.
Center’s debut EP, The Kids’ Table, is an homage to her childhood writing songs. Joni Mitchell and Lizzy McAlpine are key inspirations, and this evergreen quality seeps through. The EP channels youth’s ups and downs, and materialized over the course of three years. Each track is a snapshot from a distinct stage of Center’s existence, the journey beginning with “Decade.” Center penned the song at 18, as she untangled herself from a tendency to search for identity through strangers online. “Mourning the person I thought I’d be / Proving myself worthy / I didn’t realize this birthday would be so mean / A million different versions,” she sings over subtly pulsing drums and atmospheric guitar chords. As Center nears the end of adolescence, The Kids’ Table probes the intricacies of who she is becoming. She packs a range of emotions into five cuts that convey bittersweet catharsis amidst evolution.
Taking a gap year to pursue music after high school granted Center the opportunity to polish her songwriting voice. During this period, she forged industry connections that allowed her to connect with members of Bloomsday and TOLEDO. These fixtures of the Brooklyn indie scene morphed into mentors, session players, and producers. She recognizes how rare it is to be seeing eye-to-eye with such seasoned forebears when many artists her age are tinkering with their blueprints. “I got to fly out to New York to hang in their basement studio for a week and just jam and make these songs,” Center excitedly remembers. The DIY percussion on “I Don’t Mind” is a testament to a human passion at the heart of The Kids’ Table. In her formative days as an artist, Center embraced a remote process. Her stint recording on the East Coast connected her with a joy that can arise from working in person.
The Kids’ Table came about as Center first visited New York City, but she had romanticized the Big Apple long before touching down there. Hypothesizing routines in a more bustling location defines “This Life.” It employs a self-described “word vomit” writing style to imagine day-to-day rituals in an unfamiliar place. “This life’s just fine / This life’s all mine / Think I’m starting to like / This life that’s all mine,” Center sings over a gold-flecked folk instrumental in the chorus, celebrating a gratitude for who she is becoming.
When asked why she chose to title her EP The Kids’ Table, Center’s answer is reflective and self-aware. She believes that everyone has a very specific memory associated with the term, in ways that can be simultaneously positive and negative. “Ever since I’ve stepped into adulthood, there’s been a shift in how I approach things,” she muses. “I tend to lean into dramatics naturally, so I’m leaning into that even more for the sake of the song.” Center jokes that she will be cloistered among proverbial crumbs and stickiness into her 30s, but The Kids’ Table suggests otherwise — she is clearly ready to pull up a chair alongside her elders.
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