How a Powderpuff Concussion Led Sophia Eris to Fame

The studio is lit up with Sophia Eris’s radioactive energy in this episode of 87.9.

 Glenn internally fan girls as he chats with Sophia Eris about her rise to stardom. 
We dive into: 

• How three concussions changed the trajectory of Sophia’s career path
• The radio station that catalyzed opportunities in DJing, singing, songwriting, producing, traveling, and more
• The myths that inspired Sophia’s name 

Tune in for good vibes, and then go listen to Sophia’s music after. 

Produced by Propellant Films
Starring: MJ Mattheson as Glenn Sheen and Sophia Eris 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Do you have a favorite venue that you've ever performed at?

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Oh, a favorite ooh, that's good one. Madison Square Garden was legendary, obviously. It was a Lizzo's special tour. And so it was like I got to open and I got to do two sets a night. Amazing. So I opened and then I also performed with her. We we did two sold-out shows back to bad.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

That's insane. I can't even afford to get into Madison Square Garden, even when they're closed. I went there for a tour and they were like, you're not allowed.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yeah. I'm here in the studio today for the K Who Are You interview. And hey, who are you, person to my left? Why it's none other than Sophia Aeris. Welcome to the studio, Sophia.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Hello, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Oh, I'm doing great. Better now.

unknown 0:43

Good.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yeah, you're like a ray of sunshine.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Thank you. Yeah. I've been told that before.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

You've been told that before? I'll think of something new to think of for you. You are like a blast of radiation coming from a ball of gas.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

So it's just the same thing as being a ray of sunshine, but just a different way of saying it. Sophia Ares, those who maybe don't know, which I'm sure they do, but just in case our listeners out there don't know who you are, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Yes. Um I am an artist uh and a DJ. Um and I actually did radio as well for a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

I am a huge fan of your radio work.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Really?

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Yeah. I've I think I've tried to copy your style a little bit here and there.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Oh, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Mostly just in talking on the radio.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Yeah, that's good.

unknown 1:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

I was like, I wonder what my style was. Isn't it crazy? Like you have to learn how to talk clearly and um with space, and that's what I had to work on the most, is just like my clarity and my timing and my speed because I talk really fast when I get excited. Same. And then it tends to turn into your own radio voice in a way.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I didn't know you had to work on that. I've just been I did I I couldn't tell. I did your cadence is great. So radio, DJing, artists.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Artist and producer. And producer.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

That's amazing. What don't you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

I like that answer.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Okay. Sophia Ares. Yes. That is both your moniker and your name and your stage name.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Um actually my so my real name is Lauren. Oh. My name is Lauren. And like, so when I when I got into artistry, um when I was my my initial step was singing and rapping. And like, and I was like, dang, Lauren Hill exists. And I was like, that's I can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

No one can but her. No, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

It's like she's like this the ultimate. So I can't be Lauren when Lauren Hill exists. So then uh I kind of started thinking about like other names, and and the thing I got really into in high school was um uh Greek mythology. And so I just loved I loved the idea of like multiple gods and like multiple things, like multiple people you could look up to. And there was the the goddess of wisdom is Sophia and the goddess of strife is Ares. And so I thought the two together would be really like good um resemblance of like what artistry is, like you need one for the other.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Wow, wisdom and strife? Yeah, I just thought it sounded good. I'm a huge fan of your music as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Yeah, absolutely. I'm a huge fan. Uh I I do have a couple questions.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Just about some of the songs that I've heard over the last few years. I'm a huge fan of who's got the boom.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

And that's a great that that single was made my whole summer. Wondering if you ever figured it out. Who actually has that boom?

SPEAKER_00 3:13

You have the boom. I have the boom? Put that boom mic right there.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

This whole time? I'm just gonna check that one off then. All right, that was easy. That was an easy question to answer.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

You know what's funny about that song?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Um, it got licensed uh twice. Um, I guess with the two movies. Or I guess one was a show, one was a movie.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Okay, let me guess. Who's got the boom?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Um the movie was.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Um uh was it a documentary about Timothy McVeigh?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

No. Who's that?

SPEAKER_01 3:42

The Unibomber?

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

It was Power Rangers.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

You're kidding me.

unknown 3:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

The Power Rangers?

SPEAKER_00 3:49

The Power Rangers movie.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Starring Brian Cranston as Zordon?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

I don't know. I know it was no, it was it was it was the newer one, like the newer one that came out like in 2017.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Oh, I'm aware, absolutely. Elizabeth Banks is Rita Repulsa. Yeah, yeah. I don't know much about this. I don't watch that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah, well, I was a huge power range. I was a Pink Ranger twice in a row for Halloween. You're kidding. It was a big deal for me.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

You were a Pink Ranger twice? Twice in a row.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

That was the regular one and then the ninja one.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Oh no kidding. This is like 2020, 2021. Okay, so who's got the boom got license for Power Rangers the movie?

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

And what other TV show?

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Um, P Valley. P Valley? So what about the strippers?

SPEAKER_01 4:27

So Power Rangers and Strippers. Yes. And somewhere in between that both have the boom. And apparently I do too.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

I wonder which one I'm more like.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Wait, I was thinking about like how Power Rangers turn into the Rangers. Like they're kind of like reverse strippers, you know, like they like That's true.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

You know, they put more clothes on. And actually, I've been told I'm way more attractive the more clothing I wear.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

I'm wondering, do you have a memory from your childhood uh that you can kind of look back on and be like, oh, wow, this is the moment that I knew I wanted to be this thing, all these amazing things you do. Yeah. Is there something that ties back to from when you were a kid?

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Um, I just remember my mom told me this. Do you remember Star Search, like the first Star Search, not what guy came back? My mom told me I would just watch it. I would stand in front of T T V and watch it and go, thank you, thank you. And like could just mimic what I was watching. That's amazing. Thank you.

unknown 5:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

So Star Search, uh it brought the star out of you.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

I guess so. I'll be home after school watching like the music videos. I was basically TikToking before TikTok exists. I would learn all the dances, like I'm like Janet, JLo, Aaliyah, um, Destiny and Shaw. Just I was obsessed with learning the dances so I could show my mom when she got home. I was like, mom, watch this.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

So you like basically invented TikTok for your mom.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

I know, I should have patented it.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

I used to go to a lot of middle school dances.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

We did.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Whoa.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

But I was in uh uh elementary school. So I'd sneak in. So I wanted to be around cooler, older people.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Oh, I thought you've met an older woman.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Oh no. No, no. I've had very little luck with uh older women or or women in general.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I heard your divorce.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah, you heard, yeah. Thanks for bringing that up. It's um it's new. Uh it's new. It's it's been about almost two years, but it's new for me to have accepted.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Yeah. You so people are talking about it.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

I mean, maybe I mean maybe I'm dispecial, maybe I just like heard I don't think too many people have talk about it. I think you're okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Okay, cool. Do you know my ex-wife? Judy? No?

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Her name's Judy?

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Her name's Judy. Yeah, like Garland.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

So I have to ask you this. Okay. DJ Sophia Ares, you have traveled the world over and performed in many countries. Yeah. Do you have a running count of how many countries you performed in? Or are they so many that you're like, I don't know. I'm just here now.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

You know what's messed up by a don't count. And and and I've like tried to sit down and like think. You know, you know how that goes.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Uh I I can't. I try to sit down and not think. Because when I do the demons, you know, just Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Not Judy. Okay. So like something. But yeah, when I try to think about how many shows I've done, I really do you have any favorite countries? I loved Amsterdam.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Amsterdam.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

And and it's not because I think what people automatically think. I think so. When we toured, I think my hobby was I would always want to go see a thrift store in that area. Yeah. I was like, I was collecting benches for like seven years. And so um, not not just because I was a collector, but also because I felt like it told a lot about wherever we were. Every city, every country, like I feel like the thrift stores spoke a lot about the culture there, you know? Totally. Yeah. And Amsterdam has one of the best thrift stores I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Can I ask then, uh, also like crowd-wise for the shows? Where because I know that some places in Europe, uh, from what I've heard, can be really into stuff, and some people just like the way they show they like something is crossing their arms and nodding. Like here in Minnesota.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Minnesotans, you can tell they're losing their minds when they get their arms crossed and they go.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

That blink.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

And that blink, they really give the energy back to the audience. To the artist. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Yeah. No, Amsterdam, I they they were amazing.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

What's your least favorite country? I'm just kidding. We don't have to do that. Um, do you have America? Oh, whoa. Shout out to Canada and Mexico. We'll see you soon.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Just right now. No.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So what's your beef with America? Yeah, that's a water break.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Yeah, we can take a water break. Is this lukewarm because I don't mess with ice?

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. I just call it frozen cubes now. Uh all right. Uh Sophia Ayers, can I ask you, what is the most exciting thing to you about what you get to do?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

I love I love being pulled into understanding that I'm at the right place at the right time and and and and that I'm of service to my purpose, you know what I'm saying? And like, um I love I love seeing people inspired and happy and and like the shift that happens um when you get to like share your God-given ability, you know what I mean? And like and the vulnerability aspect and being able to like grow into that as well. I just love it's like a kind of a constant evolution. Um and I and I I I'm like kind of obsessed with continuing that journey, like growing and growing and growing into just seeing how what I'm capable of, you know. Um that's I love it. That's amazing. And making something out of nothing, basically, it's just being a creator and just like just following through with your ideas and your visions and being able to share that with the world is like amazing. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Wow. So you you mentioned being in the right place at the right time. What what does that feel like?

SPEAKER_00 10:02

I guess here's an example. I remember it was my birthday. I uh my birthday is May 21st, and so um for like years, like a good like six years in a row, we always had some type of show on my birthday. And this specific year we opened up for Thundercat.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah, and like um, and so there was like they kind of had a pop-up surprise party um in the green room for me after, and there's like a bunch of like balloons and um glasses or whatever. And I remember um when he came up to me, he's like, Hey, I'm Thundercat, and I was like, Hi, I'm Sophia, and we shook hands and a balloon popped and a glass broke. It was like, what?

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Like an anime?

SPEAKER_00 10:41

It was it was so weird.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

It's like your auras just power.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

It went just psh. And like, that's like just an example, but things like that happen sometimes, and they're like, We're like, what? And you can't really explain it.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

That's amazing. But we do have to cut to an ad break real quick if you if you're cool with sticking around.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

All right, we're in the studio with Sophia Ares. It's K Who Radio 87.9. Listen to these ads. And when I say listen to these ads, I mean please, dear God, listen to the ads. Be right back. Awesome. Just great. You doing good?

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Yes. This is wonderful. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

You you you were on radio for how long?

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Um three years.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Three years.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

How am I doing?

SPEAKER_00 11:18

You're doing great.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

You sure?

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Because I've been doing this for about 10, 12, and and people still never heard of the show.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

10, 12 years? Yes. What were you doing before this?

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Uh, it's a blank slate in my mind. But um, I went to community college for for six years.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Well, how many things like did you did you dabble in? Oh, all of six years.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Well, you know what was amazing is um I took a lot of intro to classes, but I never did the second class. Oh, okay. I just got the intros of a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

What's your favorite intro?

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Uh I did an introduction to Asian philosophy.

unknown 11:48

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, yeah. That was cool. I loved that because um there was an essay we had to write about uh Buddhism, and they said, you know, sum up what Buddhism is, and I said, It is. And that was and put it in three pages staple that just said it is and turned it back in. That's still smart. God nay.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

It is.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

It is.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, I still ended up failing though because I didn't show up for the rest of the classes.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

You didn't have to, you already knew the point.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Thank you. See, that's what I thought. If you'd kind of get the gist of it, yeah, just drop out.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Oh, and we're coming back.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

All right.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

All right. It's 87.9 K who radio. You heard it here. That was our sponsor, Shivers Bar and Grill. Shivers, we're chill. I'm in the studio with Sophia Ares. So pleased to have you here. Uh during the break, we were talking about uh your career in radio. You were on the radio for three years.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

I was.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Yeah, I I started, I it started off because like I said, I'm a DJ. So they had me do this like ladies' nights mixes every Friday. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

And so I've been going to a lot of those.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Some ladies' nights? Yeah. Have you picked up a light? Oh, yeah, because you're divorced.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah, that's that's why.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

I mean, it'd be bad if I was going and I was still married.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Is that why you got divorced?

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Um Judy left. No, she just uh left.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Okay. Anyways.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

So sorry, yeah, you were DJing those ladies' nights?

SPEAKER_00 13:14

I did ladies' night mixes and um and uh and I would go in live and host them. Like I would pre-mix them, go in live every Friday and do like you know live bits in between. And they're like, well, we we're gonna have a night host coming in named Augie from Arizona. And since you're local, it'd be nice like to partner with him to kind of get him acclimated and you can practice. So uh so the night show, which was Augie 5000, I would be there um and just kind of be his co-host, you know, and then that show got to number one, and so once I got to number one, they gave us the morning show and then became Aggie and Sophia in the morning. And um, and this is like within my first year, I think, year and a half of radio.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Okay, amazing. That did you end up uh going to uh college? Did you go traipse across the uh scholarly fields of some land?

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah, I did graduate with an associate's degree in music business.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

In business?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

In music business specifically.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Ooh, specifically music business. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

I started well, I started off actually, I went to college my freshman year on a soccer scholarship.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

In Ohio, in Urbana, Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

You're kidding me. What was your position in soccer?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Um by the time I got to college, they had me at center mid, but I had to wear like a um headband thingy, like a padded headband, because they had three concussions going in. What?

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Or were they soccer related?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Um, one was like one was a powder puff injury because I played powder puff in high school. I got that was my first one. I got knocked out like cold, like pop. And I remember waking up to like claps and they're like, What's your name?

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Once again, applause brings you back. The power of applause brought you back to life.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

So then after that, the next one I got was in basketball, and then the next one was in soccer, and then by then um they were like, give me this headband, and uh, and then if you get one more, you're done. And I was like, done with what?

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Living, right? If you get hit in the head one more time, you're dead.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

But hey, get out there, champ. Have a good, have a good game.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

So don't think about it. I didn't feel as fun anymore, you know. And and but the whole time I knew um in my heart I wanted to um, I was such a nerd about music and I love discovering new music and I wanted to be AR. And like my parents were like, what's that? They're like, just go where, you know, you have support and funding and like just follow the scholarship thing and just major in business, you know. And with that first year when they watched me play, they're like, you know, she's not happy. And Minneapolis was the place that I I found the school IPR, and so they let me take a semester off to work to save money, and then they supported me coming out here. Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. That's why I had to work really hard.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Do you still do you still ball? Can you call is soccer ball or is basketball ball, I guess, when I think of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

One's football.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Oh, well, that's right. Football.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yeah. Um, no, I don't. Like uh basketball, I do. I love basketball. Um, I can I sell my shot. This my shot hasn't died. But like playing one-on-one, I don't know. But like I have like a 20-minute limit. It's like I get if I start losing, I'm done.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

It's kind of like going to a casino. You're like, I'm not hot tonight, I'm leaving.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Sometimes when I lose money at a casino, I go to the free area where there's like free soda and free matches and coffee. Yeah. And I take like as much as I can. I'm like, this is like$80 worth of matches. And I put it in like, I didn't lose money, I just went to the store and got a bunch of instant creamers.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

$80 worth of matches.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Yeah. My bathrooms always smell great.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Okay, so I do have a couple more questions here, quick, for you, uh, Sophia. We are getting to the end of the interview, sadly. Okay. Uh, but I want to know what's next for you.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

I'm in a group called Maker and Heiress, which was my my friend, one of my best friends, Mark, and he's Maker, and I'm Sophia Ayres, so together we're maker and heiress.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

And so he's heavily heavily on the production side, and I'm on the vocals and uh songwriting aspect. But we have our third album coming up called Lilith that we're gonna put out in May.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Lilith? Yeah. Was that named after Adam's first wife in the Bible?

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Yes, it is. Give me some.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Oh, see, I remember some stuff.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

A lot of people like don't know that, and it's it's actually amazing how many how many people don't know that. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

I'm a Lilith fan. Yeah, yeah. The way they talk about her, they're like, she's not great for him. And I was like, so taking his rib out was great? It doesn't make sense either.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Like, and she gets demonized because she doesn't want to be dominated. That's crazy. That is crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

So I'm more I'm like a Lilith.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I don't like to be dominated.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Right? And I feel like a lot of people feel like Lilith right now. That's why we're calling it Lilith.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

That's beautiful. So it's so timely.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And that's coming out. Do you have a release date coming out?

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Hopefully it's May. That's what fingers crossed.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Your birthday month?

SPEAKER_00 17:44

It is.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Might be the day after my birthday.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

That's gonna be amazing.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

You're gonna pop some more balloons and break some more glasses. Now, Sophia Aris, if there's one bit of advice you could give to future generations, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Stay open-minded. Never stop learning.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

That's wonderful. Yeah, like if like you heard it here, uh K Who Heads, you go out there, you go to any community college, you take as many classes as you want, and you'd leave without all the intros. All the intros. I tell you the intros and then graduate, just intro. And then you outro, you're out of there. That's awesome. Uh so pleased to have you in the studio today with us, Sophia Ares. Thank you for being here. It's an absolute treat. K Who Heads, it's 87.9. Don't you go anywhere. Because up next, we have an entire solid rock block coming up for you. And then after that, you're gonna have an hour straight of commercials. Thanks for tuning in.