University of Sussex Students' Newspaper

SOAK Preview

Sasha Khan

BySasha Khan

Oct 23, 2015

Arguably Brighton’s most renowned venue, Concorde 2, plays host to 19-year-old, Irish singer songwriter SOAK on October 29th for the 3rd night of her 9-leg tour. After starting to write songs from the age of 13, Bridie Monds-Watson (SOAK) has managed to create distinctive sound which has proven to be very popular up and down the country. Once hailed as one the rising stars in Northern Ireland, she is certainly living up to that acclaim. Her debut album Before We Forgot How to Dream is a real coming-of-age record, capturing the painstaking experience of adolescence down to a tee but still has an underlying positive element to it too. Some of her songs, however, have a socio-political side to them, in particular ‘Sea Creatures’, written about a friend who was bullied for her sexuality. Bridie has a refreshingly strong attitude towards equality as she regularly takes to social media in support of LGBTQ rights in Northern Ireland, where gay marriage remains illegal. It’s hard not to relate to her self-aware songs allowing her to speak freely, which has gained her lots of support. It’s hard to believe that Bridie is still only a teenager but her journey to fame is unsurprising and she will certainly continue to garner more fans in the coming years.

Ralph Palmer

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