Soccer Mommy’s favourite Joni Mitchell song: “One of the best songs ever written about love falling apart”
Despite sonic differences, the influence of Joni Mitchell on Sophia Allison, also known as Soccer Mommy, is very clear. Though Allison veers further into indie rock and pop soundscapes in comparison to Mitchell’s folk, her lyrics contain all the specificity, life and storytelling of a track penned by the Canadian icon.
The modern wave of sad girl indie music owes much to the work of Mitchell in the 1960s and ’70s. With vulnerable lyrics about love and loss accompanied by gorgeous guitar and piano melodies, Blue paved the way for the likes of Laura Marling, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, and even Taylor Swift to thrive, all of whom have shared their love for the folk pioneer. The record is widely considered one of the greatest of all time, and Allison has been one of its many proponents since her youth.
She once recalled how her dad was the person to introduce her to Mitchell. In an interview with The Line of Best Fit, she shared, “When I was in high school, my dad played Joni Mitchell’s ‘California’ for me, and I was like ‘this is kind of cool.’” Despite finding it kind of cool, Allison gave up on it after a while because it was shown to her by her father, adding, “I was in high school, and I was into pop music a lot”.
It was only when Allison graduated high school and left to study music business at New York University that she revisited Mitchell, and she “listened to Blue a lot and started checking out her discography.” But one song from Blue stood out to her in particular – ‘A Case Of You’.
Allison dubs it “one of the best songs ever written about love falling apart, I can’t think of a song that does it better.” She praises how the song is sad but doesn’t focus on the sadness, declaring: “It’s one of the greatest songs about being in love and love fading, falling into love, falling out of love, it covers all of it.”
This is primarily down to Mitchell’s masterful lyricism, which Allison calls “so extremely specific and detailed.” She explains her admiration for them, stating: “Maybe they don’t relate specifically to everyone’s experience, but they make a really detailed story. Even if you don’t relate to them, it’s like a story/song, rather than trying to capture one feeling, it’s a whole story of someone’s experience that maybe reminds you of your own.”
Mitchell’s lyrical capability is evident from the song’s opening line, as she sings, “Just before our love got lost you said, ‘I am as constant as a northern star’, and I said, ‘Constantly in the darkness, where’s that at? If you want me, I’ll be in the bar.'” It’s witty, beautiful, and devastating all at once. She tells a deeply personal tale of love in her specificity, but it’s not so detailed that it becomes inaccessible. Instead, as Allison suggests, it’s an intimate tale of lost love in which listeners can find elements of themselves.
With Soccer Mommy, Allison clearly channelled Mitchell’s lyrical influence into her own intimate musical storytelling. On her most recent record, Sometimes, Forever, she explores similar themes of love and contemporary anxiety, just over slightly denser, harsher instrumentals more tailored to a modern audience. Mitchell’s open, vulnerable lyrics have enamoured budding artists and fans worldwide and allowed a whole generation of women in music to thrive.
