Toronto-based singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Sofia Camara’s latest single has been a resounding success, marking a significant milestone in her burgeoning career. With over 5 million streams garnered since its release last month, the track serves as a testament to Camara’s growing popularity and resonates deeply with her expansive fan base, which exceeds 790,000 followers. Collaborating with acclaimed songwriters Lowell and Nate Ferraro, known for their work on Beyoncé’s hit “Texas Hold ‘Em” and other notable tracks, Camara delivers a poignant performance, showcasing her powerful vocals and heartfelt storytelling. The song eloquently navigates themes of grief and heartache, drawing listeners into a relatable narrative following the end of a relationship.

“The process of writing this song is one I will never forget,” explains Sofia, speaking on the emotive connotations behind the track. “It brought me so much joy, while still healing from the hurt. I wanted this song to express the pains of such a deep love that you watched crumble in front of your eyes. A moment you never thought would come and when it all fell apart, you ended up losing a part of yourself. That’s the thing about love… you give so much of yourself without knowing what you’ll be left with when it ends, but things get better. You just need to be patient.”

Now, Sofia unveils the visually striking accompaniment to the track. Directed by Alex Smith, these visuals beautifully encapsulate the lyricism, emotions, and themes of the song, providing a cathartic conclusion to a tumultuous romance.

Watch the video below…

We caught up with Sofia to discuss the overwhelmingly positive reception of her latest track, the experience of losing a best friend at the end of a relationship, and how she integrates her travel experiences into her music.

Hey Sofia! Can you run us through how you got started in music?

I started writing music when I was 13, just sitting in my mom’s room and writing what I thought at the time were the best songs I’d ever written. I remember moments when I would be dance-battling myself as I would belt and sing in front of the mirror. I finally found the courage to sing in front of my elementary school for the talent show and realized this was exactly what I was born to do.

What have been your career highlights to-date?

I will never forget my song “Never Be Yours” playing on the radio for the first time. I remember being a kid and dreaming of a moment like that… I absolutely also have to mention the iconic Miley Cyrus commenting on my TikTok from 2020 because I feel like it’s such a crazy thing to wrap my head around – even today. Miley, if you see this, hi I love you!

I’ve had the opportunity to go on tour and share the stage with iconic Canadian legends while travelling across the country, which is so wild. This year, I was nominated for my first ever award for “Best New Talent” at the International Portuguese Music Awards, like what!!! Somebody pinch me because I must be dreaming. What an honour it is to be nominated and share such a memorable moment with my family and people back home in Portugal. Speaking of back home, I also performed with a good friend of mine, Fernando Daniel, while I visited last year, and it was the biggest crowd I’ve ever sang in front of. I think it was about 9,000 people… Again, someone pinch me!!! But if I’m being completely honest, it’s so hard to name each one because I cherish every moment – big or small – and it’s made me who I am today. Every single one is a highlight moment that I hold so dearly to my heart.

Your single “Who Do I Call Now? (Hellbent)” has been received incredibly well, how do you feel about the track?

Speechless. I have yet to find words to even express my feelings. This song is so very special to me. I say that about all my songs because they all tell a story about my life, but I felt something different with this song. I’m so proud of every minute I’ve spent trying to perfect it and the sleepless nights praying that the world would love it the same way I do. It’s a scary feeling when someone wears their heart on their sleeve, which I always felt was important for me because I always want to have an open heart with the world when it comes to my music. I wanted people to feel connected to the art, connected to the emotion, and to feel the music in such a fond way where it makes them feel less alone in such dark and lonely times. This song healed a big part of me during a difficult time when not only was I losing myself, but losing somebody I love so very much so to hear people’s stories about how this song has affected them is incredibly rewarding and makes it all so worth it.

Can you talk us through the narratives and themes of the track?

Oh my… grab a chair! I was struggling heavily when I was writing this song because I’ve never felt that level of hurt before. When I walked into the studio to write the song, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about because the day before we wrote the song, I got into a fight with this person, and it led to us making the decision to walk away from each other to save us from further destruction. I swear, in that moment my heart stopped, and it felt like I was drowning and couldn’t breathe. I was watching something so beautiful fade into oblivion. I was losing such a big part of my life, and I just wasn’t ready to let go, even though we both knew it was necessary at the time. I was not only losing a lover, I was also losing a best friend and I couldn’t imagine my life without this person because they were all I knew. Losing them was knowing I’d be losing myself along with them. So, when I was writing this song, I wanted to express that feeling because if it meant us fighting together, then I’d rather have that than not have them at all. I’d rather sit and watch us yell at each other because anything was better than witnessing one of us walk away… but at what point do we stop? At what cost? Until what breaking point? At the end we both lost each other, and I realized that’s never what I wanted. We were both fighting for each other to each other, and I think we both got lost. All I needed was to know I could call and know that we could make it out of this mess.

What do you attribute the success of the track to?

Definitely TikTok. I think a lot of people online have related to the song on such a deep level. We depend on social media as the new source for discovering music and I think it was just the right timing for this song to come out. People really appreciate vulnerability and honesty in music and I think they can see that in the music I make.

You’ve also dropped accompanying visuals for the track. Can you share your creative process in creating the music video?

It was such a crazy experience. I was talking to the director, and I mentioned I wanted it to be more of a short film. At first, we were going to have me walk around a room that was upside down and upside right, but I begged the director to be suspended because I thought it would add a cool overall imagery to the video. I remember asking for it to be moody and I wanted to be fighting with someone to really showcase the story in my lyrics. I really wanted the video to represent the same storyline as the song – especially the fighting and the dishes shattering – because I wanted to showcase the rollercoaster emotions of fighting with someone and loving them so much to let it go. I think that’s why me and the director thought it was so important to throw away the diorama at the end of the video. We thought it was super important to show me letting it go even though I was drowning in that decision. I knew it would lead back to self-discovery. It took us around 17 hours total to film the whole thing and I’m glad to say I’m so happy with how it turned out. Probably my favourite video I’ve done to date.

Where do you go from here? What do you have planned for the rest of the year?

I’m hoping to drop an EP or an album during this year. I’m also hoping to do my first headline show because I love seeing the faces of the people who have become such a big part of me and my career. I really want to lean into more travel and involve my travel with music. I want to write in different places around the world and have experiences worth writing about. I also want to keep dropping music and only release music I feel extremely connected to from here on out. A headline tour would be insane – that’s something I’ll be working towards in the long run so stay tuned for new music and thank you for being a part of this journey with me. Lots of love.