Understanding GenZ with Sophie Powers
Our identity today seems caught in a paradox we haven’t quite learned how to name. We were born alongside the internet, a space where everyone reflects and refracts one another. Its beauty lies in its contradictions, as does its darkness. We’re tangled in our emotions, imploding while trying to suppress them. It’s like we “feel nothing even though we feel it all.” This hauntingly accurate phrase comes from one of the most powerful voices in today’s music scene, Sophie Powers.
She captures the existential tension we carry—told to "keep running," to stay in motion without pause, like a river or a nosebleed. In this environment, alienation isn’t an anomaly. It becomes necessary. Being constantly connected creates a sense of empowerment that often demands a state of absence in return. As she states in our interview: “We’ve built digital versions of ourselves that are loud and fearless, but when we try to bring that same energy into real life, it can feel awkward, isolating, even disorienting.”
That’s why we’re building our own frameworks in art, fashion and identity, because beneath the surface lies a void where inherited models used to be. “I think Gen Z doesn’t trust rigid labels or systems because we’ve seen how fake they can be,” Sophie says. We’ve watched labels collapse and old archetypes fail. Now we’re left scrambling to invent new ones, endlessly reshaping the past to make space for a future, as she suggests.
We live in a constant state of pursuit. More goals, better goals. If we’re not striving, we’re seen as falling behind. The keyword is performance. There’s an unspoken demand to always deliver, especially under the pressure amplified by social media. “We’re constantly plugged in, surrounded by curated versions of people’s lives.”
But when the performance ends and the audience disappears, we’re left with our own reflection. Is it really us, or our alter egos? What are we chasing? Often, validation becomes the substitute for something deeper, a desperate answer to the panic attack on the bathroom floor, born from fear, frustration and anxiety.
Sophie doesn’t shy away from these truths. Through her music, she offers a raw, contemporary perspective. She reframes anxiety not as weakness but as awareness. “If you’re not at least a little anxious, you’re probably not paying attention,” she believes.
Still, in a world where everyone is staging their own show, where the line between real and simulated is increasingly blurred, one question remains: how can anyone truly stand out?
“The more raw and unfiltered we are, the more it cuts through the noise,” our artist states when asked for her view. Her directness, unfiltered language and emotional transparency don’t just reject the system. They interrupt it. In a culture built on performance and half-truths, brutal honesty becomes both a form of rebellion and a way to be seen.
Through her sound, Sophie renders our GenZ identity visible. She broadcasts her needs and frustrations with clarity, embodying a generation in flux. In the spectacle of the 21st century, where pretending and performing often take centre stage, the cultural script feels eerily like something Debord or Baudrillard might have predicted. And it’s exactly for this reason that being authentic, and raising your voice, feels like a radical but necessary act.
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