By Casey Brockbank
Photo Credit: Sofia Gillani
This past February, London-based avant-garde pop singer-songwriter Sofia Gillani kicked off 2025 with her latest single, Read Your Mind.
Sofia’s musical career began at just nine years old when she starred as the lead in award-winning musical Evita. Since then, she has proven her devotion to music by independently writing, producing, and promoting her own songs. She has also directed her own music videos, showcasing her creative vision. Following recognition from BBC Introducing as their Artist of the Week and an impressive catalogue of singles, Gillani is an artist with a promising trajectory ahead.
On Read Your Mind, Sofia steers away from her usual sound. It’s an upbeat track with garage production, exploring the highs and lows of platonic love. With soulful, emotionally raw vocals and a joyful beat, it makes for a wonderful contribution to the pop music scene.
Sofia describes the song as being about a more ‘social side’ of her: ‘I feel platonic love is not talked about enough, and this fun garage beat makes the song so relatable as the highs and lows of close friendship experiences make us very emotionally vulnerable’.
From a young age, Sofia drew inspiration from female pop icon Adele: ‘The power and soul in her voice inspired me to express myself and show my love of storytelling through songwriting.’
Most recently, she is a listener of R&B and garage, which has led to inspirations such as Victoria Monet and Lucky Daye.
Next for Sofia is her new single titled Vulnerability, to be released at the end of the month. She has also announced a vinyl release that will feature tracks both old and new, coming in 2026. The sky is certainly the limit for this fresh, budding artist.
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