New Music Review - ‘Deeper Waters’ by Sophie Gibson
Trigger warning: This review mentions death by suicide and mental health. If these topics affect you and you do not feel as though you are able to handle it at this time, please take care of yourself by clicking off the article. If you decide to read it and feel affected, please seek out help - there are trusted resources at the bottom of this piece. You are so important, take care of yourself.—-
The cover for ‘Deeper Waters’ taken by the brilliant Morgana Wilden
Sophie Gibson has been through a lot in her short lifetime, some incredible and some very hard times which she has shared with her audience in her music. Sophie explained to me that creating and sharing her music is her way of expressing the emotions that are sometimes too hard to just bring up in conversation, she finds hope and strength by doing this. Sophie also mentioned that it gives her a purpose and allows her to have a lot of connections with other people, which is a pretty beautiful reason to be putting yourself out there and sharing your passions with others.
—-
The song tells a really sad, personal story that Sophie and her family have been put through - Sophie’s older brother sadly passed away by suicide at 15 years old and it has been a complete journey to try and heal from the grief that has been poured onto her and her family from losing him. Deeper Waters, which will be hitting the Spotify shelf at midnight tonight, explores the emotions of grief, despair and also hope that has come from what must be one of the absolute hardest situations anybody would ever have to deal with.
Deeper Waters starts off with some beautiful acoustic-like guitar work and slowly brings in Sophie’s calming voice, singing to her older brother and reminding him that she will never let go of him and all of the good memories that they had together. She still feels his presence greatly and is wanting to let him know that in this extremely powerful song.
Sophie grew up by the wonderful ocean in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand’s North Island where she found the surrounding nature and music quite inspiring to help her get through the grieving process, which has been very beneficial for her.
—-
The song essentially signifies being thrown into the deep end and having everything you know to be normal and true turned around and flipped upside down, meaning nothing is ever going to be the same again. That is a really hard thing to cope with, however in Deeper Waters you can hear that Sophie has found some solace from creating this masterpiece as she continues to cope with such a big loss. On the flip side of this, the song also shares with us how she has come away from losing her brother to gain a lot of strength from it. She is a superhero who can handle anything in my opinion and to have someone be able to come back and find strength after losing someone so close to her is such an amazing person in my book. The maturity and honesty really will blow you away when hearing the song after you’ve read the background of it, so please do check it out when it is released tonight at midnight, but have the tissues ready.
—-
Sophie is hopeful that by releasing Deeper Waters, it will raise that ever-so needed mental health awareness within our country and will also serve as an honour to her brothers memory. Such an important message that we all need to take into account: it is okay not to be okay and to reach out for help, no matter who you are. Never be ashamed of saying to someone “hey, I’m just not doing okay at the moment, I am needing help. Please be patient with me while I seek this and get better.” Don’t suffer in silence.
The song is remarkable and if I could give it a higher rated review than this already is, I would. Thank you, Sophie, for allowing your personal story to be shared in musical form and for allowing everyone an insight into what you have been through.
—-
You can touch base with Sophie below -
—-
You can seek help for any mental health worries below -
1737 - Free Call or Text
Lifeline
Aunty Dee
Depression.org.nz
Like Minds, Like Mine