Freshman, Sofia Lynch, balances school and singing
BY SOFIA CROWLEY, Freshman
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| LYNCH FEATURE VIDEO |
BLYTHEWOOD-- A 9 year old girl tells her mom to listen to a song that she has written. This girl had only just learned how to play the guitar that same year so her mom wasn’t expecting much. The young girl begins singing the song while playing her guitar. As the girl sings on, her mom realizes that her daughter is talented.
This young girl is Sofia Lynch, now a 14 year old freshman at Blythewood High School. Raised by Kristin Lynch, her mother, who is an engineer but does opera singing as a hobby, and Eric Lynch, her father, who is also an engineer. Sofia has two sisters, a younger one and an older one.
“After hearing her song, I took her to my opera coach. Her coach was getting ready to teach her opera, but I asked her to give a listen to Sofia’s song. Then Sofia performed her song, and the coach said ‘Oh. We aren’t going to teach her opera.’ We both saw Sofia’s true potential and that’s really when she began singing,” Mrs. Lynch said.
The Beginning of it All
However, this wasn’t Sofia’s first time singing. She became interested in singing at an extremely young age.
“When I was about 5 years old, the music teacher at my elementary school got a bunch of kids together, who are ages 5 and 6, to audition to sing the national anthem at a teacher’s board meeting. And for some reason, she picked me. I was the only kindergartener who got picked and I ended up winning the audition. I got to sing the national anthem in front of like, 300 teachers that summer and ever since then, I’ve really loved singing,” Sofia said.
She fell in love with it and began writing songs of her own at age 9.
“Something that I really love about songwriting is that it happens differently every time. Sometimes, I’ll write a poem and turn that into a song. Other times, obviously, I’ll write about what I’m feeling that particular day,” Sofia Lynch said.
Sofia has just recently released a CD with her originals, and they will soon be released on Spotify and iTunes. She also performs her original music at gigs in restaurants.
“Usually my sets will be three hours, so obviously I don’t perform three hours of originals cause that’s not really what people want to hear. But I do mix in five or six original songs with every set,” Sofia said.
She doesn’t just sing and write her own pop music, she also gets her own gigs.
“If your mom calls a restaurant, that usually tends to get lost in the shuffle or people think ‘Oh, she’s a stage mom, she’s crazy.’ So I end up having to do it myself. Which, is really hard to do because you call the restaurants and you’re not sure who’s gonna answer and you’re not sure if they are going to be in a good mood or not. So sometimes they’ll say ‘Call another time’ and hang up. Sometimes I’ve auditioned for restaurants and they just never have gotten back to me. And then sometimes, obviously, they’ll offer me a gig which is really fun,” Sofia said.
Life Outside of Singing
But, of course, being a singer and a student can be quite the challenge.
“It can be really difficult because I often have to choose between ‘Do I want to get an A?’ or ‘Do I want to play at this restaurant until 10 o’clock. So school is definitely a priority for me, but you have to find a balance,” Sofia said.
Sofia has decided to take singing as her official career path and has received tons of support, from both home and school.
“I saw her videos on Instagram and I was like ‘Oh my gosh! Sofia!’ Then when I saw her live it was really nice and soothing, so I definitely think she should go for it,” Janina McDuffie, Sofia’s friend, said.
At Sofia’s house, she has gotten the most support. Both her mom and her dad have given her all of their support. Although, they sometimes worry as the music business is a little complicated.
“You can be the best singer, or the best musician in the world and not make it. But then you can also be a not very good singer and a not very good musician and make it. It’s not just pure talent that gets you where you need to be…To actually make it takes hard work, years of dedication, skipping high school events, skipping other things she wants to do. So, it’s going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices if she wants to make it,” Mr. Lynch said.
Still, even if there are some challenges, her friends and family continue to give Sofia all the love and support that they can muster.
“She has a really good support system and just having the support can really help her on so many levels, whether it’s when she’s performing or when she’s writing a song,” McDuffie said.
Sofia Lynch continues to strive through singing and school. While being a straight A student at Blythewood, and performing at Nashville, she can be an inspiration to many young musicians.
