Cycle Breaker
Written with Anjali Perinparaja, Cycle Breaker speaks of raising children alongside trauma, misogyny and indoctrination – something women across many different global cultures experience.
Following what would have been Liberty’s 10th birthday, Sophie found herself thinking about her daughter in terms of who she would be now. She surmised her daughter would be as strong willed as the other four members of her nuclear family, and would have been a feminist.
Sophie was also fascinated by how humans navigate the topic of the gender with kids – both living and dead – and decided it wasn’t something she could stay silent on any longer.
As a brilliant song crafter and with girls a similar age to Liberty, Anjali was the perfect choice for a co-write. She has experienced her own loss and suffered intersectional systemic inequality. Both Sophie and Anjali identify as cycle breakers and wrote this song to motivate communities of women as they progress through the challenging journey of childrearing.
Recording Process – Sophie
For me, this song came to symbolise the difference my generation of women can make in creating gender equality change. Women are finally sharing their stories and experiences and there is an outpouring of outrage and grief from women across music. It feels like there is a real sense of everything finally coming together – I remain positive about the future. Catherine and I talked a lot about sexism in music and how we can make a difference. I believe our generation can cause a rupture and break cycles of acceptance and behaviours that is long overdue.
The drums on this song were a revelation to me. Catherine and I worked together to interpret my vision and we achieved exactly what I wanted – which was drums from the yoga room but with urgency and movement. I was delighted with how it turned out.