Sofie Royer keeps finding her way back to the stage

Original Photography by Juanita Sohe Pereira Lillo & Oskar Burger On the cover of Sofie Royer’s fourth album, before/after, a boot presses down against her face, pushing her into the dirt. Flip the record over and the perspective widens: Royer is being crushed by the weight of herself, her own hand holding the boot. It initially began with a meme. “There was this kid that was being pushed into the mud by a boot in the image,” Royer recalls. “And then the second image is zoomed out, and he’s holding the boot.” She laughs. “That image really stuck with me.”It’s a visual joke with an uncomfortable implication because of how true it can be. Sometimes, what feels like an outside force working against us is actually ourselves getting in the way. On before/after, Royer may be the main character in her world, but she’s also the director, pulling us into her internal coming-of-age monologues that feel as intimate as an exchange with a friend who trusts you with their deepest memories.She reflects on the ways we get caught in an endless, repetitive chase for validation, as well as the ways we measure ourselves against who we’ve been or who we hope to become. “We’re constantly doing this,...