In her new—and very first—album titled with her own name, Sofia Carson takes her listeners through a journey of heartbreak, love, and revival. 

Carson has been a minor figure in my life ever since my days of watching Disney movies where she has had numerous roles in movies that include a musical aspect and ones, ultimately, that radiate the theme of girl power. 

It’s encouraging to see that the gap between her Disney career and her continuously developing professional music career was not significant, but rather unusually smooth. I think, unlike some stars that get glued to the Disney name and have a hard time breaking out of that shell, Carson has done the opposite. She has taken the experience she was able to absorb from singing in those movies and has become her own person in the world of entertainment. 

Previously, Carson has released a few singles such as “Love is the name” and “Back to beautiful,” but never a full album until March 25th, 2022. This album contains ten songs, one being “LOUD,” a single she released as a precursor for this album, and only part of the story she wanted to tell throughout this album. 

Carson’s one wish when writing the songs that are in this album was to tell a story, “a story about a girl who falls into a deceiving level, needs to be broken by it, and a girl who picks up her pieces and survives, because it’s only love, nobody dies,” (People magazine). I truly believe she accomplished this goal. 

The first song listed on the album track is “It’s only love, nobody dies.” Ultimately, Carson illustrates and makes the point that sometimes being reckless with love is okay because it’s only love, so make sure to have fun and enjoy it while you can. 

It is a very living-in-the-present kind of song, not worrying about the consequences or repercussions of the present. This part of Carson’s storytelling is obviously representing the girl that has fallen victim to all that love entails, and how easy it is to get sucked into the idea of it. 

However in the middle of the album—and the story—the girl has thought she moved on from the guy that encapsulated her, but the song “Still love you” takes her back, and she begins to think of him again. Each song in between the first song and this one is full of emotion, lots of back and forth diction, and decisions that seem to be consuming her mind. 

Then, in the very last song, “Two tears in a bucket,” the girl is rehashing her relationship with the guy and realizing there was so much more to life than him. The lyrics explain the feeling perfectly: “When we were dumb/ Enough to fantasize, yeah/ That everything was fine, well/ Oh what a perfect guy/ I’ll be fine ‘cause/ There was life before you/ And trust me, darling, there’ll be life again.” 

The entire album is a whirlwind of back and forth emotions as she goes through love, a breakup, and finally, acceptance. I am very happy with Carson’s musical evolution, and I hope she continues to bring create new music, especially songs that bring a purposeful story such as this album.