Sophie Grey is a pianist, a singer, a songwriter, a producer, a sound mixer and a rising popstar. Grey releases music under her own name, but stylizes it as SOPHIE GREY., with a period.

“It honestly was a confidence thing where I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s just my name.’ Sophie Grey.  Period,” she said. “There’s nothing more to be said. This is my work. Go and listen.”

After graduating from Thornton School of Music’s Popular Music program in May, Grey released her debut album, “Grise.” The title — the feminine version of “Grey” in French — pays homage both to her bilingual roots and her push for more women in production and mixing roles.

“There’s very few behind-the-scenes women in music and there’s not many women in production and songwriting, and so I’m very proud to be part of that,” Grey said. “I wanted to include that this was a female-written album and -produced album and -mixed album.”

The fight for women in more music positions is still ongoing. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative studied 1,100 popular songs between 2012 and 2022. There, the Initiative found that less than 13% of songwriters were women. The production category was even worse: Less than 3% of producers were women. 

Grey said she is staunchly aware of the gender disparities in the industry and has experienced it herself in the studio.

“I’ve been in situations where I don’t necessarily feel comfortable with the environment in the room and I feel like I’m having to prove myself even more because of my gender,” Grey said. “I think there are a lot of moments where women just don’t want to pursue [a career in music] because of how they feel in certain situations … There have been times where I really have to push myself, and I do it because I want to prove myself.” 

“Grise” was a project that took half a year of focus to finalize, but some of the songs were two to three years old. Although some of the songs were written without a general theme in mind — Grey was originally only releasing music in singles — she found the alternative pop record eventually came together with each song connecting but also holding its own special meaning to her.

“[The songs] all really are putting me outside of my comfort zone,” Grey said. “That’s something that’s really important to me is putting yourself out there and that’s something that I struggled with when I was younger. I was very timid.”

Grey has been a musician for her whole life, but only began releasing music as a freshman at USC — which was a huge step for her. She began playing the piano at just four years old and started writing songs at 12. Releasing music became a “New Year’s resolution” for the then-freshman creative writing major.

“Putting out music is one of the hardest parts because there’s a lot of people who have songs written, but it takes a lot of courage to release music,” Grey said. “I got really nervous releasing [music] but it’s not like a nervous-scared, it’s a nervous-excited because at the end of the day, of course, I would like people to like my music, but I also am okay with people not liking it. I write it for myself, and I write it to resonate with whoever finds it.”

Now, Grey writes, arranges, records, produces and mixes all her music. The remix of her track, “Dark Lights,” featuring Robb Bank$, has garnered more than 350,000 streams on Spotify. 

Grey always knew music was her path and decided to fully immerse herself in the art by transferring into the popular music program, studying with an emphasis in keyboards.

Chris Sampson, the founder of the Popular Music program, served as Grey’s mentor for her senior project. As the program’s founder, Sampson is in charge of pairing students with mentors, and he ultimately chose to mentor Grey himself. While he worked with her to provide feedback on her project, he said he also just served as a “cheerleader” as Grey was “the CEO and president of the whole operation.” Having so much time to work with her one-on-one, Sampson specifically commended Grey’s thoughtfulness and work ethic.

“I could tell that when she was in class, getting information, whether that was coaching or a songwriting lesson or anything like this, you can see the gears in her mind working, you could always see that she was processing this information in an internal and thoughtful way,” Sampson said.

“She takes that product, things that she processes and then puts it into application. And she does this entirely on her own initiative, which is really, really important. She’s just got that drive.”

Paul Jackson, Jr., an associate professor of Popular Music, taught Grey during her junior year.

“​​Talent doesn’t really impress me. And ability doesn’t really impress me,” Jackson said. “The thing that impresses me is the willingness to learn and a work ethic. Because if you are willing to learn and have a good work ethic, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish. And Sophie had that, or I should say, has that.”

Her much-talked-about work ethic shines in her recent activities. Grey just released her newest single, “Do It Again.,” this past Friday. Once again, it’s a self-written, self-produced track. That’s her plan: to put out more women-produced music. She will be bringing those tracks to live audiences, performing Nov. 15 at The Mint. 

While she sees the experiences for women in the music industry as improving, she said there is still a long way to go. As for how to solve the problems, that’s something she is still figuring out for herself. However, if she can provide any advice to burgeoning women artists, she will. 

“Don’t go in with the idea, like, ‘I have to prove myself.’ Because I find myself sometimes doing that,” Grey said. “If you feel like ‘I am meant to be there, I’m worthy to be there,’ then that’s the energy that everyone else will feel in the room.”