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Through her music and acting, Sofia Carson continues to spread hope with the messages she puts out into the world. Most recently, her movie Feel the Beat on Netflix was an inspiring and uplifting story about perseverance for the underdogs, and her latest song Miss U More than U Know with R3HAB spoke to her in more ways than one, also wanting it to resonate with her fans. And while she knows her life calling is to entertain, it’s her work with UNICEF and being a role model that may be her best work yet. “I always say that working with UNICEF is and always will be the greatest honor of my career and probably one of the most important things I will ever do with my life,” the newest member of the Revlon family tells HOLA! USA. “My mom has been speaking to me about UNICEF since I was a little girl.”
In fact, at the beginning of the coronavirus global pandemic, the 27-year-old launched the Spread Hope with Sofia campaign with the organization to help heroes on the front line. Keep reading to see what else she and the global foundation have been doing and what makes her excited for the future.
HOLA! USA: You’ve been working with UNICEF for some time now… Sofia Carson: “To be a part of the UNICEF family is an immense honor, and especially, the times that we‘re living in the world right now, times of a global pandemic, a time of incredible-political unrest and injustice, but at the same time, immense hope and change that we’re experiencing. The last few weeks with everything going on with the Black Lives Matter movement, I have also helped to promote the work that UNICEF has been doing on that front as well. They’ve been urging Congress and the Senate to pass a bill to protect Black lives, to protect against racism in the police force, everything that we’re all fighting for to push it in Congress with the help of UNICEF. And they’re also doing a lot of work to protect the Black children who are being affected by this as well, so it’s been really amazing to be able to use my platform and my voice in any way that I can, especially with UNICEF.”
Have you noticed use your platform more now, as you’ve gotten older? “I feel like over the last few years, I have found it more important to use my platform. I’ve always treated it with such respect and responsibility. I feel honored that I have the platform that I have and that I do have a voice that can, in some way, if I use it loud enough, make some sort of a difference in the world. I feel like now more than ever, the hearts of the world stopped with what is going on, the injustice, the pain, the sorrow, but we have to turn that into true action, and the world is doing that. All of us are using our voices, no matter how big or how small, and turning that into one big collective voice, this heartbeat that is unstoppable.”
You also took part in the Rock the Vote Democracy virtual concert? “With everything that is happening in the world, our vote is our voice and our power. Our greatest weapon is our vote. Right now, the most important thing that we can do is take our voices straight to the polls, so I‘m so happy to be collaborating with Rock the Vote and some really amazing artists to urge my generation, our generation to go to the polls. It’s the most important thing that we can ever do.”
Where do you find your strength and inspiration to keep you going? “Oh my gosh, you just have to look at what everyone else is going through; it puts things into perspective. My mom always says that what we‘re doing is beautiful, and it’s important, but a doctor goes out there and saves a life or with the people who have been out there protesting for their lives. That’s truly heroic. What I’m doing here is just a small piece of that, and whenever I can do it, I will give it my all.”
What’s your message be to uplift the younger generation? “I would say to the younger generation and to my generation as well is that I‘m so inspired by you. Truly, the change that we are experiencing just in the last few weeks is driven by and fueled by your passion to fight for justice, to fight for what is right, to fight for equality of our brothers and sisters, and it’s a really beautiful thing to see that fire and to be inspired and to witness the change that we’re accomplishing together is really incredible. It’s only the beginning. We have so much more to do and so far to go, but we’re going to go there.”
Has anybody in this moment kind of surprised you with what they’re doing? “I feel like everyone right now has found that they have a duty to use their voice, and that‘s really incredible. It’s really incredible because you can choose to stay quiet, but to use your voice and to use it loudly is the most important thing that you can do.”
When you‘re deciding what to put on an album, do you look at the messages that are within the lyrics as well because that’s another way to get people to listen? “Absolutely, to me actually, that‘s almost always the first thing I look for. I love telling a story and such a beautiful part about being an artist is that we’re storytellers. The story to me, and the lyrics are so important, and of course, the melody then just takes it to the heavens or whatever.”
Miss U More Than U Know was just released… “It tells a really beautiful story, and it‘s the perfect transition from my previous single I Love You. This is what happens after you’ve fallen in love, and they’ve broken your heart and you’ve had to let go of that love despite not wanting to. It tells the story of a girl, who in the eyes of the world, puts on a strong face and survives, but little do they know that she’s broken inside and that some days she misses him more than she knows. That’s kind of the story of the song.”
Oh, that‘s beautiful. So, who is this song about! “Let‘s see if I’ll answer that question… I’ll answer it like this, almost every song that I’ve either written or collaborated on, I never know who it’s about in the process. If that makes any sense. I don’t go in, specifically thinking I’m going to write a song about when this happened to me or about this boy, but then later, maybe a few days later or months later, I’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is about him,’ or ‘This is about that.’ So, this is one of those songs that after I recorded it, after all that happened, I realized who it was about.”
You do a very good job of keeping your private life private! So, after quarantine, what’s the first thing you’re doing? “I’m going to jump on an airplane, and I’m going to hug my mom and my dad. And then hopefully, we’re going to fly to see my grandparents and we’re going to hug my grandparents.”
No one will ever take that simple embrace for granted ever again... “It really is incredible. It‘s just, if anything, this year has put everything into perspective, everything. And in the midst of all of this, I get to hold on to these things that I love so much and tell beautiful stories that hopefully, all that I want, especially right now, is to put a smile on people’s faces.
And lastly, you have a new Revlon x Sofia Carson Collection. What’s it mean to be a part of that family? “I find myself saying the word surreal a lot, but it just feels like the right word sometimes. It is a beauty brand, but what they stand for is a bold woman, a woman who is strong, who is unstoppable, a woman who fights for what‘s right. And they’re ambassadors have been that. They’ve been women who are not only beautiful on the outside, but they are most importantly beautiful on the inside. They are change makers. They are people who have redefined their industry. They are women like Audrey Hepburn, who devoted their lives to charity; Ashley Graham who literally changed the industry and redefined what it was to be beautiful to Adwoa [Aboah] to Gal Gadot. To be a part of that family and to stand for that and to be a voice for a generation of women that can look at this beauty brand and say, ‘I want to be bold woman, not necessarily a beautiful woman.’ I feel really lucky to be a part of that.”
Well, you are the perfect addition to those change makers.