专访 Sobs | 探索属于我们的流行乐
2026-03-09
将具有流行性的旋律与 DIY 肌理相融，勾勒出独属于自己的流行音乐表达。来自新加坡的独立乐队 Sobs 由 Celine Autumn、Jared Lim 与 Raphael Ong 组成，他们自 2017 年组建以来，便以极具辨识度的声音收获了众多乐迷的喜爱。终于在今年 Sobs 开启了她们的首轮中国巡演——UPEE 有幸邀请 Sobs 进行一期专访，一同走进他们的创作。
UPEE：你们的音乐有清爽的 Jangle Pop 与 Indie Rock 底色，可以分享你们认为对 Sobs 的创作带来比较多影响的音乐人及其作品吗？
Jared：2017 年组建乐队的时候，我听了很多 Alvvays 和 Frankie Cosmos 的歌。这两支乐队做的音乐，基本就是我当初组乐队、写歌、演出想追求的全部。把流行乐的直白抓耳和一点 DIY 质感结合起来，对我来说是最理想的状态，因为我既喜欢主流电台流行乐，也喜欢那些在家录制、风格更粗糙的乐队。这些年的演出经历也极大影响了我们的创作方式，现在我们都更会期待在现场表演自己写的歌的状态，我们也会琢磨哪些部分用特定乐器、在我们的演出编排里会更好听。
Back when we started the band in 2017 I was listening to a lot of Alvvays and Frankie Cosmos. The music those two bands were making pretty much sum up everything I wanted out of starting a band, writing songs and playing shows. Mixing pop immediacy with a bit of DIY edge felt like the sweet spot for me, as I love both mainstream radio pop and more scrappy sounding bands recording at home. Playing shows over the years in itself really significantly informed how we write, now that there’s an expectation that we’re going to be playing the songs we make live, and figuring out what would sound good with certain instruments and within our set.
Celine：和 Jared 一样，我也深受独立摇滚乐队和主流流行乐的影响，而且我一直试着把这两种风格融入创作里。制作《Air Guitar》的时候，我听了很多 Charly Bliss 和 Liz Phair 的作品，但我的音乐喜好一直随时间有变化，所以我也很期待下一张作品会是什么样子。
Just like Jared, I’m heavily inspired by both indie rock bands and mainstream pop, and I always try to incorporate that into my writing. I listened to a lot of Charly Bliss and Liz Phair while working on the Air Guitar record, but my influences are always evolving with time, so I’m excited to see where the next release goes.
UPEE：在《Air Guitar》的封面上，你们将这张作品形容为“the sound of pop music from Sobs!”。从创作者的角度来说，你们会如何看待“流行音乐”这个概念，又会如何形容它对你们的影响呢？
Jared：我觉得按定义来说，流行音乐一直在变，但我尽量不去想这个，而是专注于它易懂、抓耳的核心特质。回看我们到目前为止发行的所有作品，我们一直都优先保证旋律和副歌足够出彩，不管是人声、吉他、合成器，甚至是打击乐部分都如此。我觉得接下来有意思的是，看看我们如何在进一步优化这一点的同时，摆脱习惯里的刻板结构，不管是在审美上还是创作上。
I guess by definition pop music is always changing but I try not to think about that, but rather focus on the through-line of accessibility and catchy-ness. I think looking at everything we’ve released so far, we always prioritised having strong melodies and hooks wherever they can be crammed in, be it the vocal, guitars, synths and even percussion parts. What I think will be fun moving forward is seeing how we can further optimise this while also letting go of the rigid structures I’m used to, both aesthetically and from a songwriting perspective.
Celine：流行音乐非常直白、不刻意掩饰。但与此同时，我不会只因为一首歌属于流行音乐就产生共鸣，这让我想做出我自己想听的那种流行乐。我喜欢 Pop 的抓耳和易懂，也喜欢独立摇滚的细腻、原始的情感。我很喜欢探索用不同方式去诠释和融合这两种感觉。
Pop music is so unpretentious and unashamed. But at the same time, I don’t resonate with something just because it’s pop. It makes me want to create the kind of pop music that I personally want to hear. I love the catchiness and accessibility of pop, as well as the intimate, raw sentiments of indie rock. I enjoy exploring different ways to interpret and combine those two sensibilities.
UPEE：距离上一张全长专辑《Air Guitar》已经过去了将近四年的时间，近期有没有新发行的打算呢？如果有，可否在此给乐迷一些暗示？
Jared：平衡生活、工作和其他音乐项目确实不容易，但我们一直在慢慢为下一张专辑整理歌曲，如果一切顺利，今年会开始录制。大家可以来看演出，我们会演几首新歌！
It’s been tough juggling life, work and other music projects but we’ve been slowly but surely compiling songs for our next album, which if all goes well we’ll start recording this year. Come to the shows, we’re playing a couple of them!
UPEE：作为来自中国的媒体，我们好奇你们对于新加坡的独立音乐场景有什么特别的感受吗？这个场景有对你们的创作带来什么影响吗？
Jared：新加坡的音乐场景绝对影响了我的创作！从十几岁去看演出、在 Bandcamp 上搜罗本地作品，到后来以我希望有意义的方式成为这个场景的一部分。我总是被其他乐队和项目里的朋友们深深打动和启发。我也在 Subsonic Eye 乐队里，从他们身上学到了很多——关于写歌、录音、制作和生活的很多东西，都来自他们，我也一直试着把这些经验用在 Sobs 的创作里。每隔几年也总会有新的艺人和乐队出现，这也很棒。（不过我最喜欢的一些，其实还是同一批人以不同组合在做音乐，哈哈哈）
The Singapore music scene has absolutely influenced my creative work!! From being a teenager going to shows and trawling Bandcamp for local releases, to eventually being a part of the scene in what I’d hope is a meaningful way. I’m always so inspired and impressed by all my friends in other bands and projects, also being a part of Subsonic Eye and learning from them in so many ways - I owe a lot of what I know about songwriting, recording, producing and living from those guys and I’ve always tried to incorporate this knowledge into Sobs’ creative output. There’s always new artists and bands popping up every few years too which is great to see (though some of my favourites just happen to be different configurations of the same people who’ve been around for a while hahaha)
UPEE：在 2023 年，你们与 Nisshoku Natsuko 合作了《Spring at the Bottom of the Dam》，可以分享这次合作的契机以及在之幕后有发生什么印象深刻的事吗？
Jared：她的经纪团队联系了我们，我们立刻就答应了。我记得当时特别兴奋，能用我们乐队学到的东西，为另一位歌手的歌打造一个音乐氛围，而且做整首乐队编排的过程也很开心。我们在 Celine 家做和声的时候挺有意思的，我记得我对声部要求很严格，再加上她还要用日语演唱，难度更高了…… 另外，这首歌是我第一次在正式发行的歌曲里打鼓，所以它在我心里有很特别的位置。
Her management reached out to us and we immediately jumped at the opportunity. I remember being so excited to be able to use what we’d learned as a band to create a world for another artist’s song to live in and I had a lot of fun with the full band arrangement. We had an interesting time working on the vocal harmonies at Celine’s place since I remember being very particular about the parts with the added challenge of her having to sing in Japanese… Also, that track was the very first time I got to play drums on a released song, so it’s always held a special place in my heart.
Celine：这是我们 Sobs 第一次也是目前唯一一次合作作品，所以确实是个很让人兴奋的机会。用日语唱和声的挑战，让整个过程更有趣了。
This is our first and only collaboration under Sobs, so it was definitely an exciting opportunity. The challenge of singing backup vocals in Japanese made it even more fun.
UPEE：除此之外，有哪些亚洲音乐人你们有想过可以在音乐上进行合作？
Celine：现在亚洲有很多很棒的音乐，我很想和这个地区不同音乐场景的艺人合作。所以这个问题我想先行保留，要是真的发生了，会是个惊喜。
There’s so much exciting music coming out of Asia right now, so I’d love to collaborate with artists from different scenes in the region. I’ll keep the answer open-ended for now, it’ll be a fun surprise if it happens.
UPEE：对于马上启程的中国巡演有什么期待吗？
Celine：我们之前从来没在中国演出过，所以我非常期待这次巡演，也终于能见到我们在中国的听众。这也是我成年后第一次来中国，很想去逛逛这些城市。我们还会演几首新歌，我对此超级期待。
We’ve never performed in China before, so I’m really looking forward to the shows and finally meeting our listeners there. It’s also my first time visiting China as an adult, so I’m excited to explore the cities. We’ll also be playing a few new songs, which I’m super excited about.