Sofia Portanet

Spanish-German pop singer/songwriter Sofia Portanet sings in multiple languages, combining new wave and synth pop with operatic vocals. Born in Kiel, Germany, on the day the Berlin Wall fell, Portanet grew up in Paris. She is the daughter of revolutionary singer/songwriter and poet António Portanet, who released two albums on Decca and EMI in the '70s and '80s, and continued to enjoy a moderately successful career as a musician into the 21st century.

Portanet sang in the Paris National Opera Children's Chorus for five years and took piano lessons for three, but quit because she didn't want the pressure or having to read music. In 2010 she moved to Berlin with the aim of launching a music career. She formed a band and began gigging and making a name for herself on the local circuit. Variously inspired by Kate Bush, Edith Piaf, Lene Lovich, and Nina Hagen, among others, she has also been compared to Goldfrapp and Tanya Donelly. Her debut single, "Freier Geist" ("Free Spirit"), was released in 2018. More singles followed and in the next few years, her popularity increased as she won a number of "best newcomer" awards and played at various international festivals, including SXSW.

Her debut album, also titled Freier Geist, was released in July 2020 by Berlin-based indie Duchess Box and saw her singing in German, English, and French. Perhaps inspired by her father's setting Lorca's poems to music, she filled her songs with lyrics inspired by past greats of German poetry like Heine, Rilke, and Goethe.

For the next few years, she continued releasing new singles to keep her fans sated, including a piano version of "Real Face" featuring Chilly Gonzales. In 2022 she engaged in a surprising collaboration with thrash metal band Kreator on the song "Midnight Sun," which appeared on their album Hate Über Alles. Her second album, Chasing Dreams, was released in March 2024 and saw her adding Spanish to her repertoire with a cover of her father's "Coplas" ("Verses"). ~ TiVo Staff, Rovi