The world might look vastly different from the last time Sofi Tukker put out an album—their debut LP, Treehouse—but that doesn’t mean their listeners will find them any less jubilant and positive about the world at large. And that takes quite a bit of strength (or delusion, depending on how you look at it) in times such as these.
For their sophomore effort, the overall concept remains focused on the kind of unity that can perhaps only arise from the very specific variety of music they make. Called “world” by most, maybe it’s simply that Sofi Tukker—comprised of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern—is willing to explore an array of styles and blend them altogether in a manner that perhaps only Madonna would be willing to (hear: Madame X).
Accordingly, the duo starts their record with a song about persimmons called “Kakee” (try not to think of the word “bukkake”). The Portuguese word for the oft-underrated fruit. Based on the James Bond-like rhythm of the music, however, one would think it was about a subject far more sinister. In the video, reverence for the persimmon starts out innocently enough as Sophie holds one in her hand. It doesn’t take long for the fruit to become sexualized as Sophie begins to squeeze it and let the juices flow out oh so suggestively.
It’s the type of “sinful” thing that leads us to the subject of the second track, “Original Sin.” Which might be every Catholic clergyman’s worst nightmare as Sofi Tukker aims to undo all the collective brainwashing as it pertains to humans believing they’re inherent sinners, damned to go to hell. And yes, even the non-Catholic ones tend to think that way. Especially those who were raised in the United States, where the attitudes toward sex remain decidedly puritanical. Thus, in keeping with the “oozing sexual innuendo” theme of the “Kakee” video, “Original Sin” is directed by Aerin Moreno and wields the “wet tennis” motif (evidently, they won’t be releasing a video for that song based on “Original Sin” already employing the look).
As Sophie and Tucker occasionally bat a ball back and forth on the court, we also see a sort of confessional changing room where the constantly intermixed scenes of sweating bodies touching one another coincide with a game like tennis. There’s also a scene of the duo’s onlookers passing a red-tone tennis ball like it’s some sort of forbidden fruit à la Eve biting the apple. When Sophie smashes that very ball with her racket, it explodes into Holi-like paint as Moreno cuts to an orgasmic expression on someone’s face. The players then proceed to rub themselves down with the paint in a seeming state of sexual rapture. All meant to prove Sofi Tukker’s point when they say, “What the fuck’s original sin anyway?”
And yes, to be honest, what they’re doing on that tennis court looks like more scandalous fun than anything that’s been going on in New York of late. Nonetheless, Sofi Tukker feels obliged to present us with an ode to the city from which they “got their start” with “Summer in New York.” Describing how they added the sample of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” to it after it was written, Sophie remarked, “…that’s one of the only other songs we really could think of that details an entire day, just normal things you would do.” Hmm, well, let’s just say interpolating “Tom’s Diner” into this doesn’t have the automatic brilliance of what Charli XCX did by incorporating September’s “Cry For You” onto “Beg For You” or Robin S. onto “Used To Know Me.” Still, they try their best to make New York sound “cute” with such lyrics as, “Making my way downtown to you/Maybe I’ll make a stop at Bang Bang/Get myself a new tattoo.” Oh sure, ‘cause we all have about two to four hundred dollars lying around to get a tattoo at a place like that. To heighten the total lack of relatability between the “average” person and the person who can actually afford to live in New York, Sophie adds, “I’m just here to have a look at people in and out of stores/Maybe she’s an entrepreneur/Maybe he just got off a tour/The many characters of summer in New York.”
Naturally, the only characters one will actually see during the summer in New York are the broke ass denizens who couldn’t afford to go anywhere and the foul tourists who didn’t get the memo about how gross and sweltering the city is at this time of year. Or apparently didn’t care because of how badly they wanted to see Hamilton on Broadway.
Mercifully, Sofi Tukker recommences that “world music” sound that “Kakee” established with “Forgive Me.” It’s an ultra-dramatic, sweeping number with the help of some production from Mahmut Orhan. For those who can’t make the trip to anywhere in the Middle East this summer (likely most), this song is the next best thing. Filled with the yearning and regret that goes hand in hand with unrequited love/love gone wrong, Sophie’s vocals harmonize seamlessly with Mahmut’s as they sing the simple chorus in unison. But before that, Sophie paints the picture, “You were my reason/You were my brain/You were everything to me/Everything with me/And that doesn’t change/Now there’s no reason/Now there is pain/Now you may be/Temporarily insane.” And yet, with the market of available people out there filled primarily with the insane, sometimes one wonders if you shouldn’t just love the one you’re with. Forgive them their trespasses, and all that. In any case, the duo commented of the song (with a video filmed in Istanbul), “It’s one of the most personal we’ve ever written and it’s what making music is all about… transforming a challenging life experience and alchemizing it into something we can dance to and connect with others on.” That they certainly have.
Paying homage to that bossa nova sound Sofi Tukker so loves, “Wet Tennis” subsequently reveals why the pair would be so intent to center an album title and concept around it, complete with cover art that smacks of something Aqua would have done in the late 90s. Indeed, Sofi Tukker, at times, feels like a reincarnated version of that band. Playing up the tennis puns, Sophie asks, “What’s the score?” To which Tucker replies (in his best Barry White voice), “It’s love-love.” Sophie then again chimes in, “Come play with me, it’s about to get freaky/Bring your hips to life.” It’s easily the type of song one could imagine being played during the new edition of Gossip Girl at someone’s Hamptons estate as an intensifying and forbidden flirtation between two characters heats up (you heard it here first).
At the dividing point of the record is “Interlude,” a stripped- and slowed-down acoustic number that finds Sophie repeating what the acronym for “Wet Tennis” stands for: “When everyone tries to evolve, nothing negative is safe.” She also remarks, “I approach the shot with an appetite/And a little bit of grace/Right down the line/I force the error every time/Maybe I don’t want to know what’s on the other side.” But maybe what’s on the other side isn’t as unpleasant as Sophie might imagine, for this interlude segues into the equally as ambient “Sun Came Up.”
Possessing a very Everything But the Girl sound as encapsulated by 1994’s “Missing,” “Sun Came Up” also features John Summit, and is, incidentally, a far more summer-oriented track than “Summer in New York.” The song radiates that casual languor that comes after one has spent all night out, and the small hours of the morning are starting to bring the dawn. There’s no denying “Sun Came Up” is easy to imagine listening to after a night of ecstasy-binging. Which seems to be vaguely the case in the accompanying video, with its très “Stereo Love” vibes—except the latter was filmed in Mykonos, while “Sun Came Up” was shot in Sofi Tukker’s “secondary home” of Miami (where all New York-based folk tend to flock).
Set on a beach for the most part, there are also numerous instances where Sophie and Tucker seem to take inspiration from J. Lo’s “Waiting For Tonight” video via all the colorful lasers director Cameron Uranick ensures are in use in between Sophie perched on a tree or Tucker with a giant flamingo float around his waist. Then, of course, there are the scenes of Sofi Tukker and John Summit delighting in the tranquil ocean waves of the sunrise. It’s yet another track that comes across as being tailored for the Ibiza set, and yes, Sofi Tukker does have a tour date there over the summer, should you feel so inclined.
Picking up the pace is “Larry Bird” featuring none other than… Tucker’s Dad. Filled with the xylophone-drenched notes that lend an island vibe to this, you guessed it, Ibiza-ready banger, Larry Bird isn’t exactly an “international” figure in keeping with the Sofi Tukker “brand.” And yet, because Bird was such an inspiration to Halpern throughout his whole life (himself a basketball player before switching to music), this unlikely sports hero feels like the appropriate inspiration to pay homage to. Especially since, as Madonna once said of her own abilities, he wasn’t the best in the industry—but he was among the hardest-working and most enthusiastic. He would just go for it, “dive on the floor,” as Halpern puts it. And that’s essentially what Sofi Tukker does with their music as well.
Another prime example of that is “Hold” featuring BOII. As the oldest song on the album, initially created somewhere around 2018 on a tour bus, Sofi Tukker samples from Ricardo Archuleta’s “María busca a Jesús” (a.k.a. “Mary Looks For Jesus”) at the outset as Sophie sings about the themes of loving yourself before you can truly love anyone else (like RuPaul reminds all the time)—the importance of knowing how to be alone and not feel “lonely” as a result. As Halpern summed it up, “It’s a really cool song about being able to love yourself before you can love other people, basically, and holding yourself and being alone and being comfortable with that.”
This much is made clear in the lyrics Sophie croons, specifically, “I hold me, I wrap around my body with my arms/My feet they curl up into me (they curl up into me)/I hold myself so sweetly when you don’t have somebody (wrap around my body)/Use your own heat to give you what you need.” It’s almost like a how-to for sologamy for those who haven’t yet learned that, to quote Alice Deejay, one is often “better off alone.”
In contrast to that sentiment, it makes sense that any song called “Mon Cheri” could address the concept of “eternal love.” Featuring Amadou and Mariam, the track features Sofi Tukker’s usual Portuguese infusion, paired with the addition of the French and Bambara language. Upbeat and filled with an air of eternal optimism, the tone of the collaboration is almost—almost—enough to make one buy into the idea of a love that lasts “forever.” Except for the fact that, as emphasized by Sophie in the second verse, “Everything is forgotten.”
Not to be confused with Lana Del Rey’s single from Honeymoon, Sofi Tukker’s “Freak” is a far more dynamic-sounding number (and also applies to the fact that they call their fans the “Freak Fam”). Filled with punk influence, “Freak” has the drum and bass meets trip hop sound of many a late 90s song. Opening with Tucker declaring, “I make myself at home in your brand-new house ‘cause I’m a freak,” Sophie responds to his assertion with, “You can make yourself at home, in my brand-new house ‘cause I’m a freak.” And truly, in the wake of ‘rona, it is freak behavior to feel at home in anyone else’s house. Even so, Sophie whispers, “Enable the freak, to be in love with the freak/To understand the freak, to want to be with the freak/To wake up all of the freaks.” It’s an incantation that really ought not to be said, as the majority of freaks seem to be plenty awakened at this time.
Insisting upon having a “dad track” on the record (as though “Larry Bird” wasn’t, in its own unique way), a cover of “What a Wonderful World” serves as the perfect way to achieve that. And while some might have constituted Louis Armstrong’s original recording as “world music-y” enough, Sofi Tukker truly elevates that definition with their finale to Wet Tennis. Once again wanting to accent the positive outlook they still have, even in the wake of all the horrible incidents that have happened since Treehouse came out in 2018, Sophie confirmed, “We just really wanted to end the album on a hopeful… note… And you’ve just dance and raved, and now it’s time to just reflect on the fact that we’re living in a wonderful, beautiful world.” Si tu crois…
Whether the listener believes that or not, one supposes we needed another pop cultural ode to tennis after things got super macabre when Will Smith basically destroyed any enjoyment of King Richard.
