Sofi Tukker’s Creative Cohabitation

Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern — better known as the musical duo Sofi Tukker — are many things to one another. Bandmates, best friends, business partners, and as I discover during an afternoon in Williamsburg with the pair: roommates. “Sophie took the lead way more on this place,” Halpern says as I explore the downstairs of their kitschy, neon-forward apartment. (Everything from their couch to the rug and pillows are all made from different shades of bright velvet fabric.) “I sent him a billion photos. I would go to these stores and just find things in random corners,” Hawley-Weld clarifies. But their true pride and joy sits shining off in one corner: a disco ball-looking DJ booth custom-made just for the space.

The Grammy-nominated pair cohabitate well together. The duo first met while both attending Brown University in 2014, and have been making electronic, Brazilian-inspired music together ever since. But it wasn’t until the pandemic that they made it roommate official; first in West Palm Beach, Florida — where they began writing their latest album, BREAD, out Aug. 23 — then ultimately settling here in New York (along with a third friend).

“We bicker,” admits Halpern, when I press him for the details of their roommate squabbles. “I think a big part of it, though, is we have common goals. We're working towards something together that we know we both need each other for.” Hawley-Weld echoes this: “It’s almost like what people who have kids feel like, when they're like, ‘The kids are above all else!’” Consider the new record, a fun, pulsing party-starter, evidenced in their block party of a new music video for lead single “Woof,” their latest bundle of joy.

Below, the collaborators reflect on platonic love, becoming friends over Skype, and feeling like they’re from different planets.

You two are everything from collaborators, to roommates, to platonic best friends. It’s a dynamic that works for you both, but did either of you have to “friend zone” the other in the beginning?

Sophie Hawley-Weld: That's so funny. If that was the case, it would have been so horrible and mortifying to answer that question.

Tucker Halpern: I think at this point we’d probably be laughing about it… But it was never even a question. The day we met [in college] I asked her if I could remix her Bossa Nova music into dance music and I invited her over to record at my apartment the next day. A lady friend was there when she came over, and it made [Sophie] more comfortable and understanding of the whole scenario.

Hawley-Weld: It actually took us a while to really become friends.

“We bicker. [But] we have common goals.”

Why is that?

Hawley-Weld: Both of us feel like we're from Venus and Mars. We didn't really, really bond until [the summer after college] when I broke both my big toes from stress fractures. I ended up in a wheelchair for four months and had to move home to my parents’ in the Netherlands at the time. Tucker was in New York, we had just decided to make this band, and I truly didn’t know if I was going to be able to walk again.

So I was stuck in bed and we basically just Skyped every single day, and that’s when I feel like we became friends, because we were both very vulnerable.

Halpern: I’d also been through that. I was playing basketball at Brown and my junior year I ended up getting sick. I had to leave school for the year and was in bed for seven months. That's when I started learning how to make music, from watching YouTube. So I knew what it was like to be plucked out of your life completely and lose your identity.

How did the vision for Sofi Tukker begin to coalesce in those initial Skypes?

Hawley-Weld: We realized both of us really are inspired by bright and tropical colors.

Halpern: Brazil was already a big [influence] because the first two songs we made, “Drinkee” and “Matadora,” were fully in Brazilian Portuguese. So it already felt really colorful. We were trying to let the music lead.

I saw a recent Instagram post of yours where the caption read, “Reminder: some of the best relationships you will ever have are not the romantic ones.” It’s true, but I think we often think about that in terms of same-sex friendships. We don’t have a ton of examples of mixed-gender platonic friendships, or collaborations, in art and culture. I mean, even The White Stripes were secretly married…

Hawley-Weld: What's so funny is some people just don't believe it. They just can't conceptualize or wrap their head around the idea that two people would live together, work together and not be together. It's so funny. They're just like, "But are you sure?"

Halpern: It definitely causes its difficulties. I think it affects us having our separate relationships in certain ways that make it harder for when we have our own partners and stuff. We're still trying to figure out how doing that, touring all the time, and being married to our work all can co-exist. Sophie’s doing a nice job [balancing it] right now.

So you’re seeing someone these days? What’s it like having them wake up in the house you literally share with Tucker?

Hawley-Weld: Well, that's the funny thing. Last night, I barely slept because I was like, "How in the hell am I supposed to have the life that we have?" I've never really had another priority outside of Sofi Tukker. So trying to figure out [how to be in a relationship] without compromising my ambitions and goals is really challenging. Both of us talk about this all the time. It’s really hard for people who come in because they’re like, “Wait, I’m not a priority to you at all?”

Halpern: You’re at the bottom of the list.

Hawley-Weld: That's not a very good proposition to someone who you love. So as I'm falling in love I am like, "Oh, shit, I actually want to make a good proposition to this person because I really like them.” And I'm overthinking the shit out of it because it's just not something I know how to do.

“I've never really had another priority outside of Sofi Tukker.”

Especially as you guys gear up to release BREAD. Did you write most of that album in this house?

Hawley-Weld: BREAD actually happened over the course of a couple years.

Halpern: Some here, some in Florida, and a lot in Brazil.

Hawley-Weld: I would say the best work happens when we're in the same place. But a lot of pre-work happens where we're individually collecting ideas. So I have banks and banks of poems that I'm writing and Tukker brought in a bunch of 1960s jazz samples and references that we ended up sampling.

Halpern: It’s usually us having ideas and then puzzle-piecing them together.

You two are now nearly a decade into working together. What’s the biggest impact you’ve had on one another over these past 10 years?

Halpern: I've learned a lot from Sophie on seeing things from a woman's point of view. Coming from being a jock and playing basketball in college, there’s a lot you don't think about or may never be challenged on. So that was something that changed me a lot.

Hawley-Weld: Being around somebody who came from Division 1 sports, there’s a mental stamina of pushing through hard times. Let's say we're on week five of a tour and we're really tired. He'll just look at me and give me this sports mindset like, "This is the life you chose and you can do this." That type of mentality is something I think you just get really good at when you're at a high level of sports. It’s really helped our band — and me.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Photographs by Mari Sarai

Photo Director: Alex Pollack

Editor in Chief: Lauren McCarthy

SVP Fashion: Tiffany Reid

SVP Creative: Karen Hibbert