University of Leeds graduate plays key role in Adolescence soundtrack

A University of Leeds music graduate played a key role in the soundtrack for Adolescence.

23-year-old Sophie Lim said she “didn’t expect anything to come of it” when she was asked to perform a stripped-back rendition of Sting’s Fragile for the Netflix show.

Now, her piano performance is at the heart of one of Adolescence’s most powerful scenes.

The four-part Netflix drama follows the aftermath of a schoolgirl’s murder. Sophie’s performance plays at the end of episode two, soundtracking a moment where Stephen Graham’s character lays flowers at the crime scene.

“They wanted it to be really moving – to evoke the heavy emotion of the scene,” she said. “I felt it perfectly captured the fragility of the situation that it’s incredibly difficult to be a child in this world right now.”

Sophie was given the opportunity after being recommended to the show’s composers by her friend Mia Windsor, an experimental musician. Sophie and Mia had studied music together as undergraduates.

The composers were looking for someone local, and Sophie fit the bill. “David Ridley contacted me and I sent him a few amateur recordings,” she said. “I don’t have a professional portfolio. I didn’t expect anything to come from it, but he said I was exactly what they were looking for.”

via SWNS

The recording session took place with only a grand piano and a group of schoolchildren in the room. None of the children were musically trained, “so they had to learn to sing from scratch and learn the song by heart”, the Leeds graduate explained.

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Sophie also said she only received the music a week before the recording, and was given little information about the storyline. “I hadn’t heard it before, but I could see the vision they had and why they wanted it to be a stripped back and more haunting version of the original.”

 “People really liked this version of Fragile. It sounds so different from the rest of the soundtrack, which made it stand out,” Sophie added.

Now working full-time at the University of Leeds’ Student Information Service, music still runs deep in Sophie’s life. She grew up in a musical family and, alongside the piano, she plays the clarinet and saxophone.

She said: “Music has always been a big part of my life – all my family are multi-instrumentalists – it was pretty loud in our house.

“They’re all really excited for me and very proud and they really liked the Netflix series and were quite moved by it.”

Even though she performed on the track, Sophie explained she still had to wait for the show’s premiere to hear the final version.

She added: “It was a slightly weird experience hearing the song I’d recorded, but I think it perfectly captured the conflict between the themes of innocence and the harsh realities explored in the show. I’m really happy with how it all came across.

“I felt incredibly lucky they were prepared to take a chance on me and believed in me – It was an awesome experience.”

Featured image via SWNS