The tech giant Apple is known for its crazed fanboys that wait hours in line for the latest releases, but few people have as much reason to love the company as…
The tech giant Apple is known for its crazed fanboys that wait hours in line for the latest releases, but few people have as much reason to love the company as the dance-music duo Sofi Tukker.
Apple put them on the map in 2015 when a music supervisor found their Portuguese song “Drinkee” on SoundCloud and used it in an ad for the Apple Watch. Then, last September, Apple gave them another major career boost by using their house jam “Best Friend” for the unveiling of the iPhone X.
“It just seemed so outlandish to us,” says 25-year-old Sophie Hawley-Weld, one half of the duo, recalling the first time Apple reached out. “Once we confirmed that it was legitimate, we quickly realized that we had to get our s — t together.”
As a result of the Apple exposure, “Best Friend” managed an unlikely ascendance to number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January. Now, the duo, comprised of Hawley-Weld and 28-year-old Tucker Halpern, will release their debut album “Treehouse” on Friday before playing Brooklyn Steel on April 21.
The pair met while studying at Brown University when they were each booked for a gig at an art gallery — he was the DJ and she was in a bossa nova trio. Halpern remixed one of Hawley-Weld’s songs on the spot, and the next day they began making music together. After college, their parents helped them out financially for a bit as they began to work on music in New York, which they still call home today, even though they’ve both given up their apartments to spend all their time on the road. They released “Drinkee” on SoundCloud in May 2015, and within a couple of months, Apple had found the song. It proved a big enough payout to fund Sofi Tukker for a few months and allow them to concentrate on their music career.
The duo, who are not dating, decided on the collective title Sofi Tukker using alternate spellings of their first names.
“It sounds like one person, but that was kind of intentional, like the one person that’s the combination of the two of us,” says Hawley-Weld, who fell in love with the Portuguese language when she studied abroad in Brazil.
Their sound is eccentric, if not chaotic, which makes it difficult to label the music and a true feat that “Best Friend” found its way to pop radio.
“Sometimes we come out with a screaming, punk-y song, sometimes we come out with an emotional, vibe-y song, and sometimes we come out with a 2003 Euro dance banger,” says Halpern. “So you never f — king know.”
The two work together on all aspects of their songs. But Halpern, who’s from Massachusetts, is most passionate about the beats, while Hawley-Weld, who was born in Germany, but moved all over the world growing up, focuses on lyrics. That working proximity is partially why Hawley-Weld and Halpern are just friends.
“We like to say we have a no-touching policy,” jokes Hawley-Weld.
“There’s never been any temptation,” adds Halpern, laughing. “We kind of have a stronger bond than if we were dating.”
Plus, they’re never more than a phone call away. They connect via the shiny new iPhone Xs that Apple gifted them after the pair revealed in interviews that they weren’t yet rocking the latest gadget.
“Everyone would ask us [if we had them] and we were like, ‘Nooooo!’” says Hawley-Weld with a laugh. “I think Apple might have seen it and been like, ‘Oh s — t, I guess we should send them some iPhones.”
