How One Schedule Addition led UGA Student Sophia Barkhouse to Release Her Debut Song

Sophia Barkhouse smiling while performing her song “Envy” for the first time at Flickr in Athens, Georgia. (Photo/Noah Morris)

As a junior at the University of Georgia, Sophia Barkhouse was already busy when she noticed she needed more credit hours. On a whim, she joined UGA’s Music Business Certificate Program. 

Barkhouse just released her first song, “Envy,” on the same day as her release party. Since her first live performance at Flickr on March 24, the song has been streamed on Spotify over 10,000 times. Her early success is a testament to her talent and to the accessibility of the music industry in Athens.

Barkhouse has always incorporated music into her life. From strumming the guitar strings on her guitar as a child, to leading worship events through the campus ministry, Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), she shared her joy of writing lyrics and playing music with others.

“I started helping out at RUF,” Barkhouse said. “I guess worship has been the strongest connection. I mean, I wouldn’t call it performing, but like playing and, you know, like getting better at guitar singing and stuff.”

When looking at her upcoming schedule for the school year, Barkhouse noticed that she needed to fulfill almost a full year of credit hours in order to avoid graduating early. She then decided to add on a Music Business certificate through the Terry College of Business.

“It helped that I had this project for Music Business that was due at a certain time. And I chose to make a song for this project. So I was like, we only have this amount of time. So let’s like, get at it. So, it really only took a month.” Barkhouse said.

Sophia Barkhouse practices some chords on her guitar. Barkhouse wrote her song, “Envy,” in her bedroom. (Photo/Brett Stephens)

Barkhouse’s project for her Music Business Certificate required her to showcase her understanding of writing lyrics. From there, Barkhouse decided that since she has tried to release a song in the past, she wanted to take the assignment one step further and professionally record and debut her project as a song for everyone to hear.

“Envy” is a culmination of many attempts at officially releasing a song. Barkhouse went to Tweed Recording, a music studio in Athens, to record her song alongside professional help. After many recording sessions of Barkhouse proudly singing the lyrics of her new single along with playing her guitar to the thumping beat of the song, she felt ready to debut “Envy” in Athens.

Barkhouse got in contact with Flickr, a popular bar and performance venue downtown and set the release show to happen on March 24. Her release show for “Envy” was her first performance outside of leading worship service at RUF.

“I was mainly just excited to like, play with my friends up there and like, I felt really calm to play,” said Barkhouse. “I don’t know what came over me. I’d open for someone else at a house show but never at a venue, which was exciting because it was just like, the vibes are high.”

One of the audience members, Layson Samson, recalls the release party at Flickr.

“I literally felt like I was elevating during something like the instrumentals,” he said. “It was incredible. I would definitely go again.”

Samson also said he enjoyed how all of the musicians were very well altogether and made for a solid performance overall.

Barkhouse also mentioned that she learned some advice about music when she read Walking on Water, a book written by Madeleine L’Engle, which describes the relationship between Christianity and art.

“The more time we invest in [writing], the better we are at, like, obviously, expressing ourselves,” said Barkhouse. “The more vocabulary we have to put words to feelings, or two experiences, like the more powerful things are.”

Barkhouse is planning on releasing an EP in the next year based on the positive feedback from “Envy.”