hi, my name is Askjell, an artist, songwriter and music producer from Bergen, Norway - and i’m here to tell you the story of my favourite artist.

i started a discord server back in 2019 to gather some people i could play some silly online games with. one day we needed more players, so i put out an invite on my instagram story, and before i knew it, my little gaming server had grown into a small community. it went by the edgy name of crocolyfe, and it’s impossible to summarize the history of everything that has happened there without turning this into an essay. it’s hard to overstate how much that place has meant to me personally. the stories and the people there have inspired much of my album, and for that i am eternally grateful.

i guess Noni joined the server thinking she could find some people to play Secret Hitler with, and never expected to start hanging out there, and definitely never expected to share anything personal there

but one day she told us all about her cousin, who had recently beaten cancer, and was slowly learning how to walk again after surgery.

none of us had ever met her, we only knew her as Noni’s cousin, but from that day on, we all fought her fight alongside her. a child from Australia suddenly had a fan-club that stretched all over the world.

we saw a girl with dreams, visions and an outlook on life that was nothing less than inspirational. and we saw Noni gather every little fraction of strength, every atom of love, every single drop of affection to keep that girl safe.

her name was

Sofia

at that point i had no idea she wanted to become an artist. that her biggest dream was to have the entire world see her paintings. at that point i was just hearing about her condition getting worse. and it was heartbreaking.

at that point there was also no doubt in my mind that she was going to be part of my album.

the thing that stands out about this whole story, is that i don't feel sad thinking about it. yes, it is a tragic story if you take out some of the hard facts and make a headline: 8 year old child dies of rare cancer. and yes, i've cried, yes, the story has touched me. the song wouldn't have been written if it didn't. but in one of the first notes i wrote after making the song, i talked about bravery, i talked about the beauty in the way she saw the world, and how we could all learn a thing or two about life. i imagined a self-help book written by an eight year old girl from australia. why are all self-help books written by grownups anyway?

i had no choice but to try to give something back. to Sofia, to her family, to Noni. if i had been a doctor, i would have tried to save her life. now i couldn't do much more than comfort - and in the only way i truly knew how. and it had to be before it was too late.

it’s a beautiful coincidence that both iris and Aurora are artists that i've worked with A LOT, and they've been amongst my closest friends, and Noni even had a personal connection with iris prior to anything regarding my discord server. i said they could pick anyone i had ever worked with, so Sofia and Noni sat down and watched live videos, music videos and Sofia ended up asking if it was possible to have both iris AND Aurora.

if there's one thing I've taken to heart throughout my upbringing, and even more so now that I have some form of impact in the music world, it's this: if you have influence, it's your duty to use it for good. things that might be considered everyday life to you, actions that cost you little to no effort, might be other people's fairytales and dreams. i just wanted to make the bravest girl i never even got to meet smile, and i wanted to show the family, and my dear friend Noni, that there is beauty in the world too. because it's too easy to look down and hide away when everything is falling apart. but the beauty was right in front of them all along, and her name was Sofia.

there are so many things that happened afterwards that feels like the universe coming together to turn tragedy into something purer, more magical. like the cover for the song - it ended up being a note that was found in her desk after her death. and i'll never forget when Noni wrote in the discord that "sometimes the biggest artists weren't known while they were alive and are only appreciated way after their death". those words stuck with me.

everything fell into place, i knew the video had to be all about the artist Sofia, we had to show her art being spread all over the world, we had to share the beauty of her childhood, we had to show how strong an eight year old can be, and just how beautiful her paintings were. if she wanted to be a big artist, we'll make her one, because by every sense of the word, she was already exactly that - an artist. 

and a fantastic one too

so i went to the most beautiful community i knew and asked for their help

and i contacted street artists on instagram

and briefed them

we set up an exhibition in Bergen and performed the song live with iris and AURORA

and somehow we took a farfetched, crazy idea one step further

art makes us human. art is all of our hopes, dreams and emotions leaving our minds to be part of something bigger. art is one of the few things that can keep us on this planet long after we’re done.

that young girl from Australia might have left us too soon

but Sofia is forever.

in the words of Noni: