LONDON – In many ways, Sophie Feriani is like any other Northeastern University London undergraduate. The third-year law student lives in the city, attends classes at Devon House on the bank of the Thames, and likes to hang out in Soho with her fellow students. But she also is steadily amassing a community of fans through her music – an intoxicating blend of pop and R&B that’s available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Feriani, who already has nine singles on Spotify and 20,000 followers on TikTok, is a burgeoning singer-songwriter with silvery vocals and a knack for a catchy hook. She recorded her debut single, “Guilty”, at home in 2023 when she was still in high school, but has since worked in professional London studios, including Tile Yard and Soho Sonic. In fact, she’s been recording consistently during her degree at NU London and plays gigs around the city. So how has she managed her time so successfully?
“I’m quite an organised person, hence why I’m able to do all of this,” she told Northeastern Global News in an interview on Northeastern’s London campus. “The way I approach uni is very different to my friends: I look at everything before we start classes and then I work on my assignments immediately, even if they’re due in a few months. I just finish them all within the first month or two – that way the rest of the semester I can just focus on music.”
David Nash, a music consultant for Simons Rodkin Solicitors in London, said there is “a growing number of individuals combining parallel careers in law, whilst developing their music career”.
He told NGN that it’s often a case that they are studying something completely different in law – such as civil law, conveyancing – and their music ‘career’ is something that they have had a continued love for, from their youth.”
He added that he has “worked with hundreds, maybe thousands of clients” who wrongly believe that having a successful career in another line of work means they will be able to make their way in the music industry.
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Northeastern law student Sophie Feriani, who turns 21 this month, has already released nine singles. Courtesy Photos
He said that he had witnessed first hand, a successful client “believes 100% that if they simply throw a heap of money at a project, they can turn it into a success,” but “it never works for them,” he added.
Feriani, who turns 21 this month, is a London native. She was born and raised in Paddington to parents from Tunisia – although she did spend some of her teenage years in the North African country.
Her early musical idols included giants of the pop world like Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson and One Direction. She now also counts Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa and Tate McRae among her key influences, because they all have “their own distinct image that sets them apart from other artists,” she said.
Feriani’s musical odyssey can be traced back to when she was four years old and her parents enrolled her in piano lessons, which she “dreaded back then” but now is grateful for, she acknowledged. She loved singing solos at school recitals and eventually began uploading videos of herself performing covers to Instagram and TikTok.
As she approached the end of high school, she began writing her own material and reaching out to London producers – all while trying to decide what she would study at university. Despite her love for music, she never wanted to take a course in it.
“I never felt like music was a career you had to study in order to be successful at, whereas if you want to become a doctor or lawyer you would need to have your degree,” she said
She knew she didn’t have a head for mathematics and she wasn’t interested in other STEM subjects, including science, technology and engineering. After doing an internship on the legal team at Polydor, a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group, she had a light bulb moment.
“I was like, ‘Wait, I can combine the legal world and the music world!’ I thought, ‘OK this is perfect, I’m going to apply [to study] law,’” Feriani said.
Dr Lisa Collingwood, associate professor of law at Northeastern University London, taught several of Feriani’s classes last year and is looking forward to teaching her again next semester.
“She has always been well-prepared for teaching sessions so she’s certainly managing to juggle her musical aspirations with her legal ones, which is super impressive,” Collingwood said.
“I don’t believe I have taught any burgeoning singer-songwriters before and I do think that what Sophie is doing allows for considerable benefit in bringing these two creative fields together,” she added.
The budding artist was attracted to Northeastern University London as it offered her the opportunity to study for a year in Boston. Ultimately, she opted to stay in London for all three years of her degree and is due to graduate next summer – at which point she’s keeping her options open as to what to do next. But the U.S. could be calling, she said.
“The dream would be to pursue music and be able to financially live off it and to be going on tour,” Feriani said. “I’m applying to masters [programs] in America because that would give me the opportunity to be in LA or New York for music whilst also working in law academically.”
Feriani recently recorded her tenth single, “The Middle”, which should be released before 2027. She describes it as an up-tempo song influenced by 2016/17 pop, with lyrics about “feeling uncertain in a relationship and not understanding where you and the other individual stand,” she said. “It’s practically about feeling in the middle, not almost there, but also not too far away either.”
Looking forward, Feriani wants to do an album of fresh material – containing all new unreleased songs.
“I don’t think I’ve discovered the exact sound and route I want to go down in order to accumulate a strong album that I would be proud of,” she said. “Most of the songs I am releasing at the moment I made when I was in high school so there’s a difference to what I am making right now – you can certainly see the evolution in comparison. But I still feel like it’s important to share the music that has helped shape me and [get me to] where I am.”
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Feriani’s friend Kaylee Burkett, a third year politics student at NU London, called her mate “the ultimate go-getter who is “committed to making her dreams happen”.
“I’ve never met someone who is combining study and music like her before,” Burkett said. “At Northeastern, and especially as a law student, she has a rigorous courseload, extracurricular demands, and student involvements to juggle. That’s a lot for anyone, and managing that on top of her pursuit of music is insane. She always jokes that she’s a full-time musician and a part-time uni student, but she truly doesn’t give herself enough credit for fully throwing herself into both.”
For Feriani, throwing herself into music doesn’t mean distracting other students. Devon House, Northeastern University London’s main building, has a music corner with assorted instruments, but Feriani has never spent much time there showing off her skills to the other students.
“There’s probably no need for me to be sitting there making music when people are trying to walk to classes,” she said. “That’s more irritating than anything else!”