There’s something irresistibly infectious about SODAPOP. Maybe it’s his knack for turning everyday feelings into kaleidoscopic soundscapes. Maybe it’s his playful humor and vibrant aesthetic that blur the line between art and personality. Or maybe it’s the way he’s building an entire universe around his music, inviting listeners to step inside and stay awhile. Whatever it is, SODAPOP — the project of Kane Nania — is one of those rare creative forces that feels both deeply personal and wildly imaginative.
Raised in Santa Barbara, California, SODAPOP’s journey has been as colorful as his sound. After college, he spent two years living abroad in Thailand and Serbia, intentionally embracing a minimalist lifestyle to give himself the space and time to refine his craft. That choice paid off. Since releasing music in 2020, he’s racked up over a million streams and earned spots on Spotify’s most beloved playlists like Bedroom Pop, Indie Pop, and Fresh Finds. Now based in Denver, he’s a true one-man show — writing, performing, producing, mixing, and mastering everything himself. And it shows. His music carries a signature energy, the kind that makes you feel like you’re in on the joke, swept up in a glittery sonic adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
That sense of joyful immersion takes on a whole new dimension with his latest single, “Starbeam Machine.” More than just a song, it’s part of a sprawling worldbuilding project SODAPOP has been dreaming up for five years — a place he calls Melodia. It began as a mental refuge, a whimsical landscape he’d escape to while making music, but over time it evolved into something far bigger: a fully realized universe, complete with stories, lore, and a culture where music isn’t just an art form — it’s the center of life. “Melodia is a whimsical, magical water forest,” he says, “and all the lyrics on the album are based on my real life, though they’re often told through the imagery and metaphors of this world.”
“Starbeam Machine” is the sweet, fizzy sound of that universe bursting into being. It’s a dreamy blend of bedroom pop and disco, landing somewhere between Dayglow’s breezy optimism, Still Woozy’s offbeat grooves, and Remi Wolf’s eccentric sparkle. But beneath all the color and playfulness, there’s emotional depth woven into the fabric of the song — a tension SODAPOP explores both musically and lyrically. Much of the album was written at a hidden spot by the train tracks, where he’d sit on his skateboard with a small keyboard, “howling into the ether.” The result is a body of work rich in major 7 chords — a sound that’s both happy and sad at once. “That’s one of the main lyrical themes that kept coming up for me,” he explains. “That sort of happy-sad emotion. Whether it’s nostalgia or desire or how someone makes you feel or the color purple.”
Even the visuals surrounding “Starbeam Machine” are deeply personal. SODAPOP handcrafted the collage-style cover art himself, incorporating snippets of his life and fragments from Melodia. Among them are four goofy characters he designed and built costumes for — figures who will come to life in the video content and help unravel the deeper lore of the world he’s created. In an era where AI-generated everything is becoming the norm, SODAPOP takes pride in the fact that there’s none of that here. Every sound, every lyric, every pixel is human-made, and that authenticity radiates through the project.
“Starbeam Machine” isn’t just a song you listen to — it’s an invitation to step into someone else’s dream, to wander through a world where music grows like trees and emotions shimmer in shades of purple. It’s SODAPOP at his most imaginative and heartfelt, a fusion of craft and curiosity that proves pop music can be more than a catchy hook — it can be an entire universe.
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