The moment Sofia Carson was cast as Ava Jalali in the Freeform television series Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, she did not realize that it could have such an impact on her life. impact in her personal life.
She was already established as a multi-hyphenate performer. She was an actress and has co-starred with stars like Dove Cameron and other soon-tobe household actors in the well-known Disney Descendants TV movie franchise as well as appeared in numerous other productions. She also was making an impact as a singer and songwriter.
Carson as well as Liz Rosenbaum, one of the episode directors on the PLL spinoff, which started filming in 2017 and was aired in 2019, formed an instant and profound connection. They promised to continue working together. While the filming process, Rosenbaum handed Carson their new project.
“I am able to recall it with great clarity,” Carson, 29 tells. “It was about Christmas time of 2017 when she walked up with me at the studio to give me a piece of paper and told me”Merry Christmas! The script had purple hearts drawn on its cover.”
That’s the original script of Purple Hearts, which debuts on Netflix today (July 29) and follows the surprising relationship between the struggling singer/songwriter Cassie Salazar (Carson) and newly commissioned Marine Luke Morrow (Nicholas Galitzine). All they share in common is the desire to escape their troubles.
“Liz informed me when she gave me her script that she was looking to start this journey with me,” Carson says. “It’s not just a director and actor, but also partners.”
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“Liz informed me when she gave me her script that she was looking to start this journey with me,” Carson says. “It’s not just a director and actor, but also partners.”
When the story was revised Rosenbaum used Carson’s previous experience as a musician to help determine the way Cassie would compose her songs. “I was definitely writing from the perspective of Cassie,” Carson says. “Liz wanted to know how I write songs and what happens when inspiration strikes. I’d say to her that at times, I could be driving and need to stop at the side of the road to begin writing down something inspired by something that occurred to me recently.
“We tried to get that essence of Cassie and to make sure that the inspiration would come from the circumstances that occurred to her in her personal life,” Carson continues. “I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to be a part of Cassie and their relationship, and the written script over four years.”
Purple Hearts and its corresponding soundtrack isn’t your typical boy-meets-girl tale. When the audience meets Cassie She is performing on the stage along with her group The Loyal as the audience is singing along to their version of Neil Diamond’s iconic “Sweet Caroline.” When The Loyal leave the stage (or are removed by the bar’s proprietor) we discover that Cassie along with her bandmates serves as servers too.
The group, which includes Marines and a family member she used to babysit arrives with Luke with them.
Although Cassie as well as Luke’s “Will they or won’t be they?” storyline is not new, the characters are facing an incredibly complicated path. There is a chance of a love match between the peaceful child of an immigrant dismayed that the US remains in Iraq and an unpopular son who believes that fighting in a war is more secure than confronting his former Marine father, whose disturbing information leads to a major struggle.
They get married for assurance benefits but soon find themselves falling in love while their world is divided between blue and red ideologies merge to make their hearts purple.
Carson states that the thought of writing music to soundtrack a film, particularly from the perspective of someone else and with a story that wasn’t the authors own was intimidating. Carson’s first choice for a partner would be Justin Tranter, best known for his collaboration in collaboration with Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber as well as Gwen Stefani.
“I have, of course, written songs since the age of eleven years old. But it was just for me, from a personal viewpoint… music which came from my heart, not from someone other’s,” she says. “I was extremely fortunate to have Justin as my co-writer in this endeavour.”
The respect is reciprocal. “Sofia is among the most meticulous and dedicated creators I’ve enjoyed working together,” Tranter told Billboard in an announcement. “Getting to create new songs with her and others from my Facet Publishing team that held up mirrors to the emotion of the film was a privilege.”
One of the first songs Carson and Tranter recorded together was “I Love the Way,” which was the way for Cassie to express her anger over falling for Luke. It was a bridge to the songs that followed.
“I had written a portion of the lyrics in my notebooks,” Carson says. “It was obviously extremely influenced by the fact that Cassie simply hated her way of loving Luke. The possibility of being a slave to this man. It was a mix of anger, frustration and deep love. When we brought the song to life, it felt like we discovered Cassie’s voice was distinct from mine and that was significant to us. It also helped guide us throughout the remainder of the album.”
With Cassie’s voice locked, Carson and Tranter would finish three additional original songs to be used in the soundtrack within about a week, which included “Come back home” which premieres at the beginning of the film and was released earlier in the month to announce the film. “We created two versions of the song before we came to the one called “Come Home Home” you hear in the movie,” Carson says. “And when we finally did we fell in over the song. We knew it was the song we wanted to sing. It truly brought the soul to life it evoked, the tenderness at that moment and the vulnerability of that moment — and is truly the core of what we tell.”
No matter how Purple Hearts is perceived, the experience has altered the way Carson is thinking about her career she declares. After experiencing the thrill of executive producing her first film, she can’t wait to ever go back.
“It’s fascinating because, as a kid, I always had models of women such as Barbra Streisand or Cher who set the bar high and truly redefined what it means to be an expert in the field of women,” she says. “They were all about it. They were not just musicians and songwriters, they were also producers and directors. It’s a great feeling to be at this point of my life.”