Hawley-Weld was born on May 17, 1992 in Frankfurt, Germany, and grew up in rural Canada. She then attended United World College of the Adriatic, a UWC in Duino, Italy. Halpern was born on December 26, 1989 in Brookline, Massachusetts. Growing up, he was a high level basketball player who was recruited by major division 1 basketball schools, ending up at Brown University where he played three years and was the captain for 1 year. Due to an illness, he changed his career, started djing and fell in love with making music. Halpern and Hawley-Weld first met at Brown University in 2014 at an art gallery, where Hawley-Weld was performing and Halpern approached her, here they began writing and performing songs together. Sofi Tukker released an EP, Soft Animals on July 8, 2016. The EP includes "Drinkee", "Matadora", "Awoo", "Déjà Vu Affair", "Moon Tattoo", and "Hey Lion". The title comes from a Mary Oliver poem. Their song "Drinkee" from the Soft Animals EP was nominated for a 2017 Grammy for Best Dance Recording. "Drinkee" is adapted from a poem written by the Brazilian poet, Chacal, sung sensually amidst cowbells, bongos, electric guitars and deep driving bass. Their song "Drinkee" is featured in The Incredible Jessica James. On April 24, 2020, Australian radio station Triple J premiered a new song created by the duo titled "When The Rona's Over", as part of a COVID-19 self-isolation musical challenge nicknamed Quarantune.
Features
Their song "Johny" is featured in EA Sports' FIFA 17, and was adapted from a poem by Brazilian poet Paulo Leminski. Their 2017 song "Best Friend" was played during the iPhone X full commercial reveal at the Apple Event on September 12, 2017. It is also included in the football game FIFA 18, the second straight year that a song of theirs has been included on the soundtrack of FIFA. It is also playing in the club scene in the 2018 movie "Ocean's Eight." The clean version of their song "Batshit", titled "That's It ", was featured in a TV commercial for Apple promoting their special edition iPhone 8 RED smartphone in 2018. On June 28, 2018, they collaborated with Italian DJ Benny Benassi for the single "Everybody Needs A Kiss" and on September 14, 2018 they released a remix of "Energia" with Brazilian singer Pabllo Vittar. "Baby I'm A Queen" is featured in Xbox Game Studios' Forza Horizon 4 "Swing" is featured in EA Sports' FIFA 20 and Need for Speed Heat''. which also features "Playa Grande" and "Mi Rumba".
Reception
Paste Magazine described the band's release as "an insatiable dance collection of jungle-pop songs with many well-executed nods towards Brazilian instruments, poets and to the national language, Portuguese". The magazine's review referred to the "carefully conceptualized 'Matadora'" as "the album's show-stopper". Slant Magazine said of their album Treehouse, "the songs on Sofi Tukker's Treehouse are alternately playful and sincere, intimate and global." "Though Sofi Tukker's mélange of disparate sounds and influences—bossa-nova rhythms, cowbells, castanets, and spaghetti-western guitars—lends Treehouse an air of worldly sophistication, Hawley-Weld and Halpern never take themselves or their music too seriously. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't."
