by 25102214
SOAP
Soap are considered a grassroot band, with their indie pop-punk vibe. The members of the band are frontman Ryan Lofthouse, lead guitarist Josh Lima, bassist Cooper Stout, and drummer Noah Lima. The band was formally known as The Tyne and opened for New Hope Club in 2019 and later in 2021 and for Busted’s UK arena tour in 2023. Their name was changed to Soap in late 2023 and they opened for Busted’s summer tour in 2024 and 2025, and also supported the Vamps in 2024. The reason for the name change was due to James Bourne from Busted not liking their original name and suggested they change it. Jokingly, the group wrote down Soap on a whiteboard and decided they liked it. (Hannah Clubley. ((2024).
What The Band Have Nailed
SOAP are defined as indie and pop-punk, with a teenage dirtbag vibe through their rebellious and grunge energy which can also be seen through artists such as The All-American Rejects, Blink-182 and Avril Lavigne. The band’s overall themes consist of liveliness, chaos and fun, and are seen every show jumping around on stage, making jokes, swearing and having fun being young. This has become the band’s niche. This follows a similar path of Busted back when they were younger and had their iconic guitar jump and even now in the present day. The band all describe their band as chaotic, fun and exciting, they also express how their time on stage is amazing (Northern Exposure Online. ((2024).
SOAP have an instagram following of 75.8K, and have a great Instagram feed that features music video and album promotions, behind the scene tour and photoshoot pictures, aesthetic pictures of the band which are minimalist in colour, clothing and background but capture the skater boy vibe, and lower quality videos of the band singing their songs and covers, simply recorded on a phone in a house/garage which encapsulates a nostalgic nineties teenage dirtbag vibe. This style of video was trending on TikTok, meaning the band recognised how popular those types of videos are, and decided to join in.
The band’s TikTok has a following of 588.2K and has been successful following the covers they recorded in their house that were also posted on instagram and went viral. The covers consist of songs by The Rare Occasions, Surf Curse and The B-52s which all gathered 3, 4 and 5 million views each.
The band went from supporting The Vamps for over a month straight to their individual UK tour. They have collected an audience through Busted and The Vamps which consists of all ages, with Busted’s present audience primarily being 30 to 50 year old women and The Vamps’ audience being teenagers to people in their twenties.
How SOAP was formed
The group met online, with Cooper and Ryan forming the band in 2019, and Josh being founded in 2020 right before lockdown alongside his brother Noah. The boys played together in the studio before kicking off their band however covid hit and paused the group’s plans (Northern Exposure Online. ((2024). All members of the band have had a passion for music for as long as they can remember, with lead guitarist Joshua Lima stating he can’t remember not playing guitar (Hannah Clubley. ((2024). Josh also states that he and his brother Noah both grew up playing all kinds of instruments (Northern Exposure Online. ((2024).
How I discovered SOAP
As a busted fan, I discovered SOAP during Busted’s 20th anniversary arena tour back in 2023 which was a major UK arena tour. SOAP opened for Busted on this tour, alongside Busted’s Summer 2024 outdoor tour and their Summer 2025 outdoor shows. Seeing the band on stage I discovered I liked their charisma, all members were very likeable by their attitude on stage and their engagement with the audience. After seeing SOAP in 2023 and 2024, I attended one of their shows on their UK tour at The Key Club in Leeds in October of 2024. The Key Club is the number one alternative venue in Leeds, and hosts a range of live acts and genres. Seeing and hearing the band on their own individual tour allowed me to gather more of an opinion on them through their characters, seeing them in their own setting and as headliners being able to express themselves, their personality and their brand.
Areas for improvement
A weakness of SOAP is to do with their instagram, and their promotion skills. The band did not advertise their UK tour as much as they could have. They could have made more posts on the venues they played as they only posted 2 out of 7 shows, thanking the audiences from their sold out Glasgow and Manchester shows. Although the other shows weren’t sold out, they still deserve to make an appearance on their feed by also thanking the fans of the other shows.
Another weakness of the band involves the numbers on spotify which are decent, but not consistent. Their top streamed song being a cover and having over 5 million streams, an original song reaching 430,000 streams and another reaching 224,000 streams, compared to the rest not reaching more than 200,000. These numbers can be increased by promoting them on their TikTok platform as they have a high following. TikTok is how their ABBA cover reached 430,000 streams on spotify, this should be done with their other songs. TikTok is home to all types of content, with a wide age range, SOAP’s music could reach teenagers and individuals in their early 20s globally.
SOAP’s inspirations
The band’s main inspirations are Green Day and The Vaccines production wise and also lyrically (Northern Exposure Online. ((2024). , we see this in one of SOAP’s newer releases ‘Post Sex Ping Pong’ which has a similar title and concept as The Vaccines’ ‘Post Break-Up Sex’ song.
However, the band also takes a wide range of inspirations in their music consisting of The Beatles to Katy Perry (Northern Exposure Online. ((2024).
SOAP also follows Busted’s footsteps when touring with them, gaining knowledge and receiving guidance from Busted for example the renaming of SOAP. In 2000, Busted was handpicked by management and originally included Matt Willis, James Bourne and 2 other members and auditioned for Warner Music, however Charlie Simpson was offered a place to complete the band, and Busted became 3. They were then signed to Universal Island Records. They won two Brit awards, sold over 5 million records worldwide, created 5 studio albums and landed 4 UK number one’s. Their targeted audience was young females. Their breakthrough was in 2002 through their first release ‘What I Go To School For’ written by Matt about a crush on his teacher and reached number 3 in the UK (Anna Sky Magliola ((2025). The band members pushed for the band to be a rock band and worked hard to reach this, however the label kept pushing for a pop band, this was one of the reasons the band split. Their reunion happened in 2016, the band didn’t know where they stood within the music industry at this time, as it had changed since the early 2000s. Instead of creating songs that fit the trend on the radio, Busted thought about their fanbase and the music they enjoyed from when the band were previously together. The band ditched the present idea about how many instagram followers an artist needs to have, and stuck to what gives an A&R goosebumps (Kev Geoghegan ((2019).
Strategies
Strategies that got busted their breakthrough was their target audience, their brand was curated for the young female gaze, with stereotypes of the members consisting of ‘pretty one’, the ‘crazy one’ and the ‘nerdy one’. Although they were often labelled and branded as a boyband, they were not one as they played their own instruments, which stood out from acts at the time for example Westlife and Take That. Westlife and Take That often sang about love, whereas Busted wrote about fun, light-hearted things, with little love songs. This was different for listeners in the 2000s. Another strategy was magazine shoots for Top Of The Pops, Smash Hits and other teen/music magazines. The majority of the time, the band would have to pose for the female gaze, and in one magazine, all members were named hottest, second hottest and third hottest man in the UK in 2002. The band also appeared on popular TV shows at the time such as Popworld, Top Of The Pops and Friday Night With Jonathan Ross which boosted their career and promoted their brand and personalities.
These strategies could be used for SOAP. SOAP could make an appearance on This Morning, discussing their band and performing a song which allows the band to reach a wider audience. The BBC Radio 6 Music Indie Forever hosted by Nathan Shepherd is the UK’s favourite radio station. This would be an ideal radio station for SOAP to feature on, as Nathan explores popular indie tunes. SOAP’s music could be featured as upcoming which allows loyal listeners to discover the band. Steve Lamacq is a BBC radio 6 presenter on Mondays at 4-7pm, and is known for being an avid supporter of new bands with a love for indie-rock. SOAP would benefit from contacting Lamacq to be a feature on his show as Lamacq expresses his love for young groups and indie which SOAP fall into that category and realistically, they could appear on this radio station. Also Lamacq presents in the late afternoon to evening which is when a lot of young people are listening for example driving home from work.
Music Examples
Awkward Now
The band has performed their newest release ‘Awkward Now’ live at The Beach House Sessions which is an exclusive live music series where up to 25 tickets are sold per live performance and is later posted on youtube every week (The Beach House Sessions. ((2025). Much like their song ‘Funeral’, SOAP had been performing this song live for over a year before releasing it in October of 2025. The song has gathered 48,244 streams on Spotify as of December 2025.
Lyrically, the song conveys emotions of heartache, longing, and of course awkwardness. Paired with a groovy, infectious and catchy rhythm heard throughout the song but most specifically heard during the chorus and bridge and the softer instrumental during the verses. This song reaches SOAP’s target audience as teenagers and young people are experiencing these emotions during adolescence and early adulthood, meaning they can resonate personally with the song and listen when they are too feeling the same emotions as the song expresses.
Funeral
‘Funeral’ is a song that was written for the Busted UK arena tour because the band felt they needed better songs in their discography. The song is inspired by 5SOS and Katy Perry, and they make references within the song. The song led the band’s rebrand but they only performed it live for a year before releasing it in late September of 2024 (Hannah Clubley. ((2024).
The acoustic intro adds character to the song, before the beat kicks in and increases the intensity of the song. The lyrics are a metaphor for death, that their love is killing them and the woman they’re in love with has ‘murder on her mind’, not literally, but figuratively, meaning she is toxic. This song in particular fits the band’s theme as it is staying loyal to their punk style, whilst introducing rock into their discography. There is also a repetitive beat at the beginning of each line, which signifies the songs playful energy.
Get Out Of My House
‘Get Out Of My House’ is a popular song of SOAP’s when played live. Released in the beginning of 2024, the band created a zero-budget music video filmed with a small camera and a green screen and involved a silly dance choreography the band created within a minute before filming loosely inspired by Chappel Roan’s ‘HOT TO GO!’ dance that was trending on TikTok at the time. The song ‘flopped’ according to Soap, however the song and dance grew popular when performed live on Busted’s tour. The band state that ‘Get out of my house’ is one of their favourites to perform live as it is interactive with the audience, highlighting the group’s values of being close to their fans (Hannah Clubley. ((2024).
The song affirms the band’s upbeat, fun, silly theme and personality they have. Lyrically, the song encapsulates the simple desire to be left alone, which is very relatable to all ages but teenagers especially, and coveys the ‘teenage dirtbag’ vibe the band have going on.
Development plan
Based on SOAP’s music style, background and audience, the following developmental ideas aim to widen their fanbase, strengthen the band’s brand, style and aesthetic, and lastly increase their likelihood of growing within the music industry.
My first development plan for SOAP would be a brand collaboration. Musicians collaborating with brands is a great form of promotion and is a mutual beneficial deal. Collaborations with brands offer a connection between an artist and their fans, an example can be a cultural influence, whether fans share the same culture as the brand or artist, or would like to gain knowledge on the brand/artist’s culture. Fashion brands that have collaborated with artists consist of sportswear brands like Nike collaborating with Drake, and Adidas collaborating with Beyonce. SOAP’s style includes baggy clothes, flannel jackets, sweatshirts, quarter zips, all in a colour palette that consist of navy, back, green, white, beige, grey. A brand I think would suit SOAP’s style and aesthetic is Hollister. Hollister is a Men and Women’s clothing brand with the core values of inclusivity, expression, and work with organisations including GLSEN which focuses on helping LGBTQ+ students learn in school environments, and The JED Foundation which aims to protect the mental health and the prevention of suicide in young adults. I think SOAP partnering with Hollister to create a clothing range with their aesthetic and style would fit perfectly. Hollister are already known for their trendy clothes which consist of flannels, baggy jeans, shirts and hoodies which match SOAP’s style. Hollister is originally an American brand that operates stores worldwide, primarily in the countries of Europe, North America and Asia, meaning Hollister is a global brand. This opens SOAP up globally to new audiences therefore new fans, more streams, new tour locations, essentially increasing the band’s popularity.
A second development plan for SOAP would be another UK headline tour. The group was last on a headliner tour in May 2025 to present their new EP. With new singles and EP releases plus the band’s more popular and known songs, the group would benefit with another tour to headline their music. Three of their newer singles have made it into their top ten streamed songs on their spotify, one reaching 145,000, another reaching 114,000 and another reaching 55,000. This shows the potential their newer songs have and could grow more with more headline shows, not just opening act shows where their setlist is very limited. The tour could consist of 7 shows like their last tour, visiting bigger UK cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, London, Glasgow, Birmingham and Bristol. This is very realistic for the band as they have achieved this twice already. Another headliner tour would develop the band’s career as they would be making money from their loyal fans, but pushing their newer music out there even more. Tours are also great opportunities to distribute merchandise, which increases the band’s income, the group have done this previously on their tours. Merchandise can consist of shirts most popularly, guitar picks, wristbands with their logo on, which is their name in a specific font.
A third development plan for SOAP would be a music collaboration. Many music collaborations are successful, and are a great way to expand and merge audiences/listeners and fanbases. If SOAP could collaborate with another artist/band, this could expand their popularity, especially if they were to collaborate with a bigger, more known artist/band. Music collaborations also create more success for both artists when both artists merge their sounds, perhaps similar or different sounds, to create something new, unique and fresh. Who would be a great collaboration for SOAP? Busted first comes to mind as the bands are familiar with one another, and each other’s sounds which are more similar than dissimilar. Busted are popular in the UK and have had many records reach top charts, Busted can help SOAP reach this if they were to collaborate. This collaboration is also very realistic as the two groups have toured together previously. Also both bands write their own music, the two groups could all write a new piece together, merging the punk essence of busted which SOAP partially possess, with the indie side of SOAP also have. A limitation with this is what do Busted get out of this collaboration? Fresh music for their fans however, they would be collaborating with a micro group. Music collaboration costs vary widely, depending on the artists. Also considering the costs of studio time and marketing, and the costs to collaborate with a popular band like Busted, it could cost the band thousands, which sounds less achievable and realistic. However, Busted could collaborate for free, and split the costs and royalties, receiving a desired percentage of the earnings the song would make.
To conclude, I think SOAP have a huge potential to grow within the music industry, with these strategies and development ideas introduced.
Bibliography
Anna Sky Magliola. (2025). Busted: From their debut hit to their current UK tour. [Online]. hellorayo.co.uk. Last Updated: 17th Sep 2025. Available at: https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/heat/entertainment/music/busted-career [Accessed 27 December 2025].
Hannah Clubley. (2024). SOAP Interview | Student Music Network. [Online]. youtube.com. Last Updated: 21 October 2024. Available at: https://youtu.be/RfKAXJYtQBc?si=1BJ35F9jdu1Q7shL [Accessed 17 December 2025].
Kev Geoghegan. (2019). bbc.co.uk. [Online]. Busted was ‘the walking band of clichés’. Last Updated: 30 January 2019. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46389081 [Accessed 27 December 2025].
Northern Exposure Online. (2024). SOAP – INTERVIEW @ Manchester Deaf Institute October 2024. [Online]. youtube.com. Last Updated: 19 October 2024. Available at: https://youtu.be/gi6VHUw3lxI?si=uxr85u0P3f_w3Uif [Accessed 17 December 2025].
The Beach House Sessions. (2025). The Beach House Sessions. [Online]. thebeachhousesessions.com. Available at: https://www.thebeachhousesessions.com [Accessed 17 December 2025].
