Sofia Carson Shares Her Firsts

Hey guys.

I'm Sofia Carson, and you're watching Teen Vogue Firsts.

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[laughs] I always wanted to do that.

It's so crazy that I can do that now.

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My first Instagram post.

So my sister actually opened my social media accounts

for me after I got my first job,

which was my guest-starring role on Austin & Ally.

And I never had social media before that.

I was not cool.

And I remember she gave me the passwords

to Twitter and Instagram and said,

Welcome to the real world.

And the passwords for both of them were dream big,

which is just the sweetest thing.

And my first post is a photo my mom took

as I was walking onto the Disney lot

for my first day on set.

And when she texted me the photo,

she said, There she goes.

And to this day, before any event, any performance,

before I walked in today, she'll text me, there she goes.

So my first post was that photo.

Just FYI, that's no longer my password. [laughs]

So I think my earliest Disney memory

is me singing My Reflection by Mulan in my living room.

Or dressing up with Princess Belle

every single year for Halloween,

because that is who I wanted to be when I grew up.

I wanted to be Princess Belle,

because she had her nose in a book

and didn't pay attention to Gaston.

And she was like this empowered princess,

and that's who I wanted to be.

And then at Disney World,

you know Disney World was a few hours away

from where I grew up and where I was born,

so we would go every year.

I remember walking through Main Street

and it started to snow,

and I was like, This is just the most magical place

in the world.

The first time I recorded a song,

I was 11 years old.

It was the first song I ever wrote.

It was called Leave Me Alone.

I was quite the dramatic child.

The lyrics I think were

leave me alone, don't bother me again.

So I think I was already writing about breaking up

with a guy, even though I had never dated a guy.

The first time that I left the country,

I was very lucky to be raised biculturally.

I was born in the States.

I was born in Florida,

but my parents were from Colombia.

So when I was, I think was three

the first time that we traveled to Colombia

for the holidays.

It still is my favorite time of the year.

The first time that I went to the Oscars was the year

that Moonlight won Best Picture.

First, I remember walking that carpet

and feeling like I was literally walking on clouds.

I remember the dress that I wore

was this beautiful white Monique Lhullier gown,

and our look was inspired in Audrey Hepburn's Oscar look.

Shortly after, my sister texted me

that my face had become a meme.

My reaction.

Please don't look it up,

because it's really embarrassing. [laughs]

My first memory of singing,

and we actually have a video of it,

I'm three years old in my living room

wearing a costume that I kind of would come up with

and wear every time that I would perform in my living room

and it was a one piece bathing suit

with a bandana and heels.

And I was singing the first song

that I ever learned, which is Don't Cry for Me Argentina

by Evita, the movie.

So the Madonna version of Don't Cry for Me Argentina.

♪ It won't be easy ♪

♪ You'll think it strange ♪

Something like that.

The first song that I remember

falling in love with is Can't Help Falling in Love

by Elvis Presley.

When I heard it, I was with my mom,

and there was this incredible gentleman playing the song

on the piano.

I remember hearing the melody, the

♪ thum, thum, thum, thum, thum, thum, thum, thum, thum ♪

I thought to myself like,

How could something this magical be real?

Wise men say only fools rush in,

but I can't help falling in love with you.

The first language that I learned after English was Spanish,

which is my second language.

And then, at UCLA I minored in French,

so that was the third language that I learned.

[speaks in foreign language]

My first big splurge

I remember perfectly was after the first Descendants,

after I got my paycheck.

I was at the mall,

and I saw this beautiful Alexander Wang Evie blue purse,

which I've now coined the phrase Evie blue.

Because it's a very specific blue,

and this purse was that blue.

And I bought it.

I still have that, and I love that it reminds me of Evie.

There are about 200 roles that I didn't get

before I got the role that changed everything.

And that's such a learning experience,

because you know it's so many doors

that close in your face until you find the one that opens,

and you realize that the one that opened is the one

that was meant for you all along.

We all have flubs all the time,

and I think it's so important to talk about that.

I remember being on stage and flubbing once,

and that was really scary.

Yesterday I felt like a complete flub.

I can't be as perfect as I would like to be

and knowing that perfect

is just absolutely so terribly boring.

One of the first things that my parents taught me,

I always remember me and my sister always feeling

like we could do and be anything,

like nothing was ever impossible,

that we were completely fearless and unstoppable.

And I remember the first time

that I went onstage as a professional singer,

singing my very first single for the first time on TV.

I was so terrified, so scared,

and I remembered that little girl

who thought that she was fearless,

because her parents taught her to be.

And I was like, Okay, I can do this.

When I hit a million followers on Instagram,

these numbers are so big and so hard

to wrap your head around,

until you meet one of those people.

And that to me has been the most incredible experience,

because when I saw one million,

I was like, This is crazy.

And my sister was like, Someone's gotta tell 'em

that you're not cool.

You know, when you put a face to those numbers,

that's what becomes really special to me.

And I've had the privilege of being able

to meet a lot of those girls

and a lot of those boys and guys,

and it's so crazy to be so supported and so loved.

And I've always felt that I have this really serious

and beautiful responsibility to the young girls

that follow me.

The first Disney show that I watched is Lizzie McGuire,

and I was just recently in Rome

and I had to physically contain myself

from not bursting into Lizzie McGuire Movie quotes

at all times.

The first time that I went to the White House,

I was with Cameron, sorry.

[Woman] No, no, no, it's okay.

He would laugh at me right now

if he saw me. I know, honey.

Okay, we'll do that one again.

The first time that I went to the White House was

in the last months of the Obama presidency,

which was an honor.

And I shot a PSA with Michelle,

with our First Lady.

So I'll always cherish that.

My first Christmas memory is this picture

that we have of me and my sister.

We would wear matching outfits.

My mom and grandma put us

in these matching Christmas dresses every single year,

and we'd pose in front of my grandma's Christmas tree.

And there's this photo of, [laughs]

it's like the epitome of me and my sister.

It's me like cheesing so hard with my hands

on my hips like this,

and then my sister just like leaning forward like this,

just like making a mess of the whole photo.

She just made the photo magical is what she did,

and it's one of my favorite memories.

It's just very much her and I.

First time meeting a super famous celebrity.

If you could separate my life into two moments,

before and after Oprah.

So when I met Oprah,

I mean I can't believe I just said those words.

Met is a strong phrase.

Let me clarify the story.

So I was at a fashion show in Paris,

and I sit down and right across from me

there's a lot of mayhem going on,

a lot of photographers taking a photo of someone.

And I was like, Oh, I wonder who that is.

And then as the seas part and everything became slow motion,

it was Oprah Winfrey.

And my mom was next to me.

I think I was kind of like, Mom, mom,

and I could not tell you a single thing

that happened in that fashion show,

'cause I was just like eyes locked on Oprah.

It was like this magnetic energy,

and then we she stood up and the fashion show ended,

we kind of, we followed her.

And then she turned around,

and she gave me a hug and gave my mom a hug,

and it was just like magical.

I don't think I actually managed to say anything.

Yeah, what are words?

The first time I took a political stand

was for the 2018 elections.

I just urged anyone and everyone to vote,

because our vote is our voice.

So who are we if we don't use our voice?

And I feel like we are living through incredibly scary

and exciting times where we have the power

to determine our present and our future,

and we owe it to as women,

the women who came before us,

who gave us this right to vote

and all the women that will come after us.

As the young generation and the youth,

we have the power to define our presence

and the lives of all of those that will come after us.

The first time I attended Fashion Week was the day

after my first Oscars, which was surreal.

I flew to Paris.

I remember when I got off the plane,

we got a text saying that Mr. Azzedine Alaia would like

to see you at his atelier.

I had this incredible experience

where I was actually fit by Mr. Alaia.

I tried on all these gowns,

and he styled me for my event that night.

And it was one of those moments

that I will never forget.

This is an Alaia with Mr. Alaia.

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