Sophia Stel once described her music as something best heard alone, with your headphones, wandering through the city at night. A listen, however, leaves you unsure whether you should be dancing or quietly contemplating life decisions. That tension is what made How To Win at Solitaire work so well from the start, and the deluxe edition is even more interesting, by offering different versions of the same tracks while staying close to the mood of the original EP.
Released via Pack Records, the deluxe edition introduces new versions and collaborations that subtly shift the mood, of the project without altering its core. The original EP was written, produced and recorded by Stel herself in a basement studio at Paradise, a DIY venue in Vancouver where she worked at the time. It followed her debut EP Object Permanence and continued her focus on introspective writing and minimal production.
One of the main additions is a rework of “I’ll Take It (Mura Masa’s ‘Can’t Feel A Thing’ Edit)”, released in mid-January. If you went in expecting the obvious move, to turn the most streamed, most TikTok-friendly track into something even more club- and dance-ready, that expectation is quickly broken. Instead, the edit strips the song into an indie rock-acoustic space, placing greater emphasis on its emotional tone.
The sense of ambiguity runs through the entire project, and is embedded in the title itself. Stel has explained that How to Win at Solitaire came from a moment where she googled how to play the game, only to be met with vague advice. No clear rules, no guaranteed outcome, just the sense that you have to figure it out yourself. That idea carries through the EP, with dreamy synths and lyrics that don’t offer observation rather than resolution.
The deluxe edition also features alternate versions featuring Tommy Genesis and Cecile Believe. “All My Friends Are Models” includes a verse from Tommy Genesis, that arrives in the second part of the song. While her style is quite different from Stel’s, the collaboration feels natural, her unmistakeable delivery blends seamlessly with the track’s atmosphere. Structurally, the song remains very close to the original, with her verse acting as the primary point of expansion.
Arguably the strongest moment on the deluxe comes with “Everyone Falls Asleep In Their Own Time”, featuring Cecile Believe, one of SOPHIE’s closest collaborators. This version pushes the song toward an art pop / PC music direction, adding movement and energy. The track still keeps the melancholy of Stel’s solo version though, resulting in a bittersweet and somewhat euphoric feeling.
Ultimately, the deluxe edition doesn’t redirect How To Win at Solitaire, but reframes it—allowing the songs to sit in slightly different lights, expanding on the same questions and moods that defined the original release.