Music
Carson said she is mainly influenced by pop music and admires artists who "tell stories through their music", cited 20th-century acts like The Beatles and modern acts like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift as influences. In 2013, Carson participated in a BMI Latina musical artist showcase. She performed as part of the cast on the 2015 Descendants soundtrack, which reached number one on the Billboard 200, including her single version of "Rotten to the Core". She was also featured on the Descendants 2 and Descendants 3 soundtracks, which reached numbers 6 and 7, respectively, on the Billboard 200.
In an August 2015 interview Carson stated she was working on her first album. In March 2016, Hollywood Records and Republic Records officially announced that Carson had signed a joint worldwide record deal with both companies. Her debut single was "Love Is the Name", an interpolation of Opus' "Live Is Life", and was released on April 8, 2016. "Love is the Name" had an alternate version featuring J. Balvin, and a music video with Carson and Balvin was released for that version. Carson released her second single on August 26, 2016, entitled "I'm Gonna Love You". Carson has performed in NBC's 2015 Thanksgiving Parade, ABC's Disney Parks Christmas Celebration, Univision's Feliz 2016 (New Year's Eve Special), and the 2016 Radio Disney Music Awards, and she was a presenter on ABC's Disneyland 60th Anniversary Special. She performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra at the 2017 A Capitol Fourth, an annual concert at the United States Capitol in celebration of Independence Day.
On January 27, 2017, she released her single "Back to Beautiful" featuring Alan Walker, and on February 15, 2017, she released the official music video on YouTube. "Back to Beautiful" was written by Julia Michaels, who also wrote Carson's next single, "Ins and Outs". In 2018, Carson was featured on three EDM songs: R3hab's "Rumors", Alan Walker's "Different World" and Galantis's "San Francisco". Following the success of "Rumors", Carson collaborated again with R3hab in her next singles "I Luv U" and "Miss U More Than U Know".
On March 26, 2021, Carson released the single "Fool's Gold", produced by Stargate and Jeff Jones. It reached number 38 on the Mainstream Top 40. The song was remixed by Tiësto; his remix, "Fool's Gold (24 Karat Gold Edition)" was released on April 30, 2021. On May 2, 2021, Carson performed "A Whole New World" (from the 1992 film Aladdin) on American Idol with the show's nine finalists. On September 2, 2021, Carson released "Glowin' Up" as a single as a part of the My Little Pony: A New Generation soundtrack, prior to the film's release on September 24. In March 2022, she released her debut studio album, Sofia Carson. Carson and Diane Warren performed their ballad "Applause" from the film Tell It Like a Woman at the 2023 Academy Awards, where it was nominated for Best Original Song. The performance also featured a string section and a full choir.
