SOPHIE

We have all enjoyed the extreme variance of SOPHIE’s creations, whether we knew it or not. Lending a hefty influence to the last decade of dance and electronic musicians, SOPHIE had a ubiquitous hold on the music industry that the general public finally seemed to be catching onto. Blending super sped bubblegum pop with some of the hardest beats and industrial sounds we’ve seen, SOPHIE cannot be easily described by a genre, or by comparison to any other artist. You only get to enter SOPHIE’s world once, and you never really leave it.

When we woke up to the news on January 30th that SOPHIE had passed away after an accident in Athens, a wave of sorrow swelled and crashed across every well known music publication out there. “Oh shit.” was my reaction. I had no expertise on SOPHIE other than that Charli XCX was a huge proponent, and there were countless other collaborations that I had skimmed, but I wasn’t a huge fan. What I did know, however, was that the music community was obsessed. I can’t recall ever hearing so much unrelenting hype about an artist and not understanding what the appeal was. “I’ll get around to it” I told myself. Surely something would eventually catch my ear and I’d take a deep dive into the SOPHIE universe. I fucked up and I waited too long.

I’m guilty of taking in music all at once. I’m not educated in composition and I don’t play any instruments, so I’m not naturally able to dissect a song and appreciate its elements individually. At a glance, SOPHIE made music that felt busy and overwhelming to me. It takes me time to warm up to many artists, including some of my current favorites.

The level of complexity in SOPHIE’s music is astonishing. Starting from scratch and creating a little universe of industrious sounds, zipping between tones and simultaneously mocking and relating to human emotion, each song is a journey. Training my ears to learn SOPHIE’s language of music has been a pleasure, and I’m so angry that I hadn’t done so sooner.

I passed on seeing SOPHIE twice; once at Lykke Li’s YOLA music festival after it was rescheduled and I accepted a refund, and another at Coachella in 2019. I chose to attend Janelle Monae’s set instead (no regrets), but I ran into alt/indie pop artist Shamir in line for food. I recognized him as he chatted with the cashier who complimented his sunglasses. “You like them?” he said with his unmistakable high toned voice. “Here, you can have them. No, seriously!” She first declined and then joyously accepted the unbelievably kind offer. “We saw SOPHIE’s set it was SO GOOD” he geeked on.

SOPHIE created a culture of the most fun kinds of societal weirdos. People who know, just know. You’ll find EDM bros, electro pop cutie girls, alternative gays, metal fans and an endless array of all kinds of people gushing over the masterful work that eventually earned SOPHIE a Grammy Nomination. Nobody knew how to handle SOPHIE and SOPHIE’s girlfriend on the red carpet with their space-like aura that was truly mystifying.

I’ve spent much of the last year pulling more and more SOPHIE material from the internet and including as much as I can into playlists for parties with friends or my own workout routines. My phone’s lockscreen is an image of a backlit SOPHIE’s silhouette playing at Coachella obscured by fog and a faceful of hair, black scarf adorned as a choker. That image will stay there, and I’ll explain anyone who asks: that is SOPHIE.