SOPHIE

SOPHIE
Background Information
Born	September 17, 1986
Died	January 30, 2021 (aged 35)
Origin	Glasgow, Scotland
Genre(s)	Avant-Pop, Avant-Garde, Bubblegum dance, Experimental Hip-Hop, Hyperpop, Experimental, Electronic, Dance-pop, Monomachine
Occupation(s)	Record producer, singer, DJ
Instrument(s)	Digital audio workstation, Piano, synthesizer, vocals
Years active	2009-2021
Label(s)	Future Classic, Transgressive, Numbers
Associated acts	Charli XCX, Hayden Dunham, A. G. Cook, Flume, Liz, Vince Staples, Cashmere Cat, Basside, Le1f, Jeffrey Sfire, MØ, Palmistry, Madonna, Diplo
Website	msmsms.com (archived)
Associated Wikis
SOPHIE Wiki

Sophie Xeon, better known by her stage name Sophie, stylized in all caps, was a Grammy nominated Scottish born LA-based artist and an LGBTQ+ icon, who is known for producing an Avant-Garde style of electronic pop music, well-known in the PC Music community and for her production credits for acts such as Madonna and Charli XCX.

Her tragic passing in early-2021 left many fans and friends heartbroken. Later that same year, a petition appeared, calling for the planet TOI 1338 to be named after her, which received over 90,000 signatures, including a signature from her close-friend Charli XCX. Although Nasa hasn't taken action (yet) from the petition, in early 2022 the International Astronomical Union named their newly discovered Asteroid "(10026) 1980 RE1" after Sophie, naming it "Sophiexeon."

Biography

Early Life

Sophie was born on 17 September 1986 in Glasgow, Scotland, and grew up there. Sophie's father would play cassettes of electronic music in the car and take Sophie to raves as a very young child, and Sophie quickly became enamoured with the music. In an interview published by Lenny Letter, Sophie stated that in childhood: "I spent all my time listening to those cassette tapes. I'd steal them from the car." After receiving a keyboard as a birthday gift, Sophie then became interested in creating new music. Sophie expressed the desire to drop out of school to become an electronic music producer (although Sophie's parents did not allow this). Sophie continued to create music throughout adolescence, regularly announcing "I'm just going to lock myself in my room until I've made an album."

Beginning career (2008-2013) [Motherland / Sfire]

Example of Sophie's sound at this time

Sophie's music career began in a band named Motherland, formed with bandmates Sabine Gottfried, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy and Marcella Dvsi. They played live shows in Berlin and the UK during 2008–2009, preforming as their Keyboardist. During this time Sophie's music was featured on a short film titled "Dear Mr/Mrs" by Freudenthal and Verhagen which Sophie made the soundtrack for. Motherland though wasn't the only musical-group Sophie was apart of at this time: Sfire is a musical duo between Jeffrey Sfire and Sophie, formed in early of 2013. Sfire was a highlight of Sophie's beginning career, showing her early unique production style, and her advancement in production from her Motherland era.

Beginning solo-career (2013-2015) [Nothing More to Say / Product]

Example of Sophie's sound at this time

Sophie and Rihanna in the studio

Sophie's debut EP "Nothing More to Say" was released in February 2013, consisted of two mixes of the title track (titled the "Dub" and "Vox"), as well as the B-side, "Eeehhh". Its follow-up, "Bipp" and "Elle" was released in 2015, which gained her more attention, including attention from Pitchfork, later ranking "Bipp" 56 on its list of the best tracks from 2010 to 2014. Later in 2015 Sophie released her follow-up ''Lemonade" on August 5th 2014, which was brought to the mainstream stage through a 2015 McDonald’s advertisement. McDonald used this song to promotion a strawberry-flavored lemonade, and they used the song because it was lyrically appropriate. Lemonade upon-release found itself to become one of the year's most polarizing singles among critics. In September 2015, Sophie's debut album "Product" was announced for release and pre-order via Numbers Record Label, which then released November 27 of 2015.

PC Music (2015-2017) [Vroom Vroom / XCX World / Big Fish Theory]

Example of Sophie's sound at this time

Sophie touring with Charli XCX via SXSW

In early 2015 Sophie joined the PC Music scene, producing music along side A. G. Cook, and featuring production credits for artists like Charli XCX and Madonna. In March 2015, Charli XCX announced a collaboration with Sophie. It was later revealed that the pair had worked on multiple songs for XCX's upcoming studio album. In February 2016, Charli XCX released her "Vroom Vroom" EP, produced primarily by Sophie. It was later revealed that the extended play would act as a teaser for XCX's upcoming album, which would be produced by Sophie. After the extended play's release, Sophie embarked on tour with Charli XCX in promotion of new music. Sophie, along with A. G. Cook and Hannah Diamond also involved with the EP, received cameos in the official video for the lead single, "Vroom Vroom." In January 2015, Charli XCX hinted that she had begun creating new material. In July 2015, Charli XCX shared in an interview that she was working on her third studio album and described it as "the most pop thing, and the most electronic thing" that she had ever done. It was also known that Sophie, along with BloodPop and StarGate, were confirmed to be involved in the album's production, along side other pop producers such as MNDR, The Invisible Men and MNEK. On 28 October 2016, Charli'x single "After the Afterparty" featuring Lil Yachty and produced by Sophie, was released as the intended lead single from the album. The music video was released two days later. The song charted at 29 on the UK Singles Charts and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Later that month, the album was confirmed for a May 2017 release. On 10 November 2016, Charli performed at Exchange, Los Angeles, along with Sophie, where they debuted numerous new songs written and recorded with the intention to be included on the album. "Bounce", "Taxi", "No Angel", among others, were all teased by Charli herself during performances throughout late 2016 and early 2017. In May 2017, the album was delayed for the 2nd time with an expected release date for spring 2018. On 20 August 2017, most of the album leaked on the internet after being scammed from the person who was mastering the album, which led to the album being officially cancelled by the next month. After this Sophie went onto produce numerous tracks for trap and Hip-Hop artists like le1f, Quay Dash, Shygirl and most importantly Vince Staples. During 2017 Sophie produced several songs for Vince's 2nd full-length studio-album "Big Fish Theory." Vince later commented about working in the studio with Sophie after hearing about her death saying “Sophie was different, you ain’t never seen somebody in the studio smoking a cigarette in a leather bubble jacket just making beats not saying one word.”

Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides (2017-2019) [Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides / Non-Stop Remix Album]

Sophie Red Carpet Interview - 2019 GRAMMYs

Sophie's Red Carpet interview via 2019 GRAMMYs

Example of Sophie's sound at this time

In October 2017, Sophie released "It's Okay to Cry", the first new material from the artist in almost two years, which would be featured on her second studio-album. The music video for the song was the first time Sophie's voice and image were used in a release. Sophie then subsequently opened up to the press about being a trans woman. The third single from the album, "Faceshopping", was released on 16 February 2018 with a music video on 4 April 2018. On 3 April 2018, Sophie announced via Instagram that the album was complete and that it would not be titled Whole New World as previously thought. At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides" was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album, and Sophie made history as both one of the first openly transgender artists to be nominated in this category and one of the three first openly transgender women to be nominated for a Grammy. Via the Grammys that same year via a red carper interview Sophie teased work for an upcoming "remix album" of the same album which was nominated featuring not only remixes but also new material, which the album would later the year be released in July.

Sophie's tragic passing and Posthumous

The GRAMMYs paying tribute by sharing a visual of Sophie

In January 2021 news spread of Sophie's sad and tragic passing, after an accidental fall in Athens, Greece. She was 35 years of age. Later that same year, a petition appeared, calling for the planet TOI 1338 to be named after her, which received over 90,000 signatures, including a signature from Charli. During 2021 fans of Sophie on SoundCloud went onto post unreleased songs by her as a tribute act, which since then SoundCloud has been filed with hundreds of unreleased material by Sophie, bringing a message of positivity to Sophie's life and her music. Later that same year the Grammys paid tribute to Sophie via the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, sharing a visual of Sophie, captioned "avant-garde producer, musician". Although Sophie’s “Second Studio Album" is scrapped, her brother has plans on releasing a preplacement “Second Studio Album" of her unreleased material titled "Posthumous." Although Nasa hasn't taken action (yet) from the petition, in early 2022 the International Astronomical Union named their newly discovered Asteroid "(10026) 1980 RE1" after Sophie, naming it "Sophiexeon."

• "Sophie changed me, she shook me to my core." - Cecile Believe
• "A truly holistic artist. Her influence is immeasurable." - Danny L Harle
• "She was never afraid. I haven't once seen fear on Sophie's face, no matter what." - Vince Staples
• "Innovative is an understatement. You were nothing less than groundbreaking. Life changing." - Bibi Bourelly
• "She taught me so much about myself without ever realising." Charli XCX

Discography

Studio albums

• Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides (2018)

Compilation albums

• Product (2015)

Remix albums

• Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides Non-Stop Remix Album (2019)

Posthumous albums

• SOPHIE (2024)

Extended plays

• Sfire (2013) (Sfire with Jeffrey Sfire)
• Nothing More to Say (2013)
• Sfire 6/7 (2015) (Sfire with Jeffrey Sfire)
• Sfire001 (2019) (Sfire with Jeffrey Sfire)
• Fuck It Up (2021) (with Basside)

Production credits

Every SOPHIE produced song released via Spotify

• Riot Boi (2015) (Le1f)
• Vroom Vroom (2016) (Charli XCX)
• XCX World (Unreleased) (Charli XCX)
• Number 1 Angel (2017) (Charli XCX)
• Big Fish Theory (2017) (Vince Staples)
• Future Friends (2017) (Superfruit)
• Pop 2 (2017) (Charli XCX)
• I'm All Ears (2018) (Let's Eat Grandma)
• Basic Volume (2018) (GAIKA)
• 9 (2019) (Cashmere Cat)
• Hi This Is Flume (2019) (Flume)
• Look at Us Now Dad (2020) (Banoffee)
• Child's Play (2020) (Kidd Kenn)
• Alias (2020) (Shygirl)