( ENSPIRE Music ) A New Wave of Electronic Pop was Spearheaded by the Late and Great SOPHIE
ENSPIRE Contributor: Nicole Armstrong
Producer and performer Sophie Xeon, better known as SOPHIE, made waves in the music industry. She continues to influence pop music after her passing. The Scottish producer made a name for herself as a transgender woman who broke through to the mainstream and helped define a new sound for 21st-century pop music. Her distinct musical style can be described as bright, computerized, and avant-garde.
SOPHIE’s music transcends a single label because of her immense artistic range. It can be brash, bold, poppy, soft, intimate, and everything in between. Despite her versatility, her music always has a distinct ‘SOPHIE touch.’ She could make any song she produced or remixed truly magical and deeply interesting.
SOPHIE was notably a producer. During her career, she worked with artists like Charli XCX, Vince Staples, and Madonna. She was a jack of all trades, producing, writing, and performing both with other artists and on her own. SOPHIE’s love of music, specifically electronic music, stemmed from a young age and followed her through her entire life. She thought deeply about her work and cared deeply for music analyzing both the technology she was working with and the sound it would create. SOPHIE often created her tools for production and worked in unique ways to get to an equally unique product. She cared about the process and had fun making her distinctive music. A 2018 interview with Office Magazine even describes SOPHIE as “[seeming] to light up when describing the wonderment of sonic exploration.” Making music was fun and playful for SOPHIE, which is evident in her work.
The artist’s solo career cemented her as a pop music icon, especially for those who did not resonate with other contemporary pop, mainly transgender people. SOPHIE was proof that a transgender woman could make avant-garde music successfully. She was nominated for several awards, including a Grammy, and won the 2018 AIM Independent Music Innovator Award.
She explored her relationship with gender through her music and never shied away from making that part of her known. Her success has inspired other transgender women who admire her to pursue making music, often in a similar electronic style to hers, directly inspired by her creativity. SOPHIE spearheaded an entire generation of electronic pop music, making her impact on the industry undeniable. SOPHIE’s artistry has inspired and impacted people worldwide, including those she worked with during her fruitful career.
SOPHIE’s passing was a terrible loss; she made the world a brighter place through her art and her insightful thoughts on the world. Her work inspires and impacts the music industry and will not soon be forgotten. SOPHIE can be remembered through her work and interviews found across multiple platforms.
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