SOPHIE

The late SOPHIE – who was born in Glasgow – was an avant-pop producer and pioneer. The groundbreaking artist tragically died aged 34 following an accident in 2021.

With her work, SOPHIE united underground music with mainstream pop, whilst pioneering a new genre and becoming an “icon of liberation” for the artist’s queer fanbase. Over the course of her career, she collaborated with the likes of Charli XCX, Madonna and Vince Staples.

In 2013, SOPHIE released her debut single, Nothing More to Say, via Huntley + Palmers. That same year, she also released its follow-up, BIPP. In addition to BIPP, SOPHIE released Elle, Lemonade and Hard via Scottish label Numbers between 2013 and 2014. With those tracks she painted an alternate pop reality in garish colours: helium-choked hooks, elasticated songforms, synthetic flavours and carbonated ecstasy.

At that time, not much was known about SOPHIE, who was closely affiliated with the PC Music collective. In 2014, the producer teamed up with A. G. Cook and Hayden Frances Dunham – now known as the artist Hyd – to launch the project QT. The collaboration was marked by the track Hey QT, which marketed the group’s semi-fictitious “energy elixir”. SOPHIE’s tracks later went on to appear in commercials; When I Rule the World was used in a Samsung Galaxy advert and, famously, Lemonade was licensed to McDonalds.

It was with 2017’s It’s Okay to Cry video that SOPHIE, the formerly faceless producer, singing straight into the camera,  became a frontwoman for the first time. The track was the lead single from SOPHIE’s debut album, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-insides. 

Following the death of the visionary artist, a petition was launched to name a newly discovered planet TOI 1338 b after SOPHIE. In 2022, Charli XCX dedicated her album Crash to SOPHIE – the pair had worked closely together on several releases, including Charli XCX’s 2016 Vroom Vroom EP and singles Girls Night Out and No Angel.