Sophie Xeon, better known as Sophie, was a Scottish musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, and DJ.
She died at the age of 34. Let’s dive into some trivia and facts about her life and career.
- Her full name was Sophie Xeon
- She was born on September 17, 1986
- She died on January 30, 2021
- She was better known mononymously as Sophie
- Her stage name was stylised in all caps
- She was a Scottish musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, and DJ
- Known for a brash and “hyperkinetic” take on pop music
- Sophie worked closely with artists from the PC Music label, including A.G. Cook and GFOTY
- Sophie produced for acts such as Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, and Namie Amuro
- Sophie, who initially remained anonymous, came to prominence with singles such as “Bipp” (2013) and “Lemonade” (2014)
- The songs were collected on the 2015 compilation Product
- Sophie’s debut album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides followed in 2018
- The album earned a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album
- Sophie, later, came out as a trans woman
- After Sophie’s accidental death in 2021, Pitchfork called Sophie “the influential British producer who molded electronic music into bracingly original avant-garde pop”
- Sophie Xeon was born on 17 September 1986 in Glasgow
- She grew up there
- Starting at a very young age, Sophie’s father would play cassettes of electronic music in the car and take Sophie to raves, and Sophie quickly became enamoured with the music
- After receiving a keyboard as a birthday gift, Sophie then began to create new music
- At the age of approximately nine or ten years old, Sophie expressed a desire to drop out of school to be an electronic music producer
- Although Sophie’s parents did not allow this, and Sophie continued in school
- Sophie continued to create music throughout adolescence
- Sophie started to DJ weddings and birthdays as a child
- A half-sister asked Sophie to DJ her wedding
- Around this time, Sophie learned to DJ in addition to production
- Sophie’s adult music career began in a band named Motherland with bandmates Sabine Gottfried, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, and Marcella Dvsi
- She later collaborated with bandmate Matthew Lutz-Kinoy on a series of performance works
- In 2011, Sophie scored the short film Dear Mr/Mrs by Dutch team Freudenthal/Verhagen
- Sophie became involved with artists affiliated with the PC Music label after encountering Dux Kidz, a project between A. G. Cook and Danny L Harle
- Sophie primarily used the Elektron Monomachine and Ableton Live to create music
- Instead of sampling, instrumentals are built from waveforms
- Likening the construction of a track to building a sculpture out of different materials, Sophie used the Monomachine to create sounds resembling “latex, balloons, bubbles, metal, plastic, [and] elastic”
- AllMusic wrote that Sophie’s “sophisticated, hyperkinetic productions” feature a “surrealist, blatantly artificial quality”, typically making use of high-pitched female vocals in addition to “sugary synthesizer textures, and beats drawing from underground dance music styles” as well as “experimental sound design”
- The New York Times described Sophie’s work as “giddy fun, but […] also an invitation to consider pop’s pleasures, structures and gender expectations, and pop’s commercial status as both a consumer item and an emotional catalyst”
The Fader likened it to “K-Pop, J-Pop, Eurodance at its most chaotic, and even turn of the millennium American/UK boybandisms” - Sophie told Billboard that the genre of music produced was “advertising”
- Sophie’s early visuals came from a series of colourful images described as “Homemade Molecular Cooking”
- With the singles’ cover art often depicting objects made from plastic or other industrial materials
- This was an idea that originated from discussions with John Roberts, a fellow electronic musician
- Sophie was described as a reclusive figure, and remained anonymous for some time, concealing Sophie’s identity in interviews by masking Sophie’s voice or covering parts of Sophie’s body
- Early in Sophie’s career, Sophie’s real-life identity was the subject of press speculation
- Prior to coming out as a trans woman, some commentators accused Sophie of “feminine appropriation”, on the assumption that Sophie was a man using a female stage name
- In a 2013 Pitchfork e-mail interview, when asked about the choice of Sophie as a stage name, Sophie responded: “It tastes good and it’s like moisturizer”
- At one Boiler Room show, drag performer Ben Woozy was recruited to mime a DJ set while Sophie pretended to be a bodyguard
- The music video for “It’s Okay to Cry”, released in October 2017, was the first time Sophie’s voice and image were used in a release
- Sophie appeared nude from the bust up against a backdrop of clouds
- This was widely interpreted as a coming out announcement as a trans woman
- Sophie confirmed a trans identity in subsequent interviews, also speaking of feeling boxed-in by labels and describing music as Sophie’s “chosen method of communication” and self-expression
- Representatives informed Pitchfork that Sophie preferred not to use gendered or nonbinary pronouns
- Sophie died at around 4 AM local time on 30 January 2021, aged 34, at home in Athens, Greece
- Sophie’s death was reportedly caused by slipping and falling after climbing up to watch the full moon
- Artists including Christine and the Queens, Cashmere Cat, Finneas O’Connell, Rina Sawayama, FKA Twigs, Shawn Wasabi, Alison Wonderland, Sam Smith, Allie X, Dillon Francis and Arca offered tributes
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