Sophie Trivia | 51 facts about the late pop musician

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.

1. Her full name was Sophie Xeon
2. She was born on September 17, 1986
3. She died on January 30, 2021
4. She was better known mononymously as Sophie
5. Her stage name was stylised in all caps
6. She was a Scottish musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, and DJ
7. Known for a brash and “hyperkinetic” take on pop music
8. Sophie worked closely with artists from the PC Music label, including A.G. Cook and GFOTY
9. Sophie produced for acts such as Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, and Namie Amuro
10. Sophie, who initially remained anonymous, came to prominence with singles such as “Bipp” (2013) and “Lemonade” (2014)
11. The songs were collected on the 2015 compilation Product
12. Sophie’s debut album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides followed in 2018
13. The album earned a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album
14. Sophie, later, came out as a trans woman
15. After Sophie’s accidental death in 2021, Pitchfork called Sophie “the influential British producer who molded electronic music into bracingly original avant-garde pop”
16. Sophie Xeon was born on 17 September 1986 in Glasgow
17. She grew up there
18. 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
19. After receiving a keyboard as a birthday gift, Sophie then began to create new music
20. 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
21. Although Sophie’s parents did not allow this, and Sophie continued in school
22. Sophie continued to create music throughout adolescence
23. Sophie started to DJ weddings and birthdays as a child
24. A half-sister asked Sophie to DJ her wedding
25. Around this time, Sophie learned to DJ in addition to production
26. Sophie’s adult music career began in a band named Motherland with bandmates Sabine Gottfried, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, and Marcella Dvsi
27. She later collaborated with bandmate Matthew Lutz-Kinoy on a series of performance works
28. In 2011, Sophie scored the short film Dear Mr/Mrs by Dutch team Freudenthal/Verhagen
29. 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
30. Sophie primarily used the Elektron Monomachine and Ableton Live to create music
31. Instead of sampling, instrumentals are built from waveforms
32. 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”
33. 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”
34. 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”
35. Sophie told Billboard that the genre of music produced was “advertising”
36. Sophie’s early visuals came from a series of colourful images described as “Homemade Molecular Cooking”
37. With the singles’ cover art often depicting objects made from plastic or other industrial materials
38. This was an idea that originated from discussions with John Roberts, a fellow electronic musician
39. 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
40. Early in Sophie’s career, Sophie’s real-life identity was the subject of press speculation
41. 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
42. 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”
43. At one Boiler Room show, drag performer Ben Woozy was recruited to mime a DJ set while Sophie pretended to be a bodyguard
44. 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
45. Sophie appeared nude from the bust up against a backdrop of clouds
46. This was widely interpreted as a coming out announcement as a trans woman
47. 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
48. Representatives informed Pitchfork that Sophie preferred not to use gendered or nonbinary pronouns
49. Sophie died at around 4 AM local time on 30 January 2021, aged 34, at home in Athens, Greece
50. Sophie’s death was reportedly caused by slipping and falling after climbing up to watch the full moon
51. 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