Photo courtesy of The Guardian

On Jan. 30, 2021, electronic music producer and pop-music icon, SOPHIE, died following an accidental three-story fall from her rooftop in her Athens home. Sophie Xeon, simply known as SOPHIE, was a pioneer in the hyperpop genre — along with artists like A.G. Cook and 100 gecs.

Tackling SOPHIE’s discography post-death is a challenging task to say the least. One must understand not only her impact as an electronic music producer, not only as a pop-music auteur, but as a symbol in the trans and queer community of being unapologetically yourself. 

Six months after SOPHIE’s death, her brother, Benny Long, revealed that her sophomore record — aptly titled “SOPHIE” — was nearly complete at the time of her passing. Long announced that “SOPHIE” was to be finished with help from other pop music artists.

“The idea SOPHIE and I discussed many times was to do one abstract experimental album and then a pop record — this was going to be the pop one — and to keep going on that cycle for years,” Long told PaperMag in 2021. 

SOPHIE’s vision, carried by Long after her death, was a grand one. Her music inevitably pushed the boundaries of what a “pop” record could be — it is a legacy that many other artists have acknowledged in recent years. 

Kim Petras, the first transgender artist to win the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for Sam Smith’s “Unholy,” dedicated her Grammy acceptance speech to SOPHIE.

“SOPHIE especially, my friend who passed away two years ago who told me this would happen and always believed in me. Thank you so much for your inspiration, SOPHIE. I adore you and your inspiration will always be in my music,” Petras said at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

This leads us to “SOPHIE,” the posthumous sophomore record produced and released by SOPHIE’s family. Released on Sept. 25, 2024, “SOPHIE” had a boatload of expectations behind it — but does it live up to them?

To understand this, one has to be familiar with the legacy of posthumous releases. 

Labeled as “cash-grabs,” “greedy,” “cheap” and “artistically hollow,” major labels and the families of those who died often blindly put out these posthumous records without care of the recently-passed artist’s original vision. Popular examples of this include multiple posthumous Juice Wrld and XXXTentacion records, as well as “Closer” by Joy Division and “Made In Heaven” by Queen. 

While some of these releases can be good — a beautiful mix of old and new ideas from an artist’s almost complete vision — most are not. Common critiques mentioned earlier almost always apply to posthumous albums, and while there are exceptions, they are few and far between. 

“SOPHIE” is not one of those exceptions. 

The whole record, aside from the production, is completely absent from what makes SOPHIE, SOPHIE. Her vocals are nowhere to be heard, the soul of the record is essentially gone — it’s barren. 

This means that other vocalists needed to pick up the pieces, however, they did not do a good job. Guest artists like Kim Petras, BC Kingdom, Jozzy and Juliana Huxtable give poor imitations of what SOPHIE’s vocals traditionally are. This — mixed with production that aims to be more sparse and ambient — leaves a sour taste with most listeners. 

The best tracks on “SOPHIE” are those where vocals and production are not endlessly layered on top of each other, where the listener is suffocated by auto-tune, blaring bass hits and niche synth lines. Tracks like “Intro (The Full Horror),” “The Dome’s Protection,” “Berlin Nightmare” and “Exhilarate” are the best examples of songs that toe the line between overbearing and respectful. 

The worst offenders are “Reason Why,” “Live In My Truth” and “Why Lies.” While the tracks use decadent pop production that SOPHIE would have loved, without her vocals they just feel empty. SOPHIE is gone, and with her, electronic music will never be the same. 

SOPHIE’s peers and successors, including Charli XCX, Cook, 100 Gecs, Petras and many other hyperpop as well as electronic artists, owe a majority of their success to the genius pioneer of art that SOPHIE was. 

While her music is not the same without her spark, one can only dream of a world where she got to continue her passion — in a world where she could be uniquely SOPHIE.