SOPHIE - SOPHIE

The decision to release the eponymous final record from late pop pioneer SOPHIE is one innately riddled with challenges. Not only does it face all the typical criticisms of a posthumous album, it also stands in comparison to the monolithic legacy of her debut and only full-length record, the GRAMMY-nominated latex pop behemoth ‘OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES’: a project so definitive and singular it’s near-impossible to fathom a successor. 

The album also bears the weight of uncertainty from the producer’s devoted fandom. Though social media discourse has primarily consisted of a grateful embrace of unreleased music, it’s also provoked debates on the record’s authenticity and dated sound. ‘SOPHIE’, a record near-finished at the time of her death in 2021, certainly has integrity, being “lovingly completed” by her brother and studio manager Benny Long, so says the press material. But for a good chunk, it revisits a bygone hyperpop soundscape that predates the inventions of 2018’s ‘OIL…’ - an archaic move that understandably calls to question the artistic license required of its years-delayed release. 

Yet to belie the continued reverence of this sound - one that SOPHIE helped to first create, that constitutes such a strong part of her legacy - would be a disservice to its timeless transgression. It is still, of course, scaffolded by rubbery, post-humanist, avant-garde, hyper-commercial bubblegum pop; a capturing of the artist’s otherworldly philosophies and intangible satire. See, for example, the arid, dystopian synths on ‘The Full Horror’, the sprawling trance of 2019’s ‘Plunging Asymptote (feat. Juliana Huxtable)’ or the cutesy sky-high of ‘Why Lies (feat. BC Kingdom and LIZ)’. Then there’s the satiating queer euro-trance and gritty, synthy ragers that colour the record’s mid-section; the filthy ‘Berlin Nightmare (feat. Evita Manji)’ and shivering cold-sweat of ‘Gallop (feat. Evita Manji)’ expertly follow the free-form high of ‘Elegance (feat. Popstar)’. 

It’s here that ‘SOPHIE’ is most affecting. Where her irreplaceable ability to manipulate the texture and temperature of sound is its most potent, it’s like an old friend has returned. Later, the off-piste ebullience of pop entries ‘Exhilarate (feat. Bibi Bourelly)’, ‘Always and Forever (feat. Hannah Diamond)’ and ‘My Forever (feat. Cecile Believe)’ signal the return as bittersweet. Indeed, given the context, this posthumous self-titled release feels more commemorative than conclusive. It’s a welcome celebration; an answerphone message revisited. It’s no ‘OIL…’, but it’s pure SOPHIE.