Sophie

Sophie Xeon (1986–2021), known mononymously as SOPHIE, was a Scottish-born (widely described) avant-pop producer, songwriter, DJ, and trailblazing figure in hyperpop. Learn about her life, groundbreaking sound, advocacy, and lasting influence.

Introduction

SOPHIE (stylized all in caps) was more than a music producer — she was a visionary who reconfigured the boundaries between pop, electronic, identity, and art. Emerging in the early 2010s, her bold sonic experiments, delicate synthetic textures, and fearless self-revelation made her a defining figure of 21st-century pop and electronic music. Though her life was cut short in 2021, her influence continues to ripple across genres, artists, and communities.

In this article, we trace SOPHIE’s journey: her beginnings, her artistic breakthroughs, her public identity, and the legacy she leaves behind — in sound, in representation, and in audacious creativity.

Early Life and Background

• Sophie Xeon was born on 17 September 1986.

• Though often described as Scottish (with ties to Glasgow), some sources note that she was born in Northampton, England, and that the family later moved.

• Her family had Scottish roots: her father was reportedly born in Scotland, giving SOPHIE a “Scottish connection.”

• From a young age, Sophie was drawn to electronic music. She recalled that her father introduced her to raves and played electronic music tapes in the car.

• She taught herself aspects of music production, synthesizers, and digital audio workstations, eventually creating her own sounds and textures rather than relying heavily on samples.

Sophie’s early years were marked by a combination of musical curiosity, experimentation, and solitude — qualities that later informed her unique sonic identity.

Career and Artistic Breakthroughs

Early Projects & Emergence

• In her early creative period, Sophie was part of a band named Motherland, collaborating on live shows in Berlin and the UK in the period around 2008–2009.

• She also remixed tracks such as “A Certain Person” by Light Asylum (the “Motherland Radio” version) in 2010–2011.

• She gradually surfaced in the electronic underground, contributing to collaborative projects, gaining connections with the PC Music collective, and refining a sound that blended artifice and emotionality.

Breakthrough Singles & “Product” Era

• In 2013, she released “Nothing More to Say” via the Glasgow label Huntleys + Palmers.

• Later in 2013, “Bipp” / “Elle” came out on the Numbers label. “Bipp” especially caught the attention of critics and fans.

• These early singles showcased her style: distorted, hyperkinetic, synthetic, often with tiny digital artifacts, pitched vocals, and textures that sounded both plastic and alive.

• In 2015, she released the compilation Product, which collected key singles along with new tracks.

• Sophie began collaborating with prominent artists: she produced or co-produced tracks for Charli XCX, Madonna, Vince Staples, Kim Petras, and others.

Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides & Artistic Maturation

• In 2017, Sophie released “It’s Okay to Cry”, the first time she used her own image and voice, marking a turning point in her self-presentation and confirming her transgender identity publicly.

• In June 2018, she released her debut studio album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. The album was praised for its depth, emotional resonance, and innovative production.

• The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album.

• Sophie's production style emphasized crafting synthetic sounds out of bare waveforms, creating textures that felt tactile yet artificial, sometimes described as “liquid metal,” “CGI for the ears,” or like sounds made of latex, plastic, bubbles.

Public Identity & Artistry

• In 2017, Sophie publicly came out as transgender. Her music and visuals became a part of her expressive journey.

• She explained transness as aligning the body with one’s soul and spirit, reducing internal conflict.

• For much of her early career, Sophie remained anonymous. She used voice masking, avoided showing her image, and in one Boiler Room performance, a drag performer mimed while she appeared as a bodyguard.

• Her transition to revealing her voice and image was deliberate, symbolizing a merging of personal truth and artistic persona.

Sophie’s artistry cannot be separated from her identity — her commitment to trans visibility and authenticity became part of her legacy.

Death & Final Works

• On 30 January 2021, Sophie died following a fall from a rooftop in Athens, Greece, reportedly while climbing to observe the full moon.

• At the time of her death, she was 34 years old.

• In her final years, she was working on a self-titled second studio album, reportedly near completion. Her brother, Benny Long, helped finalize it posthumously.

• The posthumous album SOPHIE was released in 2024.

Style, Sound & Influence

• Sophie’s music often fused elements of hyperpop, deconstructed club, experimental pop, avant-pop, and electronic.

• Her sonic signature involved heavy sound design: she often avoided sampling and instead synthesized her sounds from scratch, crafting textures that sounded both artificial and intimate.

• Critics described her sound as “sugary synthesised textures,” “brash,” “hyperkinetic,” yet capable of emotional expressiveness.

• She is widely credited as one of the pioneers of hyperpop, helping bring underground electronic aesthetics into the mainstream and influencing a generation of producers, pop artists, and queer musicians.

• Many contemporary artists — Charli XCX, Arca, FKA Twigs, Caroline Polachek, Kim Petras, and more — cite her impact on how they think about texture, identity, production, and sonic risk.

Memorable Quotes & Reflections

While SOPHIE was more of a sonic than verbal innovator, some of her statements stand out:

• On choosing the name “Sophie”:

  “It tastes good and it’s like moisturiser.”

• On identity and music:

  She described transness as aligning the body with the soul / spirit to reduce conflict.

• On how she used music: she viewed it as a “chosen method of communication” — a way to express what words sometimes cannot.

Her fewer quotations are perhaps a testament to her preference for expressing through sound rather than text. But her sonic voice spoke louder than many words could.

Lessons & Legacy

From SOPHIE’s life and work, several lessons emerge:

1. Art as identity and truth
   SOPHIE demonstrated that one’s identity — especially when marginalized — can be inseparable from one’s art. Her journey affirmed that expression and authenticity can merge.

2. Sound as sculpture
   She treated sound design like sculpting, building intricate textures from minimal elements. This encourages artists to think of production as musical structure, not just decoration.

3. Risk and vulnerability
   Reconciling anonymity, public identity, and personal revelation, she showed courage in letting the audience catch glimpses of truth — even when that risk is high.

4. Innovation lives at the margins
   Her work pushed genres forward not by staying in comfort zones, but by bending, breaking, and reassembling norms.

5. Legacy beyond lifetime
   Even after her passing, her influence propagates through posthumous releases, artists citing her as inspiration, trans visibility in electronic music, and the continued resonance of her sound.

Conclusion

SOPHIE’s life was tragically brief, but her impact is enduring. She transformed how pop could sound, how identity could be expressed, and how electronic music could be emotionally intimate. From guarded anonymity to fierce self-revelation, she pressed boundaries — sonic, personal, social. In the years since her passing, her work continues to inspire, challenge, and provoke. She remains a singular voice in modern music — not just for what she made, but for who she was and what she dared to become.