SOPHIE – ‘SOPHIE’ review: an uneven farewell to the pop pioneer

26 September, 2024

SOPHIE, photo by Renata Raksha

SOPHIE truly embodied pop by name and by nature. From the moment she burst onto the scene with 2013’s ‘BIPP’, SOPHIE had the rare, magical ability to lure you in from the first note. Most would associate her with her confrontational sound palette – industrial clanks, latex squeals, cartoonish vocals–- but what really made her so singular was her attitude: uncompromising, laser-focused, and seriously fun.

READ MORE: 15 essential songs from SOPHIE, the artist and producer who changed the course of pop

In 2021, three years after her stellar debut ‘Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides’, SOPHIE unexpectedly fell to her death at age 34. It was nothing short of a tragedy – the future of one of pop’s most exciting voices cut devastatingly short, and her legacy given a cruel headstart. It was believed all that was left to share from her hard drive was her debut and her visionary singles collection, 2015’s ‘PRODUCT’. But now, finished with the help of brother and longtime studio manager Benny Long, SOPHIE’s family have unveiled her self-titled posthumous album, loosely arranged as an opera in four acts.

The first act of this record delivers on its promise to leave you on tenterhooks. SOPHIE begins with a mysterious, foreboding instrumental that envelops the listener for over four minutes, the chord repeating over and over until you become sensitive to even the slightest change. Just as the mists begin to clear, SOPHIE whacks you right in the face with ‘Rawwwwww’ – a mean, metallic trap song. Classic SOPHIE.

There are plenty of moments across the album that remind us why SOPHIE remains one of the most innovative producers to date. Just listen to ‘Plunging Asymptote’ and ‘The Dome’s Protection’, two of the most challenging songs on the record due to their repetitive nature and esoteric speeches. Meanwhile, the entire third section of the record treats time like a rubber band, using a techno rhythm throughout to pinball between steadier, atmospheric kicks and crunching gabber beats before taking things back down to slow and steady again.

But there are many other moments where SOPHIE seems to pursue blissful, uncomplicated pop – and in doing so, sacrifices the necessary sonic conflict that made her music so intriguing. ‘Reason Why’, the record’s first single and its Kim Petras feature, should have been an instant knockout with the combined force of two trans titans. Instead, the song sounded overly pleasant – maybe even a little boring.

That pattern continues throughout the record. ‘Live In My Truth’ is surprisingly safe for SOPHIE with its overly bright synths and pitched-up vocals, while ‘Exhilarate’ and its grand, pounding drums are absurdly on the nose. Where’s the subversive humour of ‘Ponyboy’, or the daring whiplash of ‘Immaterial’? ‘It’s Okay To Cry’, from ‘Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides’ was relatively straightforward in its construction, but every sound in it was fine-tuned to squeeze out as much emotion as possible – not to mention its breathtaking emotional vulnerability, marked by SOPHIE’s acknowledgement as being transgender to the audience and herself.

Perhaps that’s the problem. Amid the admirable artistic confrontation in this record, there’s a gnawing impersonality that plagues many of the tracks here. There’s enough diamond material shining in the dirt to make this one of the most inventive posthumous albums that’s been released in recent times – it’s just a shame that the album doesn’t fully execute SOPHIE’s unique vision. But perhaps that’s one more reason to fully treasure what we have left of her, and to do justice to the mark she’s left on pop forever.