Grammy-nominated electronic artist dies at 34 after ‘terrible accident’

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Sophie (Photo: Transgressive Records)
Sophie (Photo: Transgressive Records)

The electronic music community was rocked on Saturday morning by the news of the death of Sophie, an experimental pop artist and pioneering producer who had worked with Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Camila Cabello, Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras and many more. ‘other. a “terrible accident”.

According to statements by Sophie’s record company, Transgressive, and publicist, Ludovica Ludinatrice, Sophie was in Athens, Greece, and “went up to watch the full moon” and then “slipped and fell”, dying in 4 a.m. local time. A police spokesperson confirmed to The Associated Press that Sophie fell from an apartment balcony and that no foul play was suspected in the artist’s death. The visionary British musician – who made history as one of the first three openly transgender women to be nominated for a Grammy, and according to Pitchfork preferred not to use gendered or non-binary pronouns – was 34 years old.

Sophie Xeon was born September 17, 1986 in Glasgow, Scotland, and started in a band called Motherland before going solo in 2013, soon sparking a buzz on SoundCloud and critical acclaim for the singles “Nothing More to Say” and “Bipp” / “She”; the latter ranked # 17 on Pitchfork’s year-end list and # 1 on XLR8’s list. Sophie’s major professional breakthrough came in 2015, with the placement of the title “Lemonade” in a McDonald’s commercial, the launch of a successful artistic partnership with Charli XCX and high level production work on Madonna’s. Rebellious heart single “Bitch I’m Madonna.” In November of this year, Sophie also released the first official album Product.

Sophie spent the next two years focusing on production, writing and remixing work for other artists, but returned in 2017 with the anthem “It’s Okay to Cry”; the video for this track was the first to feature the face of the previously reclusive and largely anonymous artist, and served as Sophie’s well-received exit statement as a member of the trans community. Sophie’s sophomore effort, Oil from the sub-interiors of each pearl, was then nominated for Best Dance / Electronic Album at the 61st annual Grammy Awards.

Sophie was hailed for a surreal, warp-speed sound that bridged the mainstream and the underground, incorporating elements of Japanese and Korean pop, Eurodisco, British garage, pop from the 2000 and 90s house and hip-hop. Sophie often avoided samples, instead using Elektron Monomachine and Ableton technologies to build instruments from waveforms that mimicked the unorthodox sounds of metal, water and plastic. “Sophie has been a pioneer of a new sound, one of the most influential artists of the last decade. Not only for ingenious production and creativity, but also for the message and visibility obtained. An icon of liberation ”, we read in the statement of the artist’s publicist.

Upon hearing the shocking news of Sophie’s death, many famous colleagues and admirers took to social media to pay their respects.

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