Grammy-nominated avant-pop musician Sophie dies at 34

by



[ad_1]

Sophie Xeon, the Grammy-nominated producer-musician whose pioneering work combined mellow pop melodies with mechanical noises in a genre now known as hyper-pop, died in a rock climbing accident in Greece on Saturday. She was 34 years old.

“True to her spirituality, she had climbed to watch the full moon and accidentally slipped and fell,” read a statement from her label announcing her death. “She will always be there with us.”

Also inspired by pop music and the overwhelming industrial sounds of acts like Autechre, upon the release of her debut single, “Nothing More to Say,” in 2013, Sophie’s influence quickly manifested in the realms of the world. adventurous from the world of pop. Less than two years later, she was working with Madonna on her original memes song, “Bitch, I’m Madonna.”

From her 2018 debut album, “Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides”, Variety wrote: “Sophie combines melodies and mellow pop sounds with absolutely hideous noise – squeaks, clicks, howls, snores, scrambles, obnoxious and jarring sounds, wildly tuned voices – to create a form of pop music that, if it does, is not entirely new, could never before have been presented in such an extreme way.

British singer-songwriter Charli XCX, who was pursuing a successful but more conventional pop career, abruptly changed direction with the release of her 2016 Sophie-produced EP “Vroom Vroom”. Charli, who with his collaborator AG Cook was awarded VarietyThe Hitmakers Innovator Award in December said she has long sought a more aggressive pop sound in her music. “It wasn’t until I met Sophie and then AG that I finally found what I was looking for,” she says. “We spoke the same language straight away – we didn’t even have to speak.”

This sound has spread rapidly in recent years via acts like 100 Gecs and artists on Cook’s PC Music label, and Sophie’s influence can be heard in virtually every artist on Spotify’s Hyperpop playlist.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, as Samuel Long in September 1986, she attended local raves as a child, started DJing and producing as a teenager, and in 2013 began to quit aggressive electronic singles such as “Nothing More to Say”, “Bipp / Elle”, and, a year later, the strangely frenetic dance floor classic “Lemonade / Hard”. In 2015, she was working with Madonna, Charli XCX, and later Los Angeles rapper Vince Staples on his 2017 audience-polarizing album “Big Fish Theory”. While she was initially lonely and gave concerts under dim lighting or from a DJ booth, she eventually turned out to be transgender.

Sophie then focused on her own work, releasing in 2018 the elegant “Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides”, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Dance / Electronic Album of 2019. Her most work recent was collaborations and remixes with like-minded artists such as Arca, Cashmere Cat, Brooke Candy and Shygirl.

Tributes poured in early on Saturday as news of Sophie’s death spread. Words from British singer Sam Smith wrote on Twitter: “Heartbreaking news. The world has lost an angel. A true visionary and an icon of our generation. “

Legendary Producer and Chic Co-Founder Nile Rodgers wrote: “#RestInPower SOPHIE! You were one of the most innovative, dynamic and warm people I have had the pleasure of working with at 2019 @southbankcentre. “

Producer-musician Jack Antonoff, who has worked extensively with Taylor Swift, Lorde, the Chicks and others, wrote on Twitter: “For me, Sophie’s genius was how she took this concept to the next level. shinier brighter brighter, a tool that many have used cynically, and made it shiny and empowering. “



[ad_2]

Source link