Apple Music 1, LGBTQ Artists Celebrate SOPHIE

A collection of LGBTQ artists joined Apple Music 1 Wednesday to celebrate the late, electronic music pioneer and trans artist SOPHIE in honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility.

Arca, Pabllo Vittar, Dorian Electra, Lyra Pramuk, Fraxiom, and Chase Icon came together to honor the life and music of SOPHIE. The celebration shared stories from peers, friends, and collaborators, and played music from across the artist’s career, according to a statement from Apple Music 1.

Sophie Xeon was an experimental pop producer, who often embraced avant-garde electronic production and is credited in changing the landscape of pop music and paving the way for the hyperpop genre, which embraces exaggerated and maximalist pop sounds.

On January 30, SOPHIE’s label announced that the artist suddenly passed away.

“Tragically our beautiful Sophie passed away this morning after a terrible accident. True to her spirituality, she had climbed up to watch the full moon and slipped and fell,” Transgressive said in a statement.

There was a palpable grief among queer and trans people as the news initially broke earlier this year. Arca, a trans woman, fellow avant-pop producer, and SOPHIE collaborator, shared her experience working with the artist.

“SOPHIE … so many feelings, such a sense of gratitude and a sensation of feeling kindred … I was aware of SOPHIE’s work and respected her very much as an equal,” Arca says. “I was mystified at some of the sounds that SOPHIE was able to produce. The biggest sense of loss is that I won’t be able to write or call, and yet it’s beautiful to know that SOPHIE lives on through her amazing music, the genius, the playfulness, the boldness, and the vision continue to shine brightly throughout the experience of all the beautiful art.”

Dorian Electra, a genderfluid hyperpop artist, also spoke about SOPHIE’s impact.

“‘Vroom Vroom’ [by Charli XCX, produced by SOPHIE] to me is absolutely one of the most amazing songs of all time,” Electra says. “SOPHIE’s production is incredible; it was one of the first moments for me that it really showed how so many diverse elements in a song could fit so cohesively, in a way that was completely unexpected. Every time a new section of the song would come in, it would completely blow my mind and blow away all expectations…”

SOPHIE’s revolutionary style, production, and transness were often intertwined, especially after the artist came out as a trans woman in 2017 in the music video for the song “It’s Okay to Cry.”

International Transgender Day of Visibility is honored annually on March 31 and dedicated to liberating and empowering the lives of trans and nonbinary people.

You can listen to the tribute through Apple Music 1 here.

Photo courtesy of Apple Music 1.