SOPHIE’s posthumous self-titled final album coming in September
"It feels only right to share with the world the music she hoped to release, in the belief that we can all connect with her in this, the form she loved most"
A final, posthumous album by SOPHIE is coming this September. Listen to the first single 'Reason Why', featuring Kim Petras and BC Kingdom, below.
The self-titled album, which was teased last week, was "close to completion when [SOPHIE] tragically died" in 2021, the press announcement said, and has been "lovingly finalised by those who hold her closest". Lead production credits on the album are given to SOPHIE and Benny Long, her brother and tour manager who mastered, mixed and contributed production on her 2018 debut album 'Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides'. In a 2021 interview, Long said "there are literally hundreds of tracks" in SOPHIE's vaults.
"This album has always told the story of Sophie’s musical journey, a cacophony of skill and creative vision eclipsing time and genre", "SOPHIE's family" said in a press statement. "Her unique sound world moves at an emotional level, encouraging the listener to intuitively embrace the ever-evolving landscape of light and dark, soft and hard, to the end of self-love and joyful self-acceptance. Emphasising contradictions of sound and material, Sophie’s work supersedes the pure aural to create the dimension she dreamed of... Now, it holds another poignant meaning, it tells a life story, from mysterious unknown, through wild clublands, to euphoric immateriality."
'SOPHIE' will be released on 27th September by Transgressive and Future Classic. It'll be available in standard vinyl, CD and digital versions, as well as "special exclusive" clear and black double-LP editions.
The tracklist and further album details have not been revealed at this time. So far, the biggest clues to the 'SOPHIE' sound are in the upbeat first single, 'Reason Why', and Long's 2021 Billboard interview. "The idea SOPHIE and I discussed many times was to do one abstract experimental album and then a pop record — [the next] was going to be the pop one — and to keep going on that cycle for years", he said. "I don’t want to be like, ‘We’re going to put everything out', because sometimes SOPHIE didn’t want it to or it wasn’t finished... But it was quite clear with a lot of songs, just from the fact that we had been working on them and mixing the album, that I know the direction a lot of things were supposed to be going."
Find more album and pre-order details on the official SOPHIE website.
Charli XCX recently released a SOPHIE tribute track, 'So, I', which features on her new album, 'brat'.
Revisit a tribute to the late experimental pop artist from the first anniversary of her death.
Listen to 'Reason Why', featuring Kim Petras and BC Kingdom, via the visualiser, and read a statement from SOPHIE's family on Instagram below.
