Tributes have been paid today to Scottish musician and producer Sophie Xeon – better known as Sophie – who has died in Athens at the age of 34. A statement from her record company, Transgressive, confirmed that the artist had passed away after an accident in the Greek capital in the early hours of Saturday morning.
— Transgressive (@transgressiveHQ) January 30, 2021
The Glasgow-born performer burst onto the scene in 2013 with compilation album Product which would spawn nine singles over the following two years; notably Bipp (2013) and Lemonade (2014). At the same time, Sophie was forging a reputation for their formidable songwriting and production work. In 2015 they had a brush with bona fide pop royalty when the Scot collaborated with Madonna, Nicki Minaj and Diplo on Bitch I’m Madonna, which topped the Billboard US Dance chart. Later in the same year they linked up with Charli XCX for the first time on the Essex-singer’s avant-pop EP Vroom Vroom. XCX would go on to enlist Sophie’s services as a producer and co-writer on a raft of subsequent singles, including After The Afterparty (2016); Out Of My Head (2017); No Angel (2018); and Girls Night Out (2018).
Sophie would re-enter the spotlight in their own right in 2018 with a statement debut studio album, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. The LP, which traversed the disciplines of pop, electronica and house – was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Dance/Electronic Album category and garnered widespread critical acclaim. NME hailed the record for “Crossing boundaries of pop music and chasing transcendence, Sophie achieves the rare feat of making abstract, difficult electronic music that hits you straight in the heart.” The defiant lead single from the album, It’s Okay to Cry, saw Sophie appear on camera for the first time.
A host of artists paid glowing tributes to the performer as news of their death filtered through this morning. Disco-pop guitar hero Nile Rodgers described Sophie, who featured on the line-up for the Chic and Sister Sledge icon’s Meltdown Festival in London in 2019, as “innovative, dynamic and warm.” Elsewhere French synth-pop merchant Christine and The Queens tweeted that “Sophie was a stellar producer, a visionary, a reference. She rebelled against the narrow, normative society by being an absolute triumph, both as an artist and as a woman. I can’t believe she is gone. We need to honor and respect her memory and legacy. Cherish the pioneers.”
#RestInPower SOPHIE! You were one of the most innovative, dynamic, and warm persons I had the pleasure of working with at 2019 @southbankcentre pic.twitter.com/uzsv0EAWxx
— Nile Rodgers (@nilerodgers) January 30, 2021
Cheltenham-born singer FKA Twigs also took to Twitter to pay tribute Sophie, who she called “a star of our generation“, while Lucid singer Roma Sawayama described the late performer as “an icon and a visionary“, adding that “the world and our community has lost a beautiful soul.” Canadian musician and producer Peaches also added her condolences on Twitter, saying “I’m heartbroken. Thank you Sophie Rest In Power! You will always be remembered as a true game changer, powerful presence and an incredibly original producer ! Your music and production brought me so much joy!“
