It is very difficult to articulate the legacy of a producer to someone not already invested in their respective scene. Often, their most commercial collaborations are used to justify their merit. Sure, Sophie’s credits include Vince Staples (Big Fish Theory), Rihanna (Anti), Charli XCX (on various projects), and much more, but her influence transcended ever beyond. Sophie broke through the producer’s curse of anonymity, rebirthing herself in resplendent form, finding a voice and new creative identity in her outing. Achieving critical acclaim on a debut studio solo release is no easy task for even a seasoned producer, yet Sophie straddled this challenge with ease in what will now become her magnum opus, Oil of Every Pearls Un-Insides,
Sophie spearheaded the philosophy and ethos behind hyperpop, a vanguard of a movement still in its infancy. She showed, through the dissembling of genre, that our very human urge to place labels on things we do not yet understand often blinds us from appreciating the complex multiplicity of reality, and of the human condition. She stripped off skin-streaked layers from externality, identity, and forced you to look at her core being, the soul within the exterior. Our appearance and social identity often overdominate our focus in finding our “truest self,” but if there’s one thing Sophie reminded us it’s that: we are not our face, our hair, our nails, our limbs, our genitals, or anything in between. We are the ever-shifting prescience of our shared humanity. We are the pearl within the clam, the all-seeing eye of our too fragile consciousness. It is a treasured legacy to have given us. Sophie, your inside is, and will always be, your best side too.
