In January, prominent musician and producer SOPHIE fell from a balcony in Athens while trying to take a picture of the full moon. At the age of 34, the avant-garde transgender artist had worked with the likes of Madonna, Lady Gaga, Vince Staples, Charli XCX, and more. Now, nearly five months after the producer’s passing, SOPHIE’s brother, Ben Long, has revealed that he is sitting on a plethora of unreleased tracks from the artist. “There are literally hundreds of tracks,” said Long.
Long, who has collaborated closely with SOPHIE, working as a tour manager, live engineer, and mixing engineer, currently possesses all of the late musician’s archive. He also shared that he and SOPHIE had currently been in the process of creating a follow-up to 2018’s Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. Says Long,
“The idea SOPHIE and I discussed many times was to do one abstract experimental album and then a pop record – this was going to be the pop one – and to keep going on that cycle for years. I don’t want to be like, ‘We’re going to put everything out,’ because sometimes SOPHIE didn’t want it 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.”
SOPHIE had been in the process of collaborating with pop superstar Lady Gaga, with Long sharing that he is uncertain of the status of SOPHIE’s posthumous releases. However, he believes that former collaborators could be of help in determining future releases. “There are a lot of people out there who SOPHIE really trusted and who knew SOPHIE’s vision. I feel like it’s not just on me.”
Already, a posthumous release from SOPHIE has been turned in, with Jlin sharing the collaborative track “JSLOIPNHIE” in March. SOPHIE had also released the track “UNISIL” just a few days before her untimely death.
The groundbreaking musician broke barriers in both sound and in raising awareness for transgendered artists. Having spent the beginning of her career as an anonymous producer, utilizing voice-masking and covering parts of the body during interviews, SOPHIE did not reveal her identity as a transgender woman until 2017. SOPHIE went on to influence many artists, allowing them to realize they have the space to experiment, push boundaries and adhere to no one but themselves.
Via: Billboard
